Are your carefully crafted emails consistently buried in Gmail’s Promotions tab, hurting your engagement and conversions?

You’re not alone. It’s a common frustration among businesses, marketers, and SaaS teams. Everyone wants a shortcut, a quick fix, or a guaranteed method to land directly in Gmail's coveted Primary inbox. Unfortunately, there’s no legitimate way to "game" Gmail’s sophisticated algorithms.

You Must Be Cautious...

Recently, you may have come across certain "experts" selling a supposed miracle solution: a snippet of hidden code or a text snippet to insert in the footer of your emails designed to bypass Gmail’s filters.

This practice is known as hash busting (an old SEO tactic used to game the systems), and if you’re serious about long-term email marketing success, you’ll want to steer clear of it completely.

What is Hash Busting, and Why Should You Avoid It? 

Hash busting is an outdated spam technique where senders slightly alter email content, such as adding random or hidden characters, to evade spam filters temporarily. Here’s how it works:

• Email providers create a digital fingerprint (hash) of messages flagged as spam.
• Spammers slightly modify emails (spacing changes, random text, invisible characters or by inserting a large amount of text in the footer of emails) to generate new hashes, momentarily avoiding detection.

While it may seem clever at first glance, hash busting is fundamentally deceptive. Email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft actively penalize senders who engage in this tactic. The consequences can be severe, including damaged sender reputations, reduced deliverability, or even being blacklisted entirely.

At Fundamental Marketing, we strongly recommend avoiding hash busting at all costs. Instead, legitimate marketers should:

• Focus on high-quality, relevant, personalized content.
• Maintain proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
• Protect sender reputation through consistent, meaningful engagement.
• Regularly manage and segment subscriber lists.

Before diving into how to improve your inbox placement, let’s look at the average read rates across Gmail’s inbox tabs in 2025:

• Primary tab: 22% read rate
• Promotions tab: 19.2% read rate
• Social tab: 22.4% read rate
• Forums tab: 21.1% read rate
• Updates tab: 28% read rate

It’s also essential to highlight that nearly 60% of Gmail users have disabled inbox tabs entirely, preferring a unified inbox. Early data indicates a similar trend emerging with Apple's recent mobile inbox tab update.

With that context in mind, here’s how you can effectively increase the likelihood of reaching the Primary inbox (or unified inbox) in 2025.

Understanding Gmail’s Promotions Tab

Since Gmail introduced categorized inboxes (Primary, Promotions, Social, Updates, and Forums), it significantly changed how users interact with their emails.

• Primary: Personal emails, important alerts, and direct communication.
• Promotions: Marketing emails, deals, and promotional content.
• Social: Notifications from social media.
• Updates: Transactional messages, bills, and official notifications.
• Forums: Emails from discussion groups or communities.

Google’s intention was straightforward: to organize inboxes and help users quickly find important emails. However, for marketers, this meant promotional emails became less visible and less likely to be opened or interacted with.

Important Note: All Tabs Are Still the Inbox

It’s essential to recognize that Gmail (along with providers like Yahoo, Apple, and Outlook) considers all categorized emails, whether Primary, Promotions, Social, or Updates, to be part of the recipient’s inbox. These tabs are simply a way to help users prioritize content. They're not spam or junk folders, and landing in Promotions doesn't mean your emails are "blocked."

However, placement matters because emails in Promotions typically receive lower engagement than those in the Primary tab, which is why marketers strive for Primary inbox placement.

In recent years, Gmail's filtering has evolved dramatically, driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Previously, Gmail used a top-down approach, where overall domain reputation dictated inbox placement. A good reputation meant inbox delivery, and poor reputation resulted in spam placement.

But now, Gmail employs a sophisticated bottom-up, AI-powered approach. Gmail no longer applies one universal spam filter. Instead, each inbox is personalized, acting like an AI-powered assistant curating content based on individual user behaviors, interactions, and preferences.

Why Do Emails Land in the Promotions Tab?

Gmail’s advanced, AI-driven algorithms individually assess inbox placement. Key factors include:

• Sender Reputation: Sending bulk or promotional-style emails can trigger placement in the Promotions tab.
• Content Analysis: Promotional language, excessive images, links, or sales-driven terms are flagged.
• Individual User Behavior: Gmail learns from user interactions. If a recipient regularly ignores your messages, future emails will be categorized accordingly.
• Email Volume: High email volumes without proper warm-up or pacing trigger promotional categorization.
• HTML and Formatting: Emails heavy with HTML, large images, or complex formatting appear promotional and are often filtered accordingly.

9 Proven Strategies to Reach Gmail’s Primary Inbox in 2025

Implement these best practices consistently to ensure your emails land in your prospect’s Primary inbox:

1. Personalize Every Email: Customize content by using the recipient’s name and relevant details. Personalization improves engagement, signaling Gmail’s AI to prioritize your emails.
2. Segment by Engagement and Avoid Bulk Sending: Segment your list not just by demographics but also by recent engagement and their position in your funnel. Tailor your messaging accordingly:

• Send different content to a prospect who engaged within the last 30 days versus one who hasn’t engaged in 60–90 days.
• Consider how recently (or infrequently) a recipient interacted with your emails. A recipient who opened recently is ready for a different conversation than one who hasn’t opened emails in months.
• Match content specifically to the prospect’s stage in your funnel. Be strategic about what information or call-to-action makes sense at that point.

3. Maintain Strong Sender Reputation: Regularly verify and clean your subscriber lists. Encourage interactions like replies and clicks to strengthen your sender reputation. Implement proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). (Ninja Trick, you can leverage our EmailSmart ProTools to help you with this.)
4. Minimize Links and Images: Limit visuals and links to essential ones. Excessive media can trigger Gmail’s promotional filters.
5. Maintain Balanced Text-to-HTML Ratio: Favor simple, plain-text or lightly formatted emails. Conversational emails typically land in the Primary tab more consistently.
6. Keep Emails Short and Relevant: Short emails (50–125 words) that clearly communicate your value proposition avoid Promotions and generate better engagement.
7. Ask Subscribers to Move You to Primary: Request recipients manually move your emails to Primary or add you as a contact. Both actions directly improve future inbox placement.
8. Optimize Email Timing: Send emails when your audience is most active. Positive interactions signal Gmail to prioritize your future messages.
9. Include Clear Unsubscribe Options: Provide a clear unsubscribe link to build trust, reduce spam reports, and maintain sender reputation.

Next Steps: Optimizing Your Email  for 2025 

Consistently landing in the Primary inbox requires ongoing effort:

• Regularly segment subscribers based on engagement.
• Deliver personalized, high-quality content relevant to each recipient.
• Continuously test and adapt your strategies based on performance data.
• Proactively monitor and protect your sender reputation.

Prioritizing genuine engagement and authentic, user-focused email practices, not shortcuts, is key to consistently reaching your audience’s Primary inbox, driving deeper connections, and maximizing your marketing ROI.

Ready to optimize your email deliverability and boost engagement?

Discover how Fundamental Marketing can elevate your email today!

Why Most Opt-in Campaign Follow-Ups Fail (and What to Do Instead)

Most businesses struggle with follow-up sequences after someone opts in. They either:

- Send too many emails upfront, overwhelming their leads and pushing them away.

- Wait too long between emails, causing interest to fizzle out.

- Use the same generic call to action (CTA) in every email, making the sequence repetitive and easy to ignore.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The good news? There’s a smarter way to follow up, one that aligns with how people naturally make decisions rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

Enter the Fibonacci follow-up strategy, a mathematical approach that structures your email timing to match human psychology, keeping engagement high while avoiding fatigue.

What Is the Fibonacci Sequence?

The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.

This pattern appears in nature (think pinecones, flower petals, and even the spiral of galaxies) and in human behavior. Our brains naturally respond well to patterns that follow this rhythm.

Why the Fibonacci Sequence Works for Follow-Ups

Most sales and marketing strategies assume people make decisions in a linear fashion, but in reality, people need reminders, time to process, and a sense of urgency to act.

By using Fibonacci timing, we:

1. Hit hard early when interest is highest.

2. Give them space to think without overwhelming them.

3. Ramp up urgency at the end to push conversions.

This natural cadence makes follow-ups feel less pushy, more strategic, and ultimately more effective at converting opt-in leads into action.

The Perfect 30-Day Fibonacci Follow-Up Plan

Here’s how we structure our emails for maximum conversions while keeping things engaging:

1. The High-Frequency Phase (Capturing Immediate Interest)

Day 1 – Immediate follow-up (quick recap & CTA to take the next step)

Day 2 – Reinforcement email (highlight a key takeaway & CTA)

Day 3 – Value-driven email (why taking action now matters)

Day 5 – Handling common objections

Day 8 – Testimonial or case study (real success story)

💡 Why This Works: People are most likely to take action immediately after opting in. We start strong, sending valuable, engaging content to reinforce their interest while addressing early objections.

2. The Breathing Room Phase (Letting the Decision Simmer)

Day 13 – FOMO-based urgency (what happens if they don’t act)

💡 Why This Works: Giving them some space prevents email fatigue and lets them process the offer without feeling pressured.

3. The Final Push (Reversing Fibonacci to Increase Urgency)

Day 21 – Another testimonial or case study (social proof boost)

Day 26 – Scarcity email (what they’re missing out on)

Day 28 – Final objection-handling email (removing last hesitations)

Day 29 – Last chance warning

Day 30 – Final push (breakup email or “this is it” message)

💡 Why This Works: As decision time approaches, we increase urgency and frequency, leveraging FOMO and last-minute decision-making tendencies to maximize conversions.

The Science Behind the Fibonacci Approach

This isn’t just a cool mathematical trick, it’s backed by behavioral psychology and marketing research:

• The Peak-End Rule: Studies show that people remember the peak (high points) and the end of an experience more than anything else.
• Loss Aversion: People are more motivated by the fear of missing out (loss) than by potential gain.
• Decision Fatigue: Too many emails too quickly can overwhelm leads, making them more likely to ignore or unsubscribe.

How This Approach Protects Your Sending Reputation

Beyond increasing engagement, using the Fibonacci sequence for follow-ups also helps protect your email sending reputation, ensuring that your emails continue reaching inboxes instead of spam folders.

• Respects the recipient’s inbox: Avoids overwhelming people with too many messages in a short period, reducing spam complaints and unsubscribes.
• Keeps engagement rates high: Improves engagement signals, helping maintain a good sender reputation.
• Varied content prevents fatigue: Mixing value-driven emails with social proof, urgency, and clear CTAs keeps subscribers engaged longer.
• Reduces bounce rates and unsubscribes: Prevents overloading audiences with constant sales pitches, maintaining a steady engagement rate.

Should Every Email Push for the Same CTA?

No! If every email says 'Take Action Now,' people will start tuning out. We recommend a balanced approach:

• 70% of emails → Primary CTA: Take the next step (book a call, purchase, register, etc.)
• 20% of emails → Social proof (testimonials, case studies, etc.)
• 10% of emails → Additional value (free resources, guides, insights)

This keeps engagement high while reinforcing the WHY behind the action, rather than just pushing for it.

The Bottom Line: Fibonacci Timing Converts More Leads

A standard follow-up sequence leaves money on the table, either by pushing too hard and losing trust or by waiting too long and fading into the background.

A Fibonacci-based email sequence creates a natural, strategic cadence that mirrors how people actually make decisions, ensuring your emails land at the right time to maximize conversions while protecting your sending reputation.

If you’re still relying on a linear follow-up or a one-size-fits-all approach, it’s time to rethink your strategy.

Want to optimize your follow-up emails and boost conversions? Let’s chat!

How to Get More of Your Emails into the Inbox (Without the Tech Overload

Ever feel like your emails are just vanishing into the void? You hit send, but instead of landing in inboxes, they’re getting ignored, deleted, or worse—sent straight to spam.

You’re not alone. A lot of businesses struggle with email deliverability, and most don’t even realize it’s happening. They have just accepted that this is the best they can do. The scary part? If your emails aren’t getting seen, you’re missing out on sales, engagement, and a whole lot of opportunity.

Now, you might think the fix is buried in complicated tech settings, fancy automations, or switching email platforms. But the real key to getting more emails in the inbox isn’t about tech at all—it’s about engagement.

The better your engagement, the better your inbox placement. Period.

Before we dive into how to improve it, let’s talk about what email engagement actually is—and why it makes or breaks your email success.

What Is Email Engagement (and Why Does It Matter)?

Every time you send an email, your audience does one of three things:

They engage positively → They open, click, reply, forward, or save your email
They ignore or delete it → They don’t even bother reading it
They get annoyed and mark it as spam → They tell their email provider they don’t want your emails

The more positive engagement you get, the more email providers trust you and send your emails to the inbox.
The more negative engagement you get, the more email providers think your emails are unwanted—and start filtering you into spam.

Think of it like restaurant reviews. If lots of people love your restaurant, give you great ratings, and keep coming back, you build a great reputation. But if people ignore you, complain, and leave bad reviews, your reputation tanks.

Your email reputation works the same way. And engagement is the #1 thing that determines whether you succeed or fail.

How Email Providers Decide If Your Emails Go to Inbox or Spam

Think of Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo like bouncers or doormen at an exclusive nightclub. Just standing and waiting in line, doesn’t guarantee you entry. The Bouncer decides who gets in and who gets rejected.

Here’s what happens when you send an email:

The email provider scans your email before delivery. 
They test your email with a small group of recipients. 
If engagement is high → More emails go to inbox. 
If engagement is low → More emails go to spam. 

Even if you follow every best practice, if engagement is low, your emails will still end up in spam.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes That Hurt Your Email Engagement

If your emails aren’t getting opened or you’re ending up in spam, you’re probably making one of these common mistakes:

1. Sending Emails That People Don’t Care About 
   - Fix: Segment your email list, personalize your messages, and write emails focused on the recipient. 

2. Sending Too Many (or Too Few) Emails 
   - Fix: Test different frequencies and let your audience choose how often they hear from you. 

3. Writing Boring or Clickbait Subject Lines 
   - Fix: Use curiosity, urgency, and direct messaging without misleading claims. 

4. Making Your Emails Too Long or Hard to Read 
   - Fix: Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and get to the point quickly. 

5. Not Making It Easy to Unsubscribe 
   - Fix: Provide a clear unsubscribe option and email preferences.

How to Improve Email Engagement (and Get More Emails Seen)

Now that you know what hurts engagement, let’s focus on how to improve it.

1. Personalize Every Email 
   - Use first names, reference past actions, and make emails feel personal. 

2. Use Interactive Content 
   - Add buttons, images, GIFs, polls, and surveys to increase engagement. 

3. Clean Your Email List Regularly 
   - Remove inactive subscribers, send re-engagement campaigns, and keep your list healthy. 

Final Thoughts: If You Want More Sales, You Need More Emails in the Inbox

At the end of the day, there is no magic button, secret code or hack to get you into the inbox! Managing your list properly and specifically your email engagement is the key to getting more emails seen.

📩 If people open, click, and reply, you’ll reach more inboxes.  
🗑️ If people ignore, delete, or mark as spam, you’ll end up in junk. 

### Check Your SMART Score Today  ###
Your email performance is only as good as the data you have. That’s where EmailSmart comes in.

The EmailSmart Dashboard makes it easy to track your email engagement and fix deliverability issues fast—without the confusion of tech jargon.

With EmailSmart, you can:
✔ See how different email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) treat your emails. 
✔ Find out how new contacts are engaging with your marketing. 
✔ Discover what percentage of your list is churning each month. 
✔ Easily segment your database based on engagement. 
✔ Learn exactly what you need to do to land in the inbox.  

Don’t wait until your emails disappear into spam—check your SMART Score today!  

Get More Emails Seen… Check Your SMART Score Now: https://emailsmart.com/score

Let’s break down how your actions as a sender impact your reputation, and in turn, your email deliverability.

The Anatomy of Sender Reputation

1. Content Quality

The content of your emails is a major factor in shaping your reputation. ESPs analyze the text, links, and formatting of your messages to ensure they’re not spammy or misleading. Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Avoid Spam Triggers: Subject lines like "Buy Now!!!" or excessive use of symbols (“!!!!”) are immediate red flags.
• Balance Promotional Content: Overloading emails with offers and sales pitches can hurt your reputation.
• Use Clean Links: Broken or suspicious links signal poor practices.

Quality content builds trust and keeps recipients engaged, while poor-quality emails can quickly damage your standing.

2. Engagement Metrics

Every interaction (or lack thereof) your emails receive contributes to your reputation. ISPs track metrics such as:

• Open Rates: Low open rates may indicate disinterest or poor targeting.
• Click-Through Rates (CTR): A high CTR shows your audience finds your emails relevant and valuable.
• Spam Complaints: Even a small number of complaints can significantly impact your reputation.
• Unsubscribes: A steady rise in unsubscribes signals that your content isn’t meeting expectations.
• Bounce Rates:

High bounce rates—particularly hard bounces—suggest poor list hygiene or outdated contact information, both of which harm your reputation.

Encouraging positive engagement and minimizing negative interactions ensures your emails are welcomed rather than shunned.

3. Sending Practices

Good sending practices act as the foundation for building a strong reputation. ISPs scrutinize:

• List Hygiene: Sending to invalid or outdated addresses results in hard bounces, damaging your reputation.
• List Management: Sending email to users who are not reading them, or who report them as spam, will harm your delivery metrics and reputation. Focus mailing the contacts that have recently engaged with your emails.
• Authentication: Use protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to prove your legitimacy.
• Consistency: Abrupt changes in sending volume or frequency can raise red flags.

Failing to adhere to these best practices not only reduces deliverability but also increases the risk of being blacklisted.

Why Sender Reputation Impacts Deliverability

Sender reputation acts as a trust score between you and ISPs. Just like a credit score, it’s hard to earn and easy to lose. A poor reputation means your emails are more likely to be flagged as spam or rejected altogether. On the other hand, a stellar reputation ensures your messages reach their intended recipients.

Every negative interaction—spam complaints, low engagement, or sending to invalid addresses—chips away at that trust. And just like the internet itself, ISPs have a long memory. Rebuilding a damaged reputation is a slow process that requires consistent effort and adherence to best practices.

How to Build and Maintain a Stellar Reputation

1. Send Quality Content Consistently

Relevance is key. Use segmentation to tailor your emails to your audience's needs and interests. When your recipients find value in your messages, they’re more likely to engage positively.

2. Engage Your Audience

Encourage interactions by:

• Asking questions that invite replies.
• Including compelling calls-to-action (CTAs).
• Personalizing your messages to resonate with your audience.

The more your audience engages, the stronger your reputation grows.

3. Stay Technically Sound

Authenticate your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols. These show ISPs that your emails are legitimate and help prevent spoofing. Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses.

4. Monitor and Adjust

Use tools like EmailSmart’s SMART Score and Google Postmaster Tools to track your performance. By understanding where your reputation stands and addressing areas of weakness, you can stay ahead of potential issues.

Conclusion

Your sender reputation is your most valuable asset in email marketing. It determines whether your carefully crafted messages land in inboxes or disappear into the spam abyss. And just like the internet itself, your reputation is long-lived, shaped by every email you send and every interaction it garners.

Take charge of your sender reputation today.

Discover your SMART Score and protect your deliverability now. Check Your Score

High bounce rates (more than 2%) create negative impacts that you must be aware of:

• Bad reputation. ISP's monitor and watch for addresses that continue to send messages to invalid users.  
• Low Inbox placement.  ISP's monitor bounce rates for every campaign you send, and use that information to decide where to delivery your emails in the future (the inbox, promotions folder or junk folder).
• Blacklisting. Frequently seen high bounce rates get the sender's IP address land on blacklists supported by ISPs and anti-spam organizations.
• Account suspension. Email service providers (Keap, Infusionsoft by Keap, Ontraport, Active Campaign or Hubspot) have a strict policy as to how they internally handle bounce and complaint rates. They will suspend the user's account if the campaign sent by the user generates a complaint rate that is beyond the ESP's allowed limit.
• Lost revenues. Email service providers charge you for each message you are sending or store within their systems. Invalid email addresses are increasing the cost of your email campaigns without any return on investment.  Furthermore, poor inbox placement will have a negative impact on your email marketing campaigns.

But what are these different types of bounces and what do they mean?  

Well luckily for all of us, bounces are not as mythical as Unicorns and they can be dealt with once you understand what they are and why they are occuring.

The first item to realize is that there are two types of email bounces, soft bounces and Hard Bounces.  A hard bounce occurs when the message has been permanently rejected.  A soft bounce means that the email address was valid and the email message reached the recipient’s mail server but was not accepted at this time.  

Hard Bounces

A hard bounce is an e-mail message that has been returned to the sender because the recipient's address is invalid. A hard bounce might occur because the domain name doesn't exist or because the recipient is unknown, the domain name does not exist or the recipients mail servers are completely blocking delivery.  Hard Bounces are automatically handled by most ESP's (like Keap or Infusionsoft by Keap).

Even though hard bounces are automatically handled once they occur, you want to be doing everything you can to minimize these hard bounces from occurring as they Will HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON YOUR INBOX PLACEMENT.  Good list hygiene practices (regularly cleaning your list with a third party tool and engagement tracking) is highly recommended to prevent these email toxins from staying in your list and hurting your deliverability.

Soft Bounces

When talking about soft bounces,  we are talking about is a temporary bounce.  A bounce that can be classified as temporary indicates that while the delivery of this current message was unsuccessful, you may be able to deliver another email to that address at a later date.   If an email gets a soft bounce on an email send, most email providers will attempt to deliver the email over the period of a few days (this is why an email may show bounced and opened). You should keep an eye on these addresses -- if you notice that the same ones are popping up over and over again, it's best to remove them.

Bounce Rates should be kept under 2%.  Any higher than that and you will likely see a negative impact on deliverability. 

To help you understand soft bounces better and what this all means, here is a list of the soft bounce types and their meaning:

• Mailbox Full: The recipient's email box is too full. There is no room for the message. Most of the time this is related to improper maintenance, but it could mean that the recipient no longer actively uses the email account even though it still exists.
• Message too Large: There is content in the message or attachments causing the message size to exceed the limits of the receiving server.
• DNS Failure: The email cannot be delivered due to an issue with the receiving server. This is most likely an issue with the nameserver settings for your domain. Contact your domain administrator for assistance. The issue may be related to the SPF records.
• General: The specific reason for the bounce has not been detected.
• Auto Reply: This kind of soft bounce indicates the message has been delivered, but the recipient has an auto-reply enabled on their account. The bounce status will be removed as soon as the recipient opens the email.
• Subscribe Request: These are recorded when an auto-reply is sent to your bounce capture email account ([email protected] or [email protected]) asking to be added to your list. They are a type of soft bounce since most people would not send a message to these accounts.
• Mail Blocks: A mail block is recorded when the recipient's email server blocks an email message completely. It rejects it before it tries to deliver it to their inbox.
• General: The recipient's email server is blocking messages sent through the Infusionsoft server.
• Known Spammer: The recipient's email server is blocking messages from your email account based on an email history or reputation that indicates you've been sending SPAM.
• Relay Denied: The recipient's email server is blocking messages sent through the Infusionsoft server. Setting up your SPF to include infusionmail.com will help you resolve this issue.
• Spam Detected: The recipient's email server is blocking your email because the content looks like SPAM. Use the Infusionsoft Spam Score tool in the email template to check the email content and reduce the SPAM score below 5 (preferably zero.)
• Attachment Detected: The recipient's email server is blocking the message because of the attachment. It may have identified the attachment as a possible virus source, the system may not allow attachments at all, or may block specific types of files (e.g. .exe). The size of the attachment may also be causing an issue. Make sure your attachment size is less than 10 MB.
• Unsubscribe Request: These are recorded when an auto-reply request is sent to your bounce capture email account([email protected] or [email protected]) asking to be removed from your email list. A real person will reply to the email or click on the Unsubscribe Link.  These Unsubscribe Requests are the same as an ISP Spam complaint.
• Undetermined: An undetermined status is assigned when Infusionsoft is not able to identify the cause of the bounce based on the feedback received from the receiving server.

Here are a few tips that will help you reduce your bounces and be in good standing with the email Gods.

1.  Do not buy, rent or harvest email addresses.
2.  Use a confirmed (double) opt-in process
3.  Regularly clean your list 
4.  Monitor Bounces by domain.
5.  Remove emails that are repeatedly soft bouncing.
6.  Test your emails for Spam Score before you send.
7.  Setup proper email infrastructure (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

Email bounces will happen, the key thing you must remember is how they impact your domain’s reputation>   A little bit of planning and prevention will go a long way towards protecting your domain’s reputation and help you to increase your odds of landing in the inbox of your subscribers.

Let's first start as they say in sports with the X's and O's or "the basics".  What is the difference between email delivery and deliverability?  Here are some simple definitions:

• Email Delivery: To be considered “delivered”, your email simply has to be accepted by the recipient’s server. Sounds easy, right? If you answer yes, you are unfortunately incorrect. Delivered doesn’t necessarily mean to the inbox. It just means it didn’t get rejected and completely blocked by the ISP.  The question, "was an email delivered" answer means: Can the email message be accepted by the ISP.
• Email Deliverability:  Email Deliverability or "Inbox Placement", simply put, very simply refers to where your email message actually ends up after it was accepted by the ISP.  The options here are the inbox, the spam folder or the promotions folder.

Think of the journey of your email like this, after you send the email, it hits the first checkpoint with the ISP.  The Question that is answered here is "Will the ISP accept the email?"  If the message is accepted and delivered (email delivery), then it hits checkpoint 2.  At checkpoint 2, otherwise known as the spam filter, the ISP determines where inside of this mailbox your email should be placed.  The Inbox, the spam folder or the promotions folder. 

Let's now break this down a bit further so you can understand what is going on.  

How Does Email Delivery Work?

At its most basic level, email can be delivered or bounced.  A bounce is when the email does not arrive in the intended mailbox (their inbox, spam, or otherwise). Bounces can be a soft bounce, where the server will continue to try to deliver the message again or hard bounce when an email message is considered permanently undeliverable.  

So the question now is what can impact email delivery?  Here is a list of some items that can cause an email to bounce and not be delivered:

1. Poor Email Infrastructure:  No SPF or DKIM record validation your emails
2. Hard Bounce: The email address does not exist
3. Soft Bounce:  The mailbox is full, the message is too large, or a mail block (Mail Blocks can be caused by the following: email reputation as a known spammer, SPF issues, The email is seen as spam by the spam filters, email attachments detected)

Now that we have a basic understanding of delivery, let's dive into email deliverability.

How Does Email Deliverability Work?

Email deliverability is also referred to as inbox placement.  Where in the inbox did the email land?

Email Deliverability is dependent on three things: Identification, Reputation, and Content.

1. Identification:  ISP's want to know it’s actually you that is sending an email.  Think of email authentication the same way you would a drivers license, or a passport.  When you go to the airport, the TSA checks your license or passport to ensure that you are the same person listed on the ticket.  Authentication of your emails works the same way, but instead of a passport or ID, the ISP's use frameworks such as SPF, DKIM or DMARC to validate that the server the email is being sent from matches the from address in the email field.
2. Content:  Your emails have t be appropriate and relevant to your subscribers.  If your emails aren't appropriate or relevant, your email subscribers will either opt-out (if you're lucky), stop opening your emails (this has a negative impact on reputation) or in the worst case report you as spam.  Other items that can affect your deliverability from a content perspective are excessive use of exclamation points, subject lines, awkward formatting of your emails and the use of URL shorteners like bit.ly (yes URL shorteners are bad!!!!!!)  When writing your content you really need to put yourself in the shoes of your target customer and ask yourself, would I really open this or would this email be valuable and provide value to me.
3. Reputation:  Sender reputation or sender score basically shows how trustworthy of a sender you are.  Every email you send has a positive or negative affect on your overall sender reputation.  Sender reputation looks at spam complaints, how often you hit spam traps, how many of your emails bounce, how many recipients unsubscribe, how many emails are opened, are emails replied to or forwarded, how many links are in emails, mailing to unknown emails (unsolicited email sending such as purchasing a list and mailing it) being blacklisted.  

How to improve email Delivery.

Delivery issues are typically related to one of two root causes.  First is a poor internal infrastructure.  Take the time to ensure your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records within your DNS settings are configured properly and tested.  If you do not have the technical expertise to do this, then hire a professional who specializes in email deliverability.  The second issue is your list hygiene practices.  Good email addresses turn bad if they are not logged into or the domain is terminated.  By having good list hygiene in place you can minimize the number of bounces that occur that have a negative impact on your email delivery and sender reputation.  You should be cleaning your lists at a minimum of every quarter in order to keep bad email addresses out of your lists.  

How To Make It Into The Inbox.

Now that you know the difference between deliverability and delivery, here are tips on how to improve your deliverability and make it into the inbox.

1.  Setup your email infrastructure properly: (see #1 above)
2. Maintain a clean email list:  You need to keep a regular watch on the health and engagement of your email list.  Permission to market (when they opt-in) is great, but there is much more to it.  Keeping a clean list is made up of two key components, email hygiene and engagement.  As discussed above, run regular list scrubs (monthly if you can or at the minimum quarterly) to ensure you have a verified and clean list.  Poor engagement has a negative impact on your sender score and reputation.  Running monthly check on your email engagement will give you a birds eye view on what is going on and then give you the ability to run re-engagement campaigns to get them back before they forget who you are.
3. Let them Unsubscribe:  When it comes to email deliverability, an unsubscribe is not a bad thing.  It is much better than the alternatives of them not opening your email, just deleting your email or marking the email as spam.  Let it be easy for them to unsubscribe, which means do not bury the required cans-pam opt out with a bunch of spacers at the end of your email.  If they can't find the unsubscribe button, then they will mark you as spam.
   
4.   Keep your content relevant and personal:  The question you need to ask yourself before you hit that lovely send or publish button is, are you sending content that matters to the subscriber?  Make sure that you are sending personalized emails that will resonate with the subscriber, emails that provide value to the subscriber and emails that are engaging with the subscriber.  Relevancy matters.  Set expectations on what you will be sending and tick to those expectations.  Put your self on the receiving end of the emails and ask the question, is this engaging to me and relevant to the topic I requested information on?  By doing this, it will not only improve your engagement, but it will build better relationships with your contacts and result in better ROI on your email marketing efforts.

I hope this helps clear the air on the difference between email delivery vs email deliverability and gives you a few ways to improve both.  There is a lot that goes into getting emails delivered and into the inbox, but if you follow the tips below and get a solid foundation in place, you will see great improvements in your email marketing efforts.

If you have questions and want to take a deeper look at your email deliverability, comment below or feel free to schedule a time to go over your email infrastructure and practices.

Although email deliverability (inbox placement) is a complex matter (content, subject lines, systems, ip addresses, engagement etc), there are several fundamental pieces you must make sure you have in place Inside of your Infusionsoft account before you send another email.

Here are the 7 things you need to do to ensure your Infusionsoft account is setup properly before you send another email.

1. Configure DKIM within Infusionsoft
2. Configure your DKIM within your DNS
3. Setup your SPF records for Infusionsoft email and IP’s
4. Setup your DMARC record
5. Configure and run your Infusionsoft Automated List Management
6. Identify and segment based on email engagement. (do not mail those that are not engaged)
7. Clean and Scrub your list with an Email Hygiene Solution. (recommended a minimum of every 6 months)

After reading this list, you may be asking, what are all these and what does all this technical mumbojumbo mean?  Let me help you:

What is DKIM?

DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) is a complex email protocol that allows a sender's identity to be authenticated by the recipient to help combat email fraud. Also known as “digital signature,” this is a method for associating a domain name with an email message, allowing a person, role, or organization to claim some responsibility for the message. A digital signature gives recipients a reason to believe the email message was created by a known sender and was not altered in transit.

How does DKIM work?

A public key is used to create a DNS record. That same key is also used to digitally sign the header of emails that are sent. When the recipient's provider receives the email, they check the sender's DNS records and the sender's authenticity is validated by the matching key. The message can then be delivered to the recipient with confidence that the sender is who they claim to be.

Why is DKIM important?

DKIM affords the greatest assurance that the sender is who they say they are and gives email providers a way to track and hold senders accountable for the messages they're sending. As a result, deliverability of these messages is greater and inbox placement is improved.

What is SPF?

Sender Policy Framework is an email validation protocol designed to detect and block email spoofing by providing a mechanism to allow receiving mail exchangers to verify that incoming mail from a domain comes from an IP Address authorized by that domain's administrators.  This is configured in your websites DNS.

How does SPF work?

The receiving server extracts the domain's SPF record, and then checks if the source email server IP is approved to send emails for that domain. Receiving servers verify SPF by checking a specific TXT DNS entry in your domain, which includes a list of approved IP addresses. This is one of the key aspects of SPF.

Why is SPF important?

SPF records prevent sender address forgery by protecting the envelope sender address, allowing the domain administrator to specify which mail server are allowed to send mail from their domain. This anti-spam method however requires that you have a properly formatted SPF record and the receiving server has the ability to check if the message complies with this record

What is DMARC?

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance is an email-validation system designed to detect and prevent email spoofing.

How does DMARC work?

A DMARC policy allows a sender to indicate that their messages are protected by SPF and/or DKIM, and tells a receiver what to do if neither of those authentication methods passes – such as junk or reject the message. DMARC removes guesswork from the receiver’s handling of these failed messages, limiting or eliminating the user’s exposure to potentially fraudulent & harmful messages. DMARC also provides a way for the email receiver to report back to the sender about messages that pass and/or fail DMARC evaluation.

Why is DMARC important?

The main goal of DMARC is to detect and prevent email spoofing. For example, phishing scams that are designed to look like they’re coming from your bank or Amazon, prompting you to click on a link to reset your password or to give them your information(we have all received those at least once).

SPF and DKIM do a majority of the hard work here. By designating email systems that are permitted to send email for a domain, and by  signing messages to avoid header modification en-route.

But DMARC ties the two technologies together, providing a single interface for instructing remote mailers on the domains policies, and actions to take if and when those policies are not met. 

What is Automated List Management?

Infusionsoft Automated List Management is a tool inside Infusionsoft that gives you the ability to automate the engagement status of your individual contacts based on their engagement or lack of engagement with your email.

How does Automated List Management work?

Infusionsoft's automated list management allows you to configure two different thresholds of non-engagement within your marketing, Unengaged Marketable status and Unengaged Non-Marketable status.  These statuses are set by you and are determined by the last time a contact filled out a form, opened and email, clicked on a link or purchased through an Infusionsoft order form.  You have the ability to set the timeframe on both of these.

Why is Automated List Management important?

There are several reasons why Automated List Management in Infusionsoft is important. First, by managing your list based on engagement, you are practicing good list hygiene.  30% of email users change their emails every year which is why email addresses go bad. Removing these non engaged emails from your marketing will have a positive impact on your email deliverability and Inbox placement.  

Second, when the ISP's are deciding where to place your email, the inbox, promotions tab or spam filter, engagement within your emails is a major part of the algorithm. Poor engagement with your emails= Poor inbox placement.

What is Engagement Segmentation?

List segmentation refers to the process of dividing a email contact list into smaller “segments” according to certain shared characteristics.  When Looking at Engagement Segmentation, those characteristics in this case will be time since last engagement

How does Engagement Segmentation work?

Email segmentation is a way to group your email list into categories to send more targeted marketing emails. Email segmentation also affects your sender reputation. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) evaluate how your recipients interact with your email when deciding where your mail will be placed.

*PRO TIP - you can use PlusThis or My Fusion Helper to identify the engagement levels of your database and tag them accordingly.  From there you can create automated campaigns to handle the unengaged portions of your list.  We also have several prebuilt campaigns designed to facilitate this.

Why is Engagement Segmentation important?

Poor engagement with your emails = Poor inbox placement. When the ISP's are deciding where to place your email, the inbox, promotions tab or spam filter, engagement within your emails is a major part of the algorithm.

Once you have identified they have not engaged, you have the opportunity to segment those contacts and reengage them, via different mediums.  Those could include retargeting ads via Facebook or utilizing a third Party SMTP email system to engage on a different set if IP addresses while still leveraging the overall power of Infusionsoft..

What is Email List Hygiene?

 Email hygiene is defined as the process of verifying or removing invalid email addresses from an email list. These accounts may be from people who switched jobs and closed their old company address, people who switched domains (ex: from aol.com to gmail.com), dead email accounts or people who unsubscribed.

How does Email Hygiene work?

An easy way to keep your emails clean is to use a third-party email verification service. Email verification services ensure that emails in your list are actually sendable before being sent.  Third part email hygiene tools will identify the following poisons within your database: Bouncing Emails, Spam Traps, Bots, Invalid Emails, Typos Domains, Role Accounts, Catch-all email addresses and Serial Complainers.  All of the above can have a negative impact on your Email Deliverability and Inbox Placement.

Being proactive like this goes along way in the success of your campaigns

As you can see, keeping your list clean is a minor annoyance where the good heavily outweighs the bad. Practicing proper email hygiene will separate your list from your competitors and keep your subscribers engaged and happy for a long time.

Why is Email Hygiene important?

Poor engagement with your emails = Poor inbox placement. When the ISP's are deciding where to place your email, the inbox, promotions tab or spam filter, engagement within your emails is a major part of the algorithm.

By being proactive with your list hygiene you will experience more consistent email deliverability,  have higher engagement with your emails, increase your Inbox Placement, create a better domain reputation and overall increase your conversion rates and ROI from your Email Marketing. 

Email deliverability is a complex beast to tackle, but these 7 items will give you a solid foundation within your Infusionsoft application to ensure you are doing what you can to increase your Inbox Placement and get more eyes on your emails. 

If you do not have a dedicated member on your team that can handle this or if you need help, Fundamental Marketing is here to support you! We are offering a free consultation to go over your system to ensure you are good to go when it comes to sending emails with Infusionsoft.  You can schedule your FREE Email Deliverability Consultation here.

Even if you built your list the right way (you didn't purchase a list, scrape the internet, get a list from a JV partner etc) if you are not practicing proper list hygiene, there is an extremely high chance that you could be considered a spammer in the eyes of the ISP's.

Here is why:

The Problems

1) Expired emails = Inactive subscribers - ISPs base complaint rates on active subscribers, not total subscribers.

If your list is loaded with emails that are inactive, you will never have a clear picture of what your true complaint rate is. While many marketers just look at total complaints over total list size ( you sent 25,000 emails and had 25 complaints), ISPs (internet service providers) are actually looking at total complaints over number of active email users.

Let's show an example. You have a email sending out to 5,000 contacts. Suppose your email to 5,000 addresses only makes it to 2000 inboxes and then generates 40 complaints. A marketer might think their complaint rate is only 1% (40 / 5,000). Unfortunately the ISP's will calculate a rate of 2.5% (40 / 2000) -- a rate that is will likely get you blocked by certain ISPs. The ISP's base it on emails delivered not the total sent!

ISPs started caring about active users when they caught on to a loophole that spammers with poor email sending habits were exploiting. That then carried over to those with poor email hygiene practices and had dirty lists. In an attempt to work the system, spammers started to stuff their lists with inactive email addresses. They did this because inactive accounts don't click spam buttons, and therefore, the total spam complaints would stay artificially low. Pretty Sneaky!

2) Expired email addresses turn into unknown accounts.

When an ISP sees that you’re sending to a large number of unknown accounts (accounts that cannot be verified), once again, they will suspect that you are sending spam messages. If you hit unknown accounts at a rate higher that 5%, it is very likely they will send your emails directly to the spam folder or could just block you completely.

3) Expired email addresses turn into spam traps.

Since spammers tend to buy and steal lists, ISPs resort to yet another method to track them down: ISPs mark abandoned or dormant email addresses as spam traps. A dormant email is an account that was once real and used, but is no longer active. It hasn't been logged into or is full and cannot receive emails anymore. This means that, even if you acquired emails in a legitimate manner, the dormant addresses may have been converted into spam traps. Hitting even just one spam trap in an email send can cause deliverability problems with the ISP's.

The Solution: Email List Hygiene

The solution to all three problems listed above is to regularly clean up your email list by removing those addresses that are no longer engaged and run regular hygiene scrubs to ensure you are keeping bad contacts out of your list. Monthly list scrubs is best, but at a minimum you should clean your list once a quarter.

You can also identify unengaged contacts with metrics such as opens, clicks or engagement reports. Aside from all of the money you will save from sending less email, you will achieve higher deliverability, a good email reputation with the ISP gods, and increase your ROI from your marketing campaigns!

If you would like to schedule a free consultation to discuss your email deliverability, go to my calendar and select a time to talk.