Ecommerce: improve email deliverability to boost sales

In ecommerce business, email is one of your best tools for staying in touch with customers, sharing product updates, and driving sales. But what if your messages end up in the junk folder? No one sees your promotions, you waste your efforts, and your sales stay the same. That’s where email deliverability comes in. It’s crucial for boosting your marketing efforts and keeping customers loyal. In this article, we’ll show you how to optimize your emails and, most importantly, get them into the right inboxes.

What is ecommerce email deliverability?

Think of email deliverability as the letter carrier making sure your letter gets to the right mailbox. It’s about making sure your emails, whether marketing or sales, get to the right inbox and aren’t blocked or sent to the spam folder.

In ecommerce, where every email could result in a sale, having good deliverability is key to keeping communication with your audience smooth and effective.

How can we make sure your email campaigns are a success?

Picture this: You’re planning a big event, but somehow your invitations get lost along the way. I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s pretty frustrating.

That’s exactly what happens when your emails end up in your customers’ spam folders. Not only do you miss out on the chance to show them your new products or promotions, but it can also affect how they see your brand. Good deliverability allows you to :

Increase open and click rates

Your customers receive and read your messages.

Reinforce trust in your brand

Relevant, well-delivered emails inspire trust.

Maximize your business ROI

Every email that reaches its target is a sales opportunity.

What's a good email deliverability rate for ecommerce ?

A good deliverability rate in ecommerce is usually between 95% and 98%. This means that at least 95 out of every 100 emails you send will reach your recipients’ main inbox. The rate can vary depending on the type of email you’re sending. For example, shopping cart abandonment emails and email marketing campaign or newsletters won’t have the same rate.

There are a few things that can influence, like the quality of your subscriber list, your email list hygiene, your reputation as a sender, and the emailing practices you use.

Transactional emails are those messages that customers expect to receive, such as order confirmations or shipping notifications. Because customers are looking for them, these emails often have higher deliverability rates, usually around 99%.
Marketing emails or promotional emails like newsletters or sales promotions, might have slightly lower rates, around 95% to 97%, because of the stricter spam filters for promotional content.

What's the ideal open rate for a newsletter?

Newsletter open rates can vary quite a bit from one sector to another. In ecommerce, though, a good open rate is usually somewhere between 15% and 25%.

If your open rate is above 25%, you’re doing great! It shows that your audience is engaged and interested in your content. If your open rate is below 15%, it might be time to take a look at your strategy. Think about the subject lines of your emails, how you’ve segmented your subscriber list, and whether the content you’re offering is relevant.

Here are some key figures to keep an eye on:

To make sure your emailing strategy is up to scratch, keep an eye on these indicators:

Deliverability rate: Your goal should be to get a deliverability rate of between 95% and 98%. Anything less than that is a problem.
Open rate: In ecommerce, a good open rate is anything from 15% to 25%. Anything over 25% is excellent.
Click-through rate: This number shows how much your recipients are into what you’re sending them. The higher it is, the better!

What affects whether your emails get delivered?

There are many things that can have an impact on your e-mail delivery.

Once you know what these factors are, you can make changes to your strategy so that your messages always reach their destination and avoid being marked as spam. Let’s look at some email delivery best practices.

Optimize your sender reputation

Your sender reputation is a bit like your reputation in real life. If you’re known to be reliable and respectful, people will trust you. Email service providers work the same way. If your email domain has a good reputation, your messages will be more likely to land in the main inbox. To build a good reputation, there are a few simple rules:

Only send emails to people who want to receive them. Make sure your email lists are made up of customers who have given their consent.
Stick to a regular mailing frequency. Avoid sudden mass mailings that could look suspicious.
Deal quickly with unsubscribes and complaints. Respect your customers’ choice and make it easy for them to unsubscribe. This will help you avoid having your subsequent emails flagged as spam.

Best practices to help you avoid spam and get to the main inbox

We all know that nobody likes spam, and your customers are no exception. Here are a few tips to help you avoid having your emails marked as spam:

Authenticate your e-mails: You can make your emails more secure by authenticating them. Using protocols such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC proves that your emails come from your domain name.
Choose your words carefully: Avoid using overly promotional terms like 100% free or Make money fast, as these can trigger spam filters. If you want to know more about which words to avoid and what to use instead, check out our dedicated article.
Look after the presentation of your emails: If you get the text and images in your emails just right, with a clear layout and mobile compatibility, your recipients will have a great experience.
Monitor subscriber engagement: Keep an eye on how engaged subscribers are with your content. If your messages are marked as spam or unread too often, it can hurt your reputation.

How to optimize the quality of your emails marketing?

It’s good practice to include helpful info in your transactional emails, like order confirmations or shipping notifications. Your customers will appreciate it and are likely to open your emails. To get the most out of them:

Personalize your messages

Address your customers by name and include details specific to their purchase.

Be clear and useful

Provide all the information your customer needs without overwhelming them with unnecessary content.

Add a personal touch

A simple “Thank you for your confidence” can strengthen the customer relationship.

Avoid promotional overload

As tempting as it may be, don't weigh down these emails with too many commercial offers or links that could make them seem like spam.

Increase your open rates with better deliverability

If you want to get the most out of your open rates and customer engagement, good deliverability is the way to go. But how can you take it to the next level and make your emails a real conversion engine?

List personalization and segmentation for the best possible outcome

Your customers are all different, and your emails should reflect that. By grouping your contacts based on things like buying patterns, interests, or browsing history, you can:

Send offers that are a good fit: Show customers products or services that align with their needs.
Boost engagement: Personalized emails are more likely to be opened and generate an action.
Strengthen loyalty: Customers feel valued when they get messages tailored to them.

Optimize HTML coding for better usability and design

Clean, optimized HTML coding is key to making sure your emails look good on all devices and don’t get caught in spam filters. Here’s what you need to do:

Stick to good coding practices, like using tables for layout.
Include alt text for your images, just in case they don’t load.
Test your emails on a few different email clients to make sure they look good on all of them.

To find out more, read our article on HTML best practices for email marketing.

Make sure your email content engages your contacts

It’s important to make sure the content you send out is of high quality, so your recipients are really engaged. To get the results you’re after, you need to:

Tell your story: Tell people about the story behind your brand and share some of those funny or inspiring customer stories.
Give your audience something of value: Offer your customers some helpful advice, tips, or guides that can make their daily lives easier.
Keep it friendly: Be friendly and approachable, as if you were chatting with a colleague.

Trust MailSoar with your email deliverability campaigns

Optimizing the deliverability of your e-commerce emails is essential to maximize the impact of your campaigns and boost your sales.

Our deliverability experts work alongside you to :

Analyze your current situation: Thanks to a comprehensive audit, we identify the strengths and areas for improvement in your emailing strategy.
Implement tailor-made solutions: Whether it’s configuring your infrastructure or optimizing your campaigns, we tailor our recommendations to your specific needs.
Ongoing monitoring: We stay by your side to ensure that your emails continue to reach their target and that you achieve the best possible results.

Looking to boost your ecommerce success with email?

Don’t let your emails get lost along the way. With MailSoar, make sure your messages arrive where they belong: in your customers’ inboxes, ready to be read and generate engagement.