Email Deliverability: What Google's New Update means and how to manage it

Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, one of the largest free WordPress resource sites that help small businesses start their websites.

If you're a business owner who uses email marketing, you should be aware of the latest Google email sender guidelines.

This new update relates to managing spam rates and reducing spam emails received by Google accounts. 

Any business sending over 5,000 messages must have a spam rate of 0.1% and up to 0.3% at worst. This means that if a business gets marked as spam over 3 out of 1000 emails, it will likely get penalized. 

If you send fewer than 5,000 emails a day, you should be fine. However, whether you send a large or small number of bulk emails, the following tips will enhance your email deliverability. This means you reduce the chances of getting marked as spam and can receive better returns for your investment in email marketing. 

What is email deliverability? 

Email deliverability refers to the likelihood that an email you send will successfully reach the recipient's inbox rather than being filtered out as spam or bouncing back.

This measure affects every part of your email marketing efforts because if your emails don't make it to the inbox, they can't engage, inform, or convert your audience.

In essence, good email deliverability translates into your messages being seen and read by more people, making it a crucial factor for the success of email marketing campaigns.

Achieving high deliverability rates ensures that your content, offers, and calls-to-action reach your intended audience, maximizing the return on your email marketing investment.

How to ensure high email deliverability

Let's look at best practices to follow to ensure you avoid getting marked as spam.

Assess your email infrastructure

Start by assessing your email setup to make sure it's all setup and secure.

Take a peek at your SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) settings to meet Google's standards.

Double-check that your domain authentication is spot on to lower the chances of your emails ending up in the spam folder.

And finally, keep an eye on bounce rates and email deliverability reports to catch and fix any hiccups as they come up.

Enhance Email Authentication

Boost your email security by implementing DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). This safeguards your domain's reputation and enhances email authentication.

Set up reporting tools to stay in the loop and receive updates on your email delivery status and any potential glitches. Also, stay vigilant by routinely checking DMARC reports. If there's any unauthorized use of your domain, jump into action pronto to resolve the problem.

Review Email Content and Engagement

Craft content that hits the mark and gets recipients excited to engage with your emails, making it less likely they'll end up in the spam folder.

Steer clear of spam triggers like too much capitalization, tricky subject lines, or an overload of images. You should also avoid certain words that trigger the spam signal; for example, 'earn', 'cash', and so on are considered problematic because they're associated with get-rich-quick scams. 

You should also urge subscribers to add you to their contacts or whitelist your email to increase the chances of your emails reaching their inbox.

Focus on List Management

Keep your email list tidy by removing inactive or uninterested subscribers. This keeps your list top-notch and avoids setting off spam alarms.

Another underestimated tip is to use a double opt-in process in place to ensure subscribers are willingly signing up, reducing the risk of spam complaints.

And this is a legal requirement: make it easy for subscribers to opt-out of communication with your business. 

Monitor Deliverability and Engagement Metrics

Keep an eye on the numbers, like open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints, to gauge your email deliverability.

You want to tap into tools and services that monitor your email deliverability, giving you the inside scoop on your performance and any potential issues. Stay responsive to delivery snags, adjusting your strategy based on feedback and engagement stats.

Managing your email deliverability

I just shared many tips for ensuring your email reaches your audience. But you may find that they're technical and difficult to implement if you aren't tech-savvy. 

The best thing you can do is to hire a reputable email marketing expert from a freelance platform. Or hire an in-house expert whose role is to monitor email deliverability while ensuring that red flags are caught early and dealt with. 

And my final tip: look for SMTP plugins and email deliverability tools geared to make the process easier. They may require a small investment but they can handle the complex task of ensuring your emails avoid getting treated as spam. 

Conclusion

Adapting to Google's new requirements for bulk email senders is crucial for maintaining excellent email deliverability and engagement.

By focusing on infrastructure and the other tips mentioned here, you can enhance your email deliverability and improve customer communication.

Maintaining a healthy sender reputation is an ongoing process. Stay informed about best practices and keep up with updates or changes in email provider requirements to ensure the best possible deliverability for your email campaigns. You can do it!