Every email campaign has its purposes – to raise your brand awareness, to promote your goods, services or offers, to sign up for a webinar, and to encourage your recipients to buy something from your online shop. If your messages fall into spam folders of your prospects and customers, you waste your efforts and time. Thus, it is important to monitor the performance of the campaign which can be done by means of an email deliverability audit. An email deliverability check within the audit enables to detect issues. A deliverability audit is known to be an efficient way to improve email deliverability rates such as delivery rates, open rates, etc.

If you’re willing to know more about going through an audit, advantages and disadvantages of doing it by Email Checker Tool ways of keeping good deliverability, you can do it by reading this article.

Pros and Cons of Performing Email Deliverability Check and Audit by Yourself or an Outsourcer

An email deliverability audit is considered to be a challenging process with its upsides and downsides. For this reason, companies wonder whether they should refer to a professional or do this on their own. There is no definite answer. On the whole, it is recommended to outsource this work if your email volume is quite large and your email workflow is complicated. Another case when it is preferable is when your team is small and you need to get some idea of your sending processes.

Let’s look into advantages and disadvantages of an in-house audit and outsourced one.

Addressing to an expert is beneficial as:

  • It is a one-time cost.
  • You are guaranteed to get results.
  • Best practices are utilized.
  • It may be faster compared to DIY.

Here are the cons of outsourced audit:

  • It can be quite costly.

In-house audit has the following pros:

  • The price is more reasonable.
  • It’s a chance to gain knowledge and experience.

Here are the cons of an in-house audit:

  • Time estimation is not clear as well as budget.
  • No result is guaranteed.
  • It may be time-consuming.

Performing an audit by an expert usually takes approximately two weeks. You are supposed to get a report which provides you with email deliverability tests that have been run, detected problems, a list of utilized email deliverability software with screenshots, and email deliverability rates. Recommendations on how to boost deliverability are also provided. Unfortunately, you can validate their efficiency only after you leverage them and the contract with a pro is over.  

When you perform an email deliverability check on your own, you can make use of the same tools and approaches. However, you will need to interpret the findings and develop an implementation plan on your own. Bear in mind that some tools are fee-paying and you also need some time to learn how to use them. You can do it while you keep an eye on your deliverability and introduce amendments along the way.

Going Through an Email Deliverability Test Within an Email Deliverability Audit

To monitor email deliverability, it’s possible to utilize email deliverability tests which are involved in a deliverability audit. To conduct a comprehensive audit for one isolated campaign is generally accepted. It enables to avoid assessment on the basis of average score of several campaigns as email deliverability is influenced by several factors:

  • technical setup;
  • email content;
  • sender’s behavior;
  • contact list.

 Whether you do it by yourself or address an expert, the process of performing an email deliverability audit is typical and involves similar steps.

Determine Your Objectives

When you make up your mind to go through an email deliverability audit, you should set objectives for it. It’s important to clarify what you expect from the audit. Are you privy to potential deliverability challenges or do you need recommendations on how to tackle them? Does the credibility of the sending infrastructure raise doubts? Do you observe low open rates and need to figure out a way to enhance it?

Opt for Metrics and Tools to Evaluate Them

If your goal is to perform an exhaustive audit, it’s important to realize which aspects you would like to monitor and measure. These may be protocols of authentication, email lists, being on a blocklist, sender reputation, content of emails. After that it’s necessary to opt for tools which can be utilized to assess the chosen aspects. At present, you can check email deliverability with numerous deliverability testing tools. Some of them are free of charge. There exist different tools which assess your sender reputation, track email performance or verify a contact list. The choice of email deliverability software is up to you and your demands. Checking email deliverability should be the compulsory part of the audit. It may be accompanied by other checks.

Think About a Checklist

Going through an email deliverability audit requires also creating a checklist. It’s possible to make use of project management software or spreadsheets to keep record of metrics, your objectives and plans, email addresses on your marketing list, tools you are willing to leverage, results of your checks, and further steps. Keeping a checklist is an excellent way to stick to the schedule and make certain you are not overlooking critical milestones.

Perform Deliverability Tests

It’s time to do the audit itself by running various email deliverability checks. Assess all deliverability constituents and metrics in compliance with the checklist and complete it with the results obtained. For example, it’s possible to take advantage of an email checker to verify the relevance of addresses on your list or a spam checker to assess email content. With the help of tools, you are supposed to determine your strengths and weaknesses, points that require improvements.

Set Priorities in Bug Fixing

When you have finished checking email deliverability and other aspects, you are supposed to cope with the results you received. It’s better to begin with crucial challenges which can dramatically increase the efficiency of the email campaign. Then move on to minor issues which are easy to implement. Take into account an action priority matrix which enables you to realize what matters and what is not worth doing at present.

Elaborate an implementation plan

Work out an implementation plan with the necessary fixes, how to make them, responsible people and deadlines. It’s a great way to track your progress.

Enhance Your Deliverability with Email Robust Practices

If you cooperate with an outsourced company, they will assess the results of the analysis and offer you effective guidance. If you audit on your own, you need to draw conclusions. Here are a few clues on how to positively impact email performance which is essential for landing your emails in the inbox.

Tips to Be Considered

The less elements your email has, the more likely it appears in the inbox. Here are some tips which are crucial for sender behavior and email content. It’s important to:

  • Cut the quantity of images. The best live-text-to-image-ratio is considered to be 70:30.
  • Care about HTML size. Try to keep from 15 KB to 100 KB.
  • Reduce the number of links not to seem spammy (no more five).
  • Send messages to active users with high engagement.
  • Provide users with the opportunity to unsubscribe and not be marked as spam.
  • Watch out for email list hygiene.

Make Emails Fall into the Inbox

Auditing your deliverability is a complicated process which can be done by yourself or by a pro. If you make up your mind to address an expert, consider reviews, terms of cooperation, guarantees of possible results. Upon its completion you should realize your weak points and their reasons, and what to do with them. It’s crucial to perform an audit regularly and take measures to improve it. Don’t forget to test your messages before sending and monitor changes which matter to your email campaign.

I have experience in freelancing as a content writer and a copywriter. I’m interested in digital marketing.  I’m an author of multiple publications and articles. I am keen on English and know the value of words. Reliability and attention to details are my priorities.

www.linkedin.com/in/maryna-khvostyk-88b834240