Want to get your emails into inboxes? Here are some best practices that popped up in Email Marketing 2021 Benchmark report, a study by Validity and Demand Metric.
First, honor opt-out requests by
flagging or removing email addresses — 93% of firms with 90% or better inbox placement do this, versus 66% that fall below 90%.
Next, add new email addresses to your list organically
through inbound marketing. This is done by 71% of the 90%-plus companies, compared to 56% of those below the 90% threshold.
Here's one thing to avoid — don't buy email addresses to add
to your list. Only 18% of the firms with 90% placement do this, while in contrast, 25% of those below 90% do.
Another area where those below 90% are more active is removing bounced email
addresses — the split is 67%-54%.
Here are a few more best practices:
- Use some sort of software or technology in an attempt to validate email addresses — this is
done by 43% of those that hit 90% placement, and 31% that do not.
- Remove lapsed recipients by lack of engagement or spam complaints — done by 43% of the 90% group, and 32% of
the other.
And firms that achieve 90% placement are also more likely to know:
- How long they spend reading their emails — 46%, vs. 27% of companies below 90%
placement
- Where they are opening emails (geolocation)—68%/40%
- Which browsers they are using — 64%/54%
- Which email clients they are
using—68%/47%
- Which mobile devices they are using — 78%/47%
- Finally, firms with 90% placement rates are more likely to conduct email personalization — 82% do,
versus 70% of firms with lower rates. and they are 10% more likely to also to perform list management and 4% more prone to conduct email reactivations campaigns — 35% do.
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In addition, 25% of the brands in the 90% inbox delivery category conduct subject-line optimization, compared to 17% of everyone else.
Validity and Demand Metric surveyed 450
marketers.