Part 3. Eloqua email deliverability factors that you control
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on….
It’s completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of them drastically affect Eloqua email deliverability, while others are less relevant.
Eloqua contact list or segment quality: You should always consider this, especially if you’re a new sender or your IP address is changing, since it’s the only information ISPs know about you.
Eloqua email frequency & relevance: Your ISP will be stricter with you if you send email every day. Segment your list accordingly. Is the same message sent to everyone? Do you personalize content? This will impact engagement and hence Eloqua email deliverability.
Eloqua email content & format: The reputation of a sender matters, but not as much as some people believe. Spammy messages sent by a reputable sender will generally perform better than valuable ones sent by a sender with poor reputation.
Sender score: It is extremely important, but may be harder to influence than any of the above factors. Pay attention to it more carefully.
What determines sender reputation?
You should know that it’s normal for a reputation to fluctuate between “good” and “average”. If you have a big campaign coming up and have to send a lot of emails to a segment that isn’t very engaged, this will lower your reputation.
IP reputation and domain reputation contribute to sender reputation. Each is calculated separately, but together they have a significant impact on Eloqua email deliverability.
What is IP reputation?
Every email is sent from a computer or server that has a unique identifier (its IP address). An IP address makes it easy for ISPs to track senders.
Reputation is determined by the IP address from which an email is sent, not by the brand that’s sending it.
It is your reputation with your IP address that gets you into the recipient’s server. As a mail sender, you usually either have a dedicated IP address, or you use a shared IP pool.
A dedicated IP address means all your emails will be routed through a single IP address. This address cannot be used by anyone else, so all email sent from it will belong exclusively to you.
A dedicated IP address relies entirely on you for Eloqua email deliverability. If you follow best practices, this can be a benefit. But mistakes can have a major impact and can be difficult to undo.
An IP address that is dedicated makes it much easier to whitelist your IP address.
For large organizations that send high volumes of mail, dedicated IP addresses are a better option, since they usually have the resources necessary to ensure best delivery practices.
Shared IP pools consist of several companies sharing IP addresses in order to send email campaigns. Because of the shared nature of IP addresses, Eloqua email deliverability is a shared responsibility. If another company’s bad practices negatively affect your deliverability, then you also suffer. It does however give you uplift when it comes to send volume.
A shared IP pool allows smaller companies to increase their email volume by leveraging the email volumes sent by other companies, which boosts everyone’s sender reputation.
Smaller senders are also protected by the shared IP pool; if a small sender makes an error, their implications will be limited because there is so much more email coming from the shared IP pool.
Small and medium-sized businesses will typically use shared IP pools. A dedicated IP address is not necessary for firms that aren’t sending large volumes of email regularly.
What’s a domain reputation?
When it comes to domain reputation, it’s all about the brand that sends the email, not what IP reputation looks like.
A good domain reputation can grow with your brand even when you switch IP addresses or email providers. If your reputation has been built over time, this can be helpful.
The reputation of a domain is affected by your business sector. ISPs generally have a more stringent policy for finance and banking companies and a more lenient policy for retail and travel companies.
Domain reputation is affected by your sending style. Do you segment your lists? Do you send messages to inactive accounts? Do less engaged audiences receive fewer emails? These are factors that affect your domain reputation.
A segmented mailing list is one of the best ways to maintain your reputation.
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