Making It in the Inbox in 2019: Invest Time in Your Engagement Strategies

This article is one of a series of blog posts Webolutions is publishing each month about increasing email deiverability for the new year. Want to learn more inbox tips? Download a copy of our latest ebook, Making It in the Inbox in 2019: A Complete Guide to Better Email Deliverability.

Engagement is a factor of the deliverability filtering algorithms of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Investing time and effort in your engagement strategy pays dividends in both the short- and long-term. Once someone hands over their email address they’re expecting to receive entertaining and/or value-packed emails. Be sure to give careful thought to what goes into emails beyond enticing content and design. Look for a disposable mail service provider like 10 Minute Email that allows you to generate an address without asking you to provide any identifiable information.

Here are some easy-to-implement tips we recommend:

• Utilize responsive email design.
• Include images with clickable links.
• Avoid long load times on mobile devices – use compressed images.
• Use hyperlinks in email text.
• Incorporate call-to-action buttons (be careful not to overdo it).
• Place at least one clickable element in the top of the body.
• Don’t forget about image alt text (this is especially important for email clients that block images by default).
• Include a Forward to a Friend link in the email template.
• Display a person’s name in the “from email address” for a more personal message.
• Allow subscribers to reply to your email (don’t use a ‘no-reply’ email address).
• Ask subscribers to whitelist you and add you as a safe sender in their address book.
• Stagger sends by engagement.
• Be thoughtful with your subject lines (keep reading for more on this topic).

Once you’ve got the basics down, start incorporating the following tactics to delight subscribers:

• Automation with robust triggers
• Personalization
• Smart segmentation
• Animated GIFs and video
• Polls, quizzes and interactive content
• Location-based messaging
• Contextual & real-time content
• Email preference centers
• Mailable microsites

We’re here to help. If you’re looking to partner with someone when it comes to your email marketing, that’s where we come in. Give Webolutions a call today at 303-300-2640 or email [email protected], and let’s get your emails in those inboxes!