With about 4.14 billion email users globally and 319.6 billion emails sent and received per day globally, it’s no wonder that email is still one of the most popular ways to communicate. This is also why most business owners rely on email marketing to keep in touch with their customers and promote their products or services.
If you’re using WordPress to manage your website, it’s even more important to learn the tips and tricks of evading people’s spam folders and achieving the desired results. We’ll share some tips to help improve email deliverability on WordPress and ensure your messages reach their intended recipients.
But first, let’s get to the basics.
Understanding the Basics of Email Deliverability
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of email deliverability, let’s first understand what it is and why it’s essential.
Email deliverability is simply the process of getting your emails delivered to recipients’ inboxes instead of their spam folders.
Several factors can affect email deliverability, but the most important one is your sender’s reputation.
A sender’s reputation is based on their past behavior – how often they’ve sent emails, whether they were opened or marked as spam, etc.
It’s essential to have a good sender reputation because it helps ensure that your emails are more likely to be delivered to recipients’ inboxes.
How to Improve Email Deliverability on WordPress
There are a few things you can do to improve your email deliverability on WordPress:
Use a Reliable SMTP Plugin
One of the best ways to evade the spam folder and improve email deliverability is to use a reliable SMTP plugin.
An SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) plugin uses proper authentication, which ensures that your emails are less likely to be marked as spam.
A good rule of thumb is to use an SMTP along with a third-party transactional ESP like SendGrid, Mailgun, or Amazon SES.
This way, your emails will be more likely to be delivered as the ESP will handle the sending for you.
Use Double Opt-In
Another great way to improve email deliverability is to use double opt-in.
Double opt-in means that when someone subscribes to your list, they will receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription.
They will be added to your list only after they click the confirmation link.
While this may seem like an extra step, it helps improve deliverability because it ensures that only those who want to be on your list are subscribed.
It also helps to reduce the number of bounced emails because people who confirm their subscription are more likely to have a working email address.
Use a Dedicated IP Address
You can use a dedicated IP address if you want more control over your email deliverability.
A dedicated IP address is an IP address that is used only by one sender.
Your emails will not come from a shared IP address, which can sometimes get flagged as spam.
Of course, using a dedicated IP address does come with some responsibility.
You need to ensure that you are not sending spammy emails, or your IP address could get blacklisted.
Still, a dedicated IP address is a way to go if you want the ultimate control over your email deliverability.
Use Email Authentication
Email authentication is a set of standards that help verify that an email came from the sender it claims to come from.
There are several different types of email authentication, but the two most important are SPF and DKIM.
SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework, and it verifies that the server sending an email is authorized to send emails for that domain.
DKIM, on the other hand, stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail, and it adds a digital signature to every outgoing email.
The receiving server can verify this signature to ensure that the email hasn’t been tampered with in transit.
Ideally, you should have both SPF and DKIM set up for your domain, but if you have to choose one, DKIM is generally considered more effective.
How to Set Up SPF and DKIM
To set up SPF, you will need to add a TXT record to your DNS settings.
Your email service provider will provide the value of this TXT record, and it will usually look something like this: v=spf12…
Once you have added the TXT record, you can use a tool like MX Toolbox to check whether your SPF record is set up correctly.
To set up DKIM, you will need to generate a public and private key pair.
The public key will be added to your DNS settings as a TXT record, while your email service provider will use the private key.
You can use a tool like DKIM Core to generate the keys.
Once you have generated the keys, you can add the TXT record to your DNS settings.
Your email service provider will provide the value of this TXT record, and it will usually look something like this: k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb…
Once you have added the TXT record, you can use a tool like DKIM Core to check whether your DKIM record is set up correctly.
Follow CAN-Spam Act
The CAN-Spam Act is a law that regulates commercial email messages.
It’s important to comply with this law when sending out marketing or promotional emails, as failure can result in hefty fines.
Some of the key requirements of this act are that you must:
- Include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the message is an advertisement
- Include a valid physical address
- Give recipients the ability to opt-out of future messages
- Honor opt-out requests swiftly
- Monitor what other people are doing on your behalf
The law also prohibits the use of false or misleading header information, as well as deceptive subject lines.
For more information, check out the FTC’s full CAN-Spam Act guide.
Ask Recipients to Whitelist Your IP Address and Domain
If you’re having trouble with deliverability, one of the easiest and most effective things you should do is ask your email list to whitelist your IP address and domain name.
This means adding your sending address (IP or Domain) to their safe sender’s list so that future messages from you will always land in their inbox.
Final Thought
Email deliverability is a complex issue. There are a lot of factors that come into play, and what works for one sender may not work for another.
The best way to improve your chances of landing in the inbox is to experiment and find what works best for you and your audience.
Following these simple tips, you can improve your email deliverability on WordPress and avoid spam folders.
Image credit: Pixabay.
