Summary
With the countdown to Black Friday 2023 underway, the success of your email marketing strategies depends on reaching customers’ inboxes. To increase your chances of reaching your audience’s inboxes, we present critical last-minute strategies for increasing email deliverability and at the same time your Black Friday sales. These recommendations intend to provide quick improvements while complementing, rather than replacing, overall best practices. You will make these changes to protect your email system’s long-term stability and prevent any disruptions.
The importance of using your own email domain
Are you leveraging your own domain, or are you depending on a shared domain from your Email Service Provider (ESP)? A trend we’ve observed in recent email consultations is the lack of domain authentication completion with ESPs.
Verify and Authenticate Your Domain
Send an email test to mailboxes like Gmail account to check if your domain is authenticated. This test will ensure that the system recognizes your emails as legitimate and does not mark them as spam.
Risks of Shared Domains
Relying on shared domains, such as a Salesforce subdomain, can lead to uncertain deliverability results. Shared domains often suffer from variable reputation, which can be detrimental to your email deliverability. Understanding the potential pitfalls of not having a dedicated, authenticated domain for your email campaigns is important.
How to authenticate your domain ?
Most ESPs provide detailed instructions on how to authenticate your domain. However, if you’re unsure, don’t hesitate to contact your ESP’s customer support and ask specifically for domain authentication assistance. Asking directly, “I would like to authenticate my domain to send email?” will get you the help you need.
Caution Against Using a Domain with Poor Reputation
A word of caution: do not use a domain that already has a bad reputation. Fix deliverability issues before switching to a better domain to ensure smooth functioning of your website. This proactive approach can significantly improve your email performance, especially during high-traffic events like Black Friday.
Worried about your domain's reputation impacting your email deliverability? Don't wait until it's too late. Contact us now for a comprehensive audit and personalized advice on how to improve your domain's reputation. Together, we can ensure that your emails not only reach inboxes, but have the impact they deserve.
Domain Authentication: An email deliverability keystone
Is Your Domain Authenticated?
A critical step in email deliverability is verifying your domain’s authentication with your Email Service Provider. Proper email authentication helps your emails bypass spam filters. Using a shared domain, such as a Salesforce subdomain, can adversely impact deliverability. Make sure you correctly configure your SPF, DMARC and DKIM records to strengthen this authentication.
DMARC does not directly impact email deliverability but helps secure your domain against spoofing threats.
Our Spamuraï experts suggest you use this tool (created by Simon Bressier, Head of Deliverability @brevo) where you simply use an email address as a test and this will give you a complete overview of the validity of your technical settings.
Avoid Domains with Poor Reputation
Using a domain with a tarnished reputation is a significant risk. If your current domain shows deliverability issues, address these before transitioning to a healthier domain.
Managing and Maintaining Your Email List
List Cleaning
Before you send a mass email, consider cleaning your list. Removing invalid email addresses reduces bounce rates and maintains your domain’s reputation.
We always recommend that you preemptively cleanse a portion of your subscribers if they haven’t been emailed in a while. Tools like Bouncer can help with your list hygiene and reduce this risk, allowing you to send to more people. You should aim for a bounce rate of about 0.5%.
Targeting Recent Openers
To minimize negative signals to spam filters, target individuals who have recently engaged with your emails. Balancing negative engagement with a high open rate and positive interactions is crucial. The frequency of targeting should align with your current deliverability status.
Email sending strategy for Black Friday 2023
Ramp-Up Planning for Black Friday
If you're planning to increase your email frequency, a gradual ramp-up plan is essential. This involves preparing pre- and post-Black Friday campaigns, gradually increasing sending volumes, and segmenting your list accordingly.
This usually includes:
- Prepare pre- and post-campaigns that essentially lead to a spike in volume, peaking during the days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and a decline afterward.
- Scheduling campaigns to specific list segments in advance and expanding the segments slowly.
- Use features (if available) such as throttling email campaigns over days rather than sending them all at once.
- Avoid sending email during peak hours. Pick unusual times, like 3:07 pm or 4:23 pm, to prevent crowded servers and ensure successful delivery.
Monitoring with Google Postmaster
Google Postmaster is an invaluable tool for anyone running mass email campaigns. It serves as a window into your domain's standing with Google and provides key insights. This tool is useful for checking email delivery and monitoring domain reputation during Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Signing up for Google Postmaster is straightforward and grants access to critical data regarding your email practices. Key metrics to monitor include:
- Domain reputation: Understand how Google perceives your domain’s trustworthiness.
- IP Reputation: Measure the reputation of the IP address from which you send your email.
- Spam rate: Track how often recipients mark your emails as spam to determine the spam rate.
A decline in either domain or IP reputation, or an increase in the spam rate, should be a red flag. You should factor these crucial indicators into your campaign strategy to ensure optimal deliverability and engagement.
By adhering to these last-minute tips, you can optimize your email campaign success for Black Friday. Remember, effective deliverability hinges on meticulous attention to technical details and careful management of your contact list. Proper preparation can lead to significant improvements in reaching your marketing goals.
Boost Your Black Friday Email Campaigns with MailSoar!
Maximize your email impact this Black Friday! At MailSoar, we specialize in elevating your email deliverability, ensuring your Black Friday campaigns reach their mark. Whether you’re refining your existing email strategy or looking to maximize your ROI during this crucial shopping season, our team of deliverability experts is adept at managing large-scale email operations across diverse industries.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to elevate your Black Friday email campaigns. Contact MailSoar now to optimize your deliverability and ensure your Black Friday promotions land right where they need to: in your customers’ inboxes.
