Email Marketing: Simple Steps to Increase Your Email Deliverability and Engagement

Tap, tap, tap – is this thing on? 🎤

That’s exactly how I’ve been feeling over on Instagram lately, reach is in the tanks and now it looks like email deliverability is about to get shaken up as well.

For the longest time, email marketing has been the “safest” and easiest way to reach your audience. And I do fully believe that it is, however with some upcoming Apple Mail changes and possible Gmail and Outlook changes coming soon, we may have rough skies ahead.

Here’s a little recap, Apple Mail is rolling out major updates that could impact how your emails are seen.

These tips will help you increase your email deliverability and engagement!

Here’s what’s changing with Apple Mail’s iOS 18 update and Email Deliverability:

📬 Incorporating AI to summarize emails

📬 Replacing the “preview text” line in inboxes

📬 AI-generated replies

📬 New Apple Mail iOS 18 email categorization: Primary, promotions, updates and transactions

Find all the nitty gritty details here. Side note: Gmail and Outlook may begin to follow these same practices.

So what does this mean for US as business owners emailing our list? 

It’s going to become more important to become an inbox favorite that subscribers love to receive.

Here’s a game plan to make sure your business is ready for the upcoming changes:

🤗 Show your face and make yourself recognizable in the inbox:

People tend to have freebie frenzies where they sign up to download a resource from multiple sources and it’s possible they’ve forgotten who you are. Putting a face to the name will help build your brand recognition.

How? Update your profile image so it shows in the inbox. Like this ⤵

I would also suggest putting a picture of yourself in either the header or the signature of your emails.

Here’s the header that I use in my weekly emails.

💌 Check your “sender” name:

Use either your name OR your brand’s name. Think about what people may recognize the most. 

To be honest, I typically remember people’s IG handles or brand names before I would know their first name. In my case, my IG handle is my name so it works out. 🤩

✔️ Double-check your DMARC: (aka that your email address is seen as legit by inboxes)

In your email service provider settings, go to email settings and make sure that your domain is connected and verified. If there’s an issue with your DMARC, there’s a chance your emails may land in spam.

Here’s a post on how to check it BUT it has gotten way easier since this was written.

💬 Encourage Replies and Clicks:

Make your emails conversational and close with a fun or easy-to-answer open-ended question so that it’s easier for people to respond to.

Another way to signal boost “engagement” is to use the polling feature. Flodesk makes this superrrr easy and pretty 😍.

Some ways that you can use polls are:

• “What do you want to see in next week’s email?”
• “Which ___ do you prefer?”
• “What show should I binge-watch next?”

✨ Bonus Tip: Start off strong with a welcome sequence

Another way to build a good inbox relationship is to start with a welcome sequence when someone joins your email list.

A welcome sequence is a series of automated emails that get sent after someone downloads a freebie or joins your email list. In my opinion, the amount of emails doesn’t matter as much as the quality of it. For me personally, I like about 3-5 emails.

The purpose of a welcome sequence is to introduce yourself, share some of your biggest tips, let people know what they can expect to learn/receive from you and how often, and then how they can work with you.

TL;DR Version

Email marketing is changing but it’s nothing to be worried about. Make a few tweaks to show your face inside of the inbox, update your settings, and encourage conversations and you’ll be golden!