Improving Email Deliverability in Charity Marketing

As a charity marketer, connecting with your audience through email campaigns is crucial for building relationships, and garnering support. However, amidst the vast sea of emails flooding inboxes, ensuring your messages reach your recipients is a challenge in itself. It doesn’t matter how big your list is, if your emails aren’t getting delivered, there’s literally little point in writing them. In this guide, I’ll share practical strategies to optimize your email deliverability, helping your messages stand out in crowded inboxes and resonate with your audience effectively.

Understanding Email Deliverability

Simply put, email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to successfully land in recipients’ inboxes rather than being flagged as spam or bouncing back. Several factors influence deliverability, including sender reputation, email content, and recipient engagement.
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5 Ways To Improve Email Deliverability

1. Build and maintain a clean email list

One of the foundational pillars of good deliverability is having a clean and engaged email list. You can regularly clean your list by removing invalid email addresses, inactive subscribers, and unsubscribes. It’s good practice to implement a double opt-in process to ensure subscribers are genuinely interested in your content, thus reducing the likelihood of spam complaints.

2. Focus on sender reputation

Your sender reputation plays a significant role in determining whether your emails reach the inbox or get relegated to the spam folder. Monitor your sender score regularly using tools like Sender Score or GlockApps. Maintain a positive reputation by sending relevant, engaging content, adhering to email best practices, and promptly addressing any issues such as spam complaints or high bounce rates.

3. Craft engaging and relevant content

Tailor your email content to resonate with your audience’s interests and preferences. Personalize messages whenever possible, addressing recipients by name and segmenting your list based on demographics or past interactions. Avoid spammy language, misleading subject lines, and excessive use of images or links, which can trigger spam filters.

4. Email authentication

Properly authenticate your email domain to establish trust with internet service providers (ISPs) and email clients. Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC (authentication protocols to verify your identity and prevent spoofing or phishing attempts)*. This not only enhances deliverability but also protects your brand reputation and ensures recipients can trust the legitimacy of your emails.

*Cloudfare gives a good explanation of SPF, DKIM and DMARC protocols should you want to read more on these.

5. Monitor and analyse performance metrics

Regularly monitor key performance metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints to gauge the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Use this data to identify trends, refine your strategies, and continuously optimize your approach for better deliverability and engagement.

Conclusion

Mastering deliverability is essential for charity marketers seeking to build meaningful impact. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Many email service providers will have deliverability checks built in to their tools, making it easier for you. By implementing the strategies outlined above, from maintaining a clean email list to crafting engaging content, you can make sure your emails reach your audiences. Improving email deliverability is an ongoing process that requires a degree of diligence. The deeper your understanding of your audience’s needs and preferences, the more likely you are to be successful. Do get in touch, should you need any help.