Email marketing is a ingenious way to get in touch with your prospects and bring in more conversions. Efficient email marketing not only includes the right messaging but it also takes care of the overall best practices to ensure deliverability. But how to ensure email delivery? Or, how to make an email go to primary?

Here, writing engaging content might not be enough to ensure that they land in the primary inbox of your prospects. Apart from taking care of the best practices of sending emails, you must also be aware of how inbox sorting and layout implementation is done. This will help you optimize your emails in order to reach the primary tab of your prospects.

In this article, we are going to focus on the importance of landing in primary inbox and some ways that can help you optimize your emails.

Importance of Landing Emails in the Primary Inbox

The greatest benefit of landing in the primary inbox of your customers is increased visibility. Once your email is sent to the recipient, it will appear in the main inbox folder, and the email will be most likely to get noticed. The recipient might pay special attention to details mentioned in the emails in their primary inbox because people consider emails present in their primary inbox significant. If your email is landing in the primary inbox, then there is a probability of engrossing your recipient, and you can also expect a response from them.

It is seen that emails landing in the primary inbox are known to have higher open rates than emails landing  in the Gmail promotions tab. This is because the recipients will click and open the emails that are present in their email inbox folder rather than promotions or spam tabs. Therefore, a primary inbox is the only area where people search for any emails, considering it a prime location for your important messages. If you discover a way to land in their inbox folder, you’ll have a nice number of open rates, which will increase the chances of recipients clicking on links and also passing responses to your emails.

The primary inbox impacts the overall conversion rate of any email outreach campaign. When your emails are present in the main inbox folder, the recipients will definitely notice them. With such reminders, recipients will take desired actions, like clicking on the link, giving replies to the messages, or just scheduling a meeting. Overall, enhanced visibility and increased open rates support the landing of emails in the primary inbox, thus increasing the conversion rates.

7 Proven Ways to Land Your Emails in your Prospect’s Primary Inbox

For upgrading  your email marketing campaigns, it is  crucial to emphasise on  the phenomenon of email landing in the primary inboxes of recipients. Fortunately, there are some ways to make your emails land in Gmail’s primary inbox tab. Let’s follow the steps and learn about them:

1. Deliver Value on Emails

Most marketers find comfort in delivering value through articles or blog posts. Although emails are viewed more as a promotional channel than a value-delivery channel,

Henceforth, if you are adding  your emails , then you may not be not going to get the attention of people in the inbox. An email inbox can be defined as a personal space and also a friendly way to build bonds with your followers.

According to a recent poll conducted on Facebook, nearly 79% of the respondents agreed with giving up their Facebook account’s password instead of their primary email password. It has been concluded that emails are a substantial need for every business.

Try to offer something of value to the subscribers that is not given by other channels, like your blog posts. Exclusively, design content for your subscribers.

Collect the list of subscribers from your email list, and then it is recommended to deliver any promotional emails after interacting with or delivering value for at least 30 days.

Just a small change can act as a lead magnet. Thus, it will also boost open rates, lower the count of complaints, and make people more likely to buy subscriptions for the continuation.

2. Request that People Add Your Email to Their Contacts

It is said that if your official email ID is saved in the contact lists of your recipients, then there emerges a high probability of your emails landing in the respective primary tab. For sure, your emails will not land in their so-called spam folder.

So, you should frequently remind them to save your email ID in their contact lists. Once they have added you to the contact lists, they begin your conversion from appreciation. Attach a short thank-you note on the page.‍

3. Deliver Plain Text or Light HTML Emails

Imagine getting an email from your best friend. Is it in the form of an officially designed HTML template? I expect a plain text email. Therefore, when people are engaged in genuine communication, they are most likely to converse In plain text emails because such emails are very easy to read.

Many email marketers secretly convey that almost 80% of their emails include plain text. They literally allot no time to framing HTML emails. It is seen that HTML emails with attractive designs are not that resonating for the subscribers, and in the long run, they fail to land in the primary tab.

The only disadvantage  of  plain text emails is that you will not know the number of open rates. With the absence of HTML, one fails to  load the script used for tracking the open rates of emails. However, sending a basic HTML mail same as a plain text email can be a good remedy. These emails help you track the open rates. You can also generate anchor text links in your email. It is advisable to deliver emails that are HTML emails to subscribers and are just copies of plain text emails.

4. Add Short Emails and Have Fewer Links

Try to create emails that are short and exactly to the point, without any images, and with no more than three links. The two-page email, along with 10 outbound links, is heavily promotional. Hence, it has no reason to be on the primary tab.

You should write your emails in the simplest language with limited words. It will definitely help you land your emails in the primary tab. This important factor gets completely ignored by many email service providers and thus disrupts their performances.

To be specific, it is advisable not to expect too much just by sending short emails or adding a smaller number of links. There is no absolute surety that your emails will land in the primary tab or in the inbox. A proper combination of other factors is Important for relevant results.

5. Certify Your Domain with DKIM and SPF 

There are two authentication methods for your domain name: DKIM and SPF. Generally, the sender’s email ID will be written in this way: you@domainname.com, and it is best to certify as soon as possible.

It has been observed that authentication is important for the delivery of your emails. This authentication acts as a license plate for email. It offers a track identifier that not only displays the subscriber’s internet service provider but also helps your email settle in the inbox.

When we are stepping into the technical world. It’s not crucial to have thorough technical knowledge about DKIM and SPF. However, there is a need to understand the basic logic of the technical details and follow certain steps for authentication.

The two types of authentication that one must keep in mind while sending email are:

• DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and
• Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

6. Create Your Sender Reputation

Many email service providers, such as Gmail, consider some factors when accepting emails. On the basis of such factors, they can examine any one of these four options:

• Not to send the email at all
• Add it to the spam folder
• Attach it to the Promotions tab
• Add it to the Primary Tab

Therefore, the sender ID is a mixture of the  email ID and the IP address through which bulk emails are delivered.

Many businesses don’t have their own email servers, they use third party providers like Drip and Aweber to deliver  emails. Hence, the reputation of such providers are excellent and there is no issue with having good deliverability of the emails. A special email server combined with the above factors can help you send emails to the primary tab of users.

However, if you are a long- term  user of such services along with a low bounce rate and no spam complaints, then these email providers will give you great importance. So, that you get better delivery rates.

But if you are known to have a high bounce rate and many spam complaints, then these services might not be available for you. They can place you on servers with a low reputation with the ESPs (email service providers).

7. Request People to “Drag” Emails into the Primary Tab

The old saying is, “Ask and it is given.” Sometimes, it is better to approach and ask for something you need in order to get it.

It is suggested to ask for subscribing to your email newsletter. Request users to drag the welcome email right from the Updates Tab to the Primary Tab. Hence, mostly all the follow-up emails have a high probability of landing in the primary tab. Teach users to drag the related emails from Updates to the Primary tab. Then, ask them to click yes for the confirmation. However, not everyone is fond of this technique because it demands immense patience and sometimes reaps no results.

Final Thoughts

We can conclude that in email marketing campaigns, proper management and efficient use of techniques can contribute to the growth and development of businesses. Also, the number of open rates and conversion rates rest upon the kind of strategy that individuals follow. So, with adequate resources and knowledge, you take email marketing campaigns to higher feats. 

FAQs

Q.1 How to ensure email deliverability?

To ensure email deliverability, it's essential to employ various strategies. Firstly, use a reputable email service provider (ESP) with a proven track record of high deliverability rates. Maintain a clean and updated email list by regularly removing inactive or bouncing email addresses. Authenticate your domain through SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols to establish your email's legitimacy and prevent spoofing. Avoid spammy tactics like misleading subject lines or excessive use of images and links. Monitor key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints to gauge the effectiveness of your email campaigns and make necessary adjustments. Lastly, adhere to relevant regulations such as the CAN-SPAM Act or GDPR to ensure compliance and maintain a positive sender reputation.

Q.2 What are some of the email outreach best practices?

Email outreach best practices include personalizing your messages to recipients, crafting concise and compelling subject lines, providing valuable content or offers, using clear and professional language, segmenting your email list to target specific audiences, testing different email formats and designs, including a clear call-to-action, and following up appropriately. Additionally, respecting recipients' preferences and privacy, maintaining consistency in your email sending frequency, and analyzing performance metrics to optimize future campaigns are crucial aspects of effective email outreach.

Q.3 How do I stop emails from going to Promotions in Gmail?

To prevent emails from being routed to the Promotions tab in Gmail, focus on improving engagement with your emails. Encourage recipients to move your emails to the Primary tab by asking them to drag and drop your email or right-click and select "Move to tab" > "Primary." Additionally, encourage subscribers to add your email address to their contacts list to signal to Gmail that your emails are important. Ensure that your emails are relevant, personalized, and contain valuable content to increase open rates and user interaction, which can positively impact Gmail's sorting algorithms.

Q.4 How to know if my emails are going to the client spam box?

Monitoring your email deliverability metrics is essential to determine if your emails are landing in recipients' spam folders. Keep an eye on key indicators such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints. A sudden drop in open rates or an increase in bounce rates may indicate that your emails are being marked as spam. Additionally, you can use email deliverability tools or services that provide insights into your email deliverability performance and offer suggestions for improvement. Regularly check your sender reputation and domain health to identify and address any issues that may be affecting your email deliverability.

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