What you can do - and what we at WizeHive do daily - to ensure your emails get to their destination.
When you email your coworker the agenda for the afternoon staff meeting or your sister to discuss weekend plans, you don’t mentally walk through a checklist of best email practices before clicking “Send.” That’s because one-to-one emails are a single, simple transaction, and our email platforms and servers know that. Message goes from point A to point B almost instantly with no issue.
However when you email your company’s newsletter mailing list or email all the applicants in your workspace to remind them of an impending deadline, it’s a very different story. Anti-SPAM laws and security filters have made mailing groups marketing content a nuanced activity that requires thought and strategy. The wrong list, content, or system can result in your emails not getting opened - or perhaps not ever delivered at all.
We know there’s a good reason you are sending out each message you create, and we want your constituents to get that information. That’s why we’ve built certain protections and practices into Zengine’s email feature to help ensure your deliverability. Combined with you and your team adopting some email marketing best practices, you can rest assured your reminders, notifications, and updates arrive at their destination as planned.
What You Should Do To Ensure Email Deliverability
- Personalize the “from” field. When you set up your auto or bulk emails, create a persona that the email comes from. An applicant is far more likely to open an email sent from “Jane at XYZ Foundation” than “Webform App” or, worse, a randomly generated code. Use real names and your organization’s title to clearly state who you are.
- Add the recipient's first name at the start of the email. Letters, electronic and old school, follow a predictable format, and email servers know that. So an email that begins with a salutation is more likely to make its way past filters looking for SPAM. The personalization is also a great way to make communications more personal and relatable.
- Avoid danger words in your subject line. SPAM filters are on the hunt for subject lines that fit the profile of an unwanted message. Words and phrases like “free”, “act now”, or “today only”, or the overuse of capitalizations and exclamation points will get you flagged. Instead, state clearly and simply the reason for the email. It’s bound to help your open rates once you get to the inbox, too.
- Ask your applicants to add your email address to their address book. SPAM filters generally will let through emails that come known contacts. Ask your applicants during the application process to add your email and they’ll have a much better chance of seeing reminders and updates.
What We Do To Ensure Email Deliverability
- Use a trusted email service. Our bulk and auto emails are sent using Sendgrid, one of the largest and most trusted cloud-based email delivery systems.
- Verify our email addresses. Verifying an email address and connecting it to a known and trusted domain shows filters we are real and not a bot randomly generating SPAM messages.
- Monitor our professional reputation. Knowing your Sender Score is as valuable as knowing your credit score -- a poor one will hurt you when you try to make transactions, especially big ones.
