Maximizing Email Deliverability with Marketo: Best Practices for Reaching Your Audience

Maximizing Email Deliverability with Marketo

Introduction and Housekeeping Notes

• The session begins with a welcome message, confirming that video and presentation materials are visible to attendees.

• Attendees are reminded to keep microphones muted and videos off to save bandwidth during the session.

• Housekeeping rules are outlined: no self-promotion, consent required for sharing use cases, and the meeting is being recorded for later access.

• Participants are encouraged to connect with the chapter for future event notifications by creating an account on mugs.market.com.

• Adobe is seeking speakers for breakout sessions at Adobe Summit 2025; submissions are open until October 18th.

Session Overview

• Christian Rhoads introduces himself as the Marketing Technology Director at CNA Insurance, alongside Josh Arrington and Jane Musatova who also introduce themselves with their credentials in marketing technology.

• The chat will be monitored for questions throughout the presentation, which will conclude with a Q&A session.

Key Topics of Discussion

Understanding Email Deliverability

• The discussion starts with an overview of email deliverability—ensuring messages reach recipients' inboxes rather than spam folders.

• Emphasizes that effective email marketing relies on deliverability; great content is wasted if it doesn't reach its audience.

• Various factors influence deliverability; understanding these can enhance engagement and campaign success.

Factors Affecting Deliverability

• The journey of an email begins before sending; maintaining a clean database and optimizing opt-in processes are crucial steps.

Understanding Email Deliverability

Factors Affecting Email Deliverability

• The small number of excluded recipients may be due to opt-outs, communication limits, or invalid email addresses. It's crucial to clean up your email list regularly.

• Emails may not be delivered due to hard bounces (permanent failures) or soft bounces (temporary issues). Understanding these differences is essential for effective email management.

• Even if emails reach the server, they might not land in the inbox; they could end up in spam folders. Building a good sender reputation helps ensure proper delivery.

• Four main factors impact deliverability: sender reputation, email authentication, database hygiene, and content/design quality.

Sender Reputation and Authentication

• Sender reputation is critical; it reflects past performance based on recipient engagement and spam reports. A better reputation leads to higher delivery rates.

• Email authentication is necessary for servers to verify the sender's identity. Without proper authentication, emails may not be delivered regardless of reputation.

Database Hygiene and Targeting

• Maintaining a healthy database involves ensuring that leads are opted-in and actively engaging with your content. Feedback loops help manage unengaged users effectively.

• Content should avoid spammy language and focus on providing real value to improve both deliverability and campaign success.

Engagement Strategies

• Determining the reasons behind hard or soft bounces can be complex; common codes for soft bounces typically start with 400 while hard bounces start with 500.

• Various services exist to monitor sender reputation; it's important to utilize these tools for maintaining high deliverability rates.

Importance of Email Design

• While design has become less critical for spam filters over time, it still affects engagement levels which influence overall sender reputation.

• Emails should be personalized and relevant, featuring a balanced mix of text and images along with clear branding elements like tracking CNAME setup.

Best Practices for Sending Emails

• Keeping your database clean is vital; only send emails to those who have explicitly requested them. Respect user preferences regarding communication frequency and type.

• Avoid sending unsolicited content that users did not sign up for as this can lead to being reported as spam.

Understanding Email Marketing Best Practices

Importance of Responsible Data Management

• Emphasizes the distinction between transactional and marketing emails, highlighting the need for responsible database management.

• Warns that violating contact rules can lead to being reported, negatively impacting email deliverability.

• Stresses that a large database is not beneficial if it contains inactive accounts; engagement is key.

• Suggests re-engagement strategies through text-based emails to verify interest before removing inactive contacts from the database.

Opt-in Methodologies

• Discusses double opt-in as the best practice for obtaining permission from leads, ensuring accurate email addresses and consent.

• Notes that single opt-in lacks verification, potentially leading to bad data in the database and affecting deliverability rates.

• Advises against using purchased or rented lists due to lack of ownership and potential spam complaints.

Risks of Email List Enrichment

• Highlights concerns with enriching email addresses through third-party services, noting outdated information can lead to ineffective communication.

• Warns against sending unsolicited emails to non-subscribers, which may result in spam reports rather than unsubscribes.

Domain Authentication for Deliverability

• Introduces domain authentication as crucial for email deliverability, requiring proper DNS record setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).

• Explains SPF (Sender Policy Framework), which verifies authorized IP addresses for sending emails on behalf of a company.

Understanding DMARC and Email Deliverability

Overview of DMARC Implementation

• The message discusses the importance of DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) in email security, emphasizing that it builds on SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail).

• DMARC provides instructions to receiving servers on how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM validation, including options to quarantine or block such messages.

Feedback Mechanism and Monitoring

• A feedback loop is established through DMARC, allowing senders to receive alerts about issues with their records or potential impersonation attempts.

• It is crucial to monitor if your domain appears on spam lists or blacklists as part of maintaining email deliverability.

Advanced Practices for Email Management

• The concept of a "Bounce House program" is introduced, which utilizes various marketing tools to manage chronic nonresponders and different types of bounces effectively.

• Essential lists for monitoring include hard bounces due to invalid emails or spam complaints; these should be regularly reviewed for effective list management.

Categories of Bounces

Hard Bounces

• Hard bounces are categorized based on reasons: Category 1 indicates spam complaints while Category 2 involves invalid emails affecting deliverability.

• Monitoring the source of spam complaints is vital; factors like email design and subject lines can influence whether recipients mark messages as spam.

Soft Bounces

• Soft bounces often indicate temporary issues; however, if an address remains unresponsive for over 30 days, it may need further investigation or removal from the list.

Chronic Nonresponders and Engagement Strategies

• Chronic nonresponders are defined as individuals who have received multiple emails without engagement. This could signal irrelevance in content or delivery issues.

Email Deliverability Strategies

Importance of Managing Bounces

• Emails that have bounced more than three times in 21 days should be deleted to maintain deliverability.

• A method to identify potential bot clicks involves adding a one-pixel image to emails; if clicked, it indicates bot activity.

Handling Hard Bounces

• To address hard bounces, contacting the recipient's IT department for whitelisting is recommended, especially for known customers.

• If reported as spam, demonstrating improved practices can help remove your email from spam lists.

Monitoring Blacklists

• Regularly check if your IP appears on public blacklists and take steps to get removed by following best practices.

Reporting and Analytics

• Utilize Marqeta’s reporting tools to track sent emails, delivery rates, unsubscribes, and spam complaints.

• Understand bounce types: hard bounces are permanent failures while soft bounces may indicate temporary issues.

Email Status Understanding

• Each email record has statuses like delivered, hard bounce, soft bounce, or pending; understanding these helps manage campaigns effectively.

• An opened email counts as delivered; however, hard bounces take precedence over soft ones when determining success.

Soft Bounce Codes and Management

• Soft bounce codes can range from 400 to 500 errors; persistent issues may lead to a hard bounce after repeated attempts.

Optimizing Deliverability Practices

• Regularly clean your email list by marking invalid addresses that have bounced multiple times within 21 days.

Email Bounce Management Strategies

Optimizing Email Campaigns

• The speaker discusses the optimization of email campaigns over a 21-day period, identifying it as an effective timeframe for assessing audience engagement and bounce rates.

• Emphasizes the importance of proactive measures to manage bounces to protect sender reputation, suggesting categorization of bounces for better insights.

Categorizing Bounces

• Introduces methods to categorize email bounces using triggers and attribute data, such as bounce type and industry affiliation.

• Recommends utilizing smart campaigns in marketing automation tools like Maretto to filter and analyze bounce data effectively.

Managing Hard Bounces

• Discusses setting up attribution models based on first touch and last touch fields, which can help in scoring leads while managing hard bounces.

• Suggests creating smart lists that filter out problematic emails, allowing marketers to maintain clean mailing lists.

Whitelisting Emails

• Addresses strategies for clients using shared IP addresses, recommending they whitelist specific IP addresses to improve deliverability.

• Advises on throttling email sends by segmenting audiences from the same company to avoid overwhelming inboxes and causing deliverability issues.

Understanding Hard Bounces

• Lists common codes associated with hard bounces (e.g., code 550), advising against further engagement with these addresses.

• Highlights that hard bounces should be removed from databases as they indicate invalid or non-existent email addresses.

Utilizing Smart Lists for Engagement

• Encourages the use of smart lists to monitor hard and soft bounces while maintaining regular performance reports on email deliverability metrics.

Email Engagement Metrics and Best Practices

Importance of Unsubscribe Reasons

• Maretto automatically updates the unsubscribe status and provides reasons for unsubscribes, which can be utilized in smart campaigns to create alerts for follow-up actions.

• Understanding the reasons behind unsubscribes can help address complaints and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Key Email Metrics to Monitor

• Aim for a bounce rate below 2% (ideally between 2-3%). A high hard bounce rate (above 2%) indicates serious issues that need immediate attention.

• Open rates should ideally exceed 20%, as they reflect recipient interest in your emails.

• Target a click-through rate above 2.5%, indicating effective engagement with email content.

• Negative spam complaints should remain below 0.02%. Higher rates necessitate a review of content and targeting strategies.

Managing Unsubscribes Effectively

• While unsubscribes are undesirable, they indicate that recipients are not interested, allowing for better engagement metrics in future sends by removing disinterested users from lists.

Email Sending Practices

• Maintaining good email practices and data hygiene is crucial; ensure you send emails only to opted-in subscribers.

IP Address Considerations

• Using a dedicated IP address enhances reputation management compared to shared IP addresses, where bad actors can negatively impact deliverability.

• For those sending over 100,000 emails monthly, applying for a dedicated IP is recommended; others may consider applying for a trusted IP instead.

Whitelisting and Deliverability Tools

• Whitelisting is not directly implementable by Market Engage users but can be requested by customers who add sender domains to their internal allow list.

Understanding Email Engagement and Deliverability

The Importance of Read Times

• Discussion on how companies like Apple, Google, and Yahoo claim their open tracking is transparent, but it may not be entirely accurate.

• Emphasizes the significance of read times in understanding email engagement; knowing how long recipients spend reading emails can indicate their interest level.

Email Deliverability and Engagement

• Highlights that effective email deliverability is closely tied to audience engagement; sending relevant content to the right audience enhances performance.

• Introduces tools available for improving email deliverability, including both free options and premium services.

Recommended Tools for Monitoring Deliverability

• Suggests signing up for multiple tools to get a comprehensive view of email performance across different platforms.

• Mentions Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS as immediate resources for enhancing deliverability due to their user-friendly interfaces.

Monitoring IP Performance

• Discusses the importance of regularly checking your standard score and IP address performance, especially after sending large volumes of emails.

• Advises on using MX Toolbox as a premium tool to assess domain setup correctness and inbox delivery rates.

Managing Spam Traps and Alerts

• Describes Barracuda Central's functionality in identifying if an IP is listed in spam traps, aiding in management efforts.

• Notes that MX Toolbox offers various services such as monitoring DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), ensuring proper configuration.

Enhancing Delivery Through Timing Optimization

• Explains how Postmark provides feedback loops for issues with incoming emails based on DMARC settings; alerts are sent weekly summarizing these issues.

Click Measurement Insights

• Clarifies that click-through metrics typically reflect unique clicks rather than total clicks unless specified otherwise in reports.

Impact of Delivery Timing on Engagement

• Discusses exploring user-defined or behavior-based email delivery timing as a method to improve open rates significantly.

Utilizing AI for Optimized Sending Times

• Shares an example where OpenAI was used to analyze past email interactions to determine optimal send times, resulting in increased open rates.

Additional Resources

Email Marketing Strategies and Dedicated IPs

Utilizing AI in Email Marketing

• The speaker discusses the ease of using AI for creating algorithms in email marketing, suggesting that users can design their own algorithms tailored to their needs.

• There is a mention of testing subject lines and headers within marketing platforms to optimize performance, emphasizing the importance of continuous testing.

Impact of Content Design on Deliverability

• The content design significantly affects email deliverability; optimizing content can lead to better results in reaching inboxes.

• Continuous testing is encouraged to refine strategies and improve overall effectiveness in email campaigns.

Challenges with Low Volume Sends on Dedicated IPs

• A question arises regarding the implications of sending emails from a dedicated IP with low volume sends, particularly if the volume drops below 100,000 emails per month.

• It is noted that while there may not be a strict limit enforced by providers like Marquetto, maintaining sufficient send volume is crucial for keeping an IP warm.

Risks Associated with Spikes in Email Sending

• The discussion highlights that ISPs monitor sending patterns; sudden spikes can trigger spam filters, leading to potential blocking of emails from that IP address.

• The speaker advises against using dedicated IP addresses without adequate sending volume due to these risks associated with uncharacteristic sending behavior.

Closing Remarks and Future Engagement