Businesses of all types can benefit from a well-managed email marketing initiative. However, today they must take extra precautions to ensure they maintain a reputation as a high-quality sender to optimize delivery and improve conversions. Review these top tips and make sure your organization follows them all:

Ping test emails

Always ping your emails before your initial campaign, especially if it is an old list, a trade show list, or a prospect list. And once the ping has been tested, never use emails that have failed.

No longer in

Monitor your autoresponders and delete no longer in and withdraw immediately after each campaign. These email responses should be closely reviewed as the autoresponder may come from a different source than the actual email that needs to be removed.

Consistency and frequency

The consistency and frequency of your email campaigns is important to maintaining a positive sender reputation. ISPs try to create and evaluate your domain’s email marketing history. The more consistent you are and the more reasonable your frequency, the more likely you are to build a strong reputation as a sender. That assumes you are following the other tips listed here.

Avoid / Reduce complaints

Many complaints will spell a lot of trouble for your sender’s reputation and domain. The best way to avoid complaints is to limit the frequency of campaigns (every two weeks for most general campaigns is a good rule of thumb), adhere to exclusions immediately, focus on content and quality assurance, and restrict the “selling” arguments.

Avoid spam traps (Honeypots)

Spam traps, sometimes referred to as honeypots, are email addresses specifically created to catch emails from marketers who do not follow email best practices. The traps are targeting marketers who are mining email addresses from the web or simply sending emails at full speed using low-quality lists. A sufficient number of “catches” from spam traps can result in poor deliverability or even blacklisting of domains.

Use relevant educational content

“Buy my things and save money now”! If your content is commercial, spammy, and irrelevant, your sender reputation will suffer and it will happen quickly. Try to keep your content relevant and educational. Changing regulations, industry innovation, big news of the day, and educational webinars will be better received than an invitation to purchase your products or services.

Email marketing is both an art and a science, and it is increasing in complexity and deliverability nuances. It can be a great lead generator when used correctly, or a waste of time and money when used with an email “blast” mindset. Insurance agency marketers who lack the time or resources to undertake this type of initiative may outsource their campaigns to a competent insurance agency marketing firm.