Summary
One of the key factors that can make a regular email-sender land into spam is lack of engagement. To put it simply, it is the amount of email you send compared to the amount of email opened (along with other metrics like clicks, repeated opens, placement into spam/promotion,…). It helps the spam filter measure the level of interest that your contact list has toward your communication.
And it’s a key metric for inboxing. This is why you should care about managing the engagement of your emailing infrastructure.
The required engagement level to “inbox” is really up to the sender itself, the type of emails, the list origin,… We usually give a 20% unique open rate as a very broad threshold to try to avoid crossing. We typically make sure that our client’s open rate during a warmup or while recovering from a low reputation never goes below this.*
*Some exceptions for transactional emails can apply. Some email notifications like shipping proposals, stats update, activity report can occasionally have low open rates and still land into the main inbox, because of their content and the sending history you will have achieved.
Here are a few tips to help you achieve a better engagement:
For those of you who are familiar with email marketing, you know that spam is your worst nightmare. Recently, Gmail has updated his spam filter algorithm. The number one reason that you can be placed in spam is now your content.
You've probably already heard of snowshoe spamming?
This is a well-known spamming technique aiming at spreading email volumes over a large number of IP addresses and domains in order to show better metrics and bypass spam filters.
Basic rules to avoid being mistaken as spam
It’s essential to identify what practices and behavior can make you fall into the “snowshoe spammer” category.
Let me remind you of three basic rules in order to avoid being mistaken as snowshoe spamming.
- Do not send similar content across different domains and IPs. This simply looks spammy. Why would you possibly do that if your emails are legit? If you need backup IPs, that is fine, but spreading the load across multiple IPs and/or domain carries the risk of getting flagged.
- Usually, the more emails you send per day, the more IPs you should use. However, you need to be careful with that and try to send emails from the minimum number of IPs and domains possible in order not to be considered as snowshoe spamming.
- Do I have to use subdomains or multiple domains? You have probably already asked yourself this question while working on an email campaign. Well, it is also important when it comes to snowshoe spamming and the answer is: use subdomains. They are known to be important to build a strong sending reputation.
- Do not add IPs and domains to overcome filtering or rate-limiting challenges.
- Respect the general rule one email subdomain for one emailing purposes. In 2020 ESPs value clarity over anything else. Best, state your purpose into the subdomain. (example: @update.mailsoar.com, to send company-wide updates and announcement)
From the moment you receive a notification telling you that you are considered as a snowshoe spammer, you know that it is time to reduce the number of domains and IP addresses you are using.
If you are thinking that your deliverability issues, make sure to compare your infrastructure and behavior to the definition up there. We can also help audit your infrastructure to give you accurate recommendations.
