Email engagement is one of the signals that email providers use to determine whether or not your messages are actually being read and interacted with by recipients. A good email engagement rate means that your messages are more likely to be delivered to inboxes, while a low email engagement rate can result in your messages being sent to spam folders or being blocked entirely.
Here are the different email engagement signals that impact your deliverability:
- Open rate
- Click-through rate
- Time spent reading
- Spam complaints
- Unsubscribes
- Bounce rate
- Spam traps
- Sender reputation
Read on to find out how these factors can impact your deliverability and email marketing strategy, as well as how to purge your list of disengaged, non-responsive or churned clients.
Open rate
Email open rate is determined by the number of people who open your email divided by the number of people who were supposed to receive it. A higher email open rate indicates that recipients are interested in your content and are more likely to engage with it. This, in turn, can lead to better email deliverability.
Click-through rate
Click-through rate refers to the number of people who click on a link in your email divided by the number of people who received it. As with open rate, a higher click-through rate indicates that recipients are interested in what you have to say, and are more likely to engage with your content.
Time spent reading
The amount of time spent reading an email can also be a good indicator of engagement. If people are taking the time to read your email, it's a good sign that they're interested in what you have to say.
Other factors that impact email deliverability include:
Spam complaints
If a recipient marks your email as spam, it will impact your deliverability. This is why it's important to make sure that only people who want to receive your emails are on your list.
Unsubscribes
When someone unsubscribes from your email list, it's a sign that they're no longer interested in hearing from you. While it's not ideal, it does give an indication of the type of content your users might be less inclined to engage with, and allows you to tailor your email campaigns to those who remain subscribed.
Bounce rate
A high email bounce rate is another sign that your content isn't relevant to your audience. If you're regularly sending emails to addresses that don't exist, it will negatively impact your deliverability. (Find out the difference between a hard bounce and a soft bounce here.)
Spam traps
Spam traps are email addresses that are created specifically to catch senders who are emailing unengaged users. If you email a spam trap, it's likely your IP address will be blacklisted, and your emails will no longer be delivered.
Sender reputation
Sender reputation refers to the reputation of the IP address your emails are sent from, and signals to email inbox providers whether or not you’re sending spam. It is based on the following factors:
- Content quality
- Quality of contacts
- Engagement levels of emails previously sent from your IP address
How to improve your delivery rate by sending relevant and targeted content
Making sure your content is relevant is key to a good deliverability rate. If your email is not relevant to the recipients, they're less likely to open and engage with it.
Making sure your email content is targeted is also important. You should segment your email list so that you're sending different types of content to different groups of people. This way, you can ensure that everyone is getting information that's relevant to them.
Protect your sender reputation
Your email sender reputation is important for deliverability. If you have a good reputation, your email is more likely to be delivered to the inbox.
There are a number of things you can do to protect your sender reputation, such as monitoring your email list for bounces and spam complaints, and maintaining a healthy email list. You can do this by regularly purging your list of disengaged, non-responsive or churned contacts.
How to improve your email deliverability by removing disengaged contacts
There are a few key steps you can take to improve email deliverability by removing disengaged contacts:
- Identify which contacts are inactive or unengaged.
- Remove these contacts from your email list.
- Send a re-engagement email campaign to try and win them back.
- If they don't respond, remove them from your list.
How Email Hippo can help to improve your email deliverability
Email Hippo's email verification service can help to improve your email deliverability by verifying the email addresses on your list. This will help to ensure that only valid, active email addresses remain on your list.
Try it for free today - sign up for a free trial.
