One of the most significant challenges many people have with email marketing is the high bounce rate. It can be frustrating because you know that your target market is not receiving your messages. Yet, with the email marketing trends, we expect to see going forward, you cannot afford to disregard it. Trends such as Artificial Intelligence, mobile optimization, personalization through technology, among others, will continue to make it potent marketing to. You must, therefore, proactively manage the process to minimize bounce rates. We will show you how.
Have a benchmark
It is essential that before you start any campaign, you come up with email marketing benchmarks. The parameters will show you how effective your campaign is based on your strategies. You get to compare yourself with industry standards based on open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates, the click-to-open rate, among others. It allows you to make relevant changes so that you can do away with what is not working.
Monitor your bounce rate
Before you can take any action, you must know what kind of bounce rate you are experiencing. Soft bounces are due to temporary disruptions, such as an overloaded email server. The system will keep trying until the message goes through. Hard bounces are permanent due to reasons such as invalid email and errors in the address, among others.
Look at your contact list
You may be sending your emails to an old contact list. You need to update it so that you do away with emails that are no longer active. You may also notice that you have misspelled some of the addresses. Looking at your contact list is a fantastic way of updating it. Ideally, it would help if you considered doing it every six months. If you keep on sending emails and they keep bouncing, you may lose your account and damage your reputation.
Consider opt-in email lists
Opt-in or permission-based email lists require that you ask the receiver for permission before you put them on your list. It is the surest way of reducing bounce rates because you know you are targeting people who have an interest in what you are sending or offering. When people receive emails, they have not subscribed to; they will most likely junk or spam them.
Ensure your content adds value
Anyone who has seen success with email marketing will tell you that they went through a lot of trial-and-error before they got it right. One of the most critical areas is to ensure that your content adds value to the receiver. It begins with having a good understanding of what your audience needs and then responding appropriately.
Forget about using free sender domains
You may not want to run your email campaign from a free sender domain. Such include @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, and @hotmail.com, among others. Setting up your domain is not difficult, and your emails look more professional, thus making it more likely that the receiver will open them.
Final thoughts
Email campaigns are a useful marketing tool. You must, however, ensure that you minimize bounce rates. Use our tips above as a guideline.
