INBOX PLACEMENT VS. DELIVERABILITY

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

I’m sure you’ve wondered, at one point or another, what we are really monitoring during our domain warming phases.

Well, I’ll tell you…

The two main things we are watching while determining how quickly or slowly we can increase our sending volume is:

1. Deliverability
2. Inbox Placement

I am sure you’ve heard both of these terms used by our email team; let’s discuss what they are, why they are important, & how we can be tracking them.

The WHAT

Deliverability implies to the rate at which your sends are getting through to the server

Inbox placement refers to where your email lands – whether it lands in spam, your promotional inbox (‘other,’ ‘promotions,’ etc.), or your primary inbox.

The WHY

Deliverability is a key player in your email ‘delivering;’ it simply means the rate at which a server is allowing your messages through to the recipient. This does not ensure where the email will land within the inbox, just that the server did not fully block the message.

Inbox placement is, arguably, even more important because it determines where the email lands within the inbox. Since many of us are not regularly looking through our junk mailboxes, I think we can all agree the email will reach the most recipients when it is visible in the general inbox.

The HOW

When it comes to tracking your success with deliverability, we are looking at our deliverability rate. The closer the deliverability rate is to 100%, the better!

In terms of our inbox placement, we will be monitoring our open rate. While it can be impossible to precisely measure our inbox placement, a higher open rate means that more people are likely seeing the email, meaning it is more likely to be landing in our recipients’ general inbox

The graphic above shows us a couple of different servers & their deliverability and open rate. It is a great example of how our deliverability & inbox placement can reflect on each server differently.

We’re kicking off the year with some powerful updates to start your operations and year off right! Here’s what’s new in January:

Subscriber History in Email Subscribers – Gain better insights into your subscribers with a detailed history of their activity, helping you track engagement and interactions over time.

New Email Templates UI – Crafting emails just got easier! Our improved email template interface offers a more intuitive and user-friendly design, making it simpler to create and edit your email templates.

Customizable VIP Approval Emails – Now, you can tailor VIP approval emails to align with your brand’s messaging and tone, ensuring a seamless experience for your exclusive audience.

 Export Failed Rows from Any Import – Encountered issues during an import? No problem! You can now easily export failed rows for quick troubleshooting and corrections, saving time and effort.

Already a nucleus user? Check out this new feature for yourself!

Want to experience these features and the solutions Nucleus can offer your team?

Building up your Email Subscribers Without Breaking Down your Domain

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

When it comes to expanding your email subscriber list for marketing content, remember that QUALITY OVER QUANTITY is not just a saying but a strategy that can empower your marketing efforts. By focusing on quality, you ensure that your messages reach the right audience, increasing the chances of engagement and conversion.

I understand the temptation to construct a list of millions of people to ensure your marketing success, BUT without the correct methods of email collection, you can actually hurt your success rather than help.

Let’s talk about why…

Recipients who do not wish to be emailed often respond negatively to emails, even when you are careful to avoid common spam triggers within your content. This can mean that they report you as spam or notify the server that they do not wish to receive your email; this can cause blocks & lower our domain/IP reputation. If they choose to delete without opening or refuse to engage (opening, clicking, saving in folders, etc.) with the email, it can also have poor consequences. That tells the server that they are not interested in your content, and it can hurt your inbox placement, even with previously engaging emails.

DO… subscribe users who have signed onto your email list on their own will

**feel free to even offer them the opportunity to confirm their subscription

​DON’T… offer incentives, such as prizes, for people to sign up

​​**Subscribers rarely engage long-term with this route of email collection

DO… regularly sort through and unsubscribe unengaged recipients 

**If they aren’t helping your cause, they are hurting it

​DON’T… purchase email lists

**These lists often include duplicate, invalid, expired, or foreign emails that likely have no interest in supporting your cause

If you’re ever wondering if someone would be a “good” subscriber or a “bad” subscriber, ask yourself this: Would this person bring valuable interactions to my email campaigns?

You can review the differences between positive and negative engagement below:

If you walked up to a stranger on the street and asked them for $20, odds are they’re going to look at you like you're crazy and walk away. I cannot blame them; I’d do the same. Now… what if, instead, you engaged them in conversation, swapped contact information, developed a friendship over the course of many weeks, and THEN asked for $20? You might have a better shot.

Well, in some ways, email marketing is a lot similar. People are much more likely to support a cause that they are familiar with and trust. So, with that in mind, it might be time to consider how we can be building trust with our subscribers so that we see the most possible success with our emails.

This means that we need to provide content that makes the recipient feel valued as opposed to just another donor. Before we ask for money and support, we need to show the subscriber how much they matter to us; that we do not just care about their wallets.

So what kind of content can we send out that would align with this goal of building trust? I have a few ideas…

Newsletters and informational content

• These emails can be used to inform your recipients on your mission and the news you find most important. Subscribers will be able to see how their values align with your own and, in turn, may acquire more support for your cause.

Feedback

• Do not be afraid to ask your subscribers about their opinions. Whether you need advice on how to go about things or you’d like to know what you can do better in the future, your recipients should be the first people you ask. Their opinions matter most!

Prospecting

• Sometimes the easiest way we can appeal to our subscribers is to ask them what they care to hear about. Our Nucleus CRM allows us to quickly tag our recipients so we can be ensuring we are reaching out to them with their interests in mind.

These are just a few types of emails we can be sending to our subscribers to ensure that we are building trust before forcing asks down their throat. I think you’ll all find that embedding a little love and care into all of our emails will always pay off in the long run.

For more information regarding how to send less aggressive copy while yielding higher return, contact our team for training or insight and visit your Nucleus Resource Library!

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