The Urban Myth of Newsletter Provider Deliverability Rates

What metric you SHOULD use to get the best deliver-ability rates?

Many people are under the illusion that choosing the “right provider” for their email newsletters has a direct impact on the deliverability of their newsletters; that choosing one over another may result in their emails being caught up in spam filters, or vice-versa.

Fortunately, that really isn’t the case.

Major Email Service Providers (ESP’s) such as Mailchimp or Aweber, comply with strict anti-spam policies to ensure the best delivery rates possible. They even work with Mail Service Providers to ensure their services aren’t black listed.

This includes tools such as providing customers with spam score analysis, tips on avoiding spam, and warning (or even disabling the accounts of) customers should their messages result in higher than acceptable spam filter ratings.

Nowadays, the difference in delivery rates between major ESP’s is negligible.

Sending out an email blast with the same content, one through a provider such as Infusionsoft, and the other 1ShoppingCart, isn’t going to affect the amount of people that see your email.

In saying that, the one thing we have noticed is that 1ShoppingCart can be a bit slower at sending out emails than its competitors. This can be a detriment to your marketing campaigns if people are not receiving their confirmation email right away.

What Does Affect Email Deliverability?The important aspect of keeping your emails going to your recipient’s inboxes, and not their junk folder, is remembering to avoid common spam-triggering mistakes that will get your newsletters marked as spam.

Things like using:
• Subject lines with “Free Offer” or “Once in a lifetime opportunity!” in them,• Excessive exclamation or dollar signs in the subject line, or
• Using poorly coded HTML

So, how do you choose the right ESP for you?That all depends on what you’re looking for; often it boils down to costs and ease of use. Here are five of our top picks and their benefits:

1. MailchimpMailchimp is a very simple to use and most importantly, free email service provider for accounts with up to 2,000 subscribers, with monthly subscriptions available based on list size for larger accounts.

The minimalistic user interface makes setting up newsletters and autoresponders a breeze, and Mailchimp offers a robust feature set, including advanced analytics, third party application support, and even a mobile app.

We often recommend using Mailchimp to new business owners who are just building their list. With the cost being free (unless they want to set up an auto responder series), there’s little reason to not go with them.

2. AweberA monthly subscription-based service, Aweber offers premium features such as a selection of hundreds of customizable templates, over 6,000 free stock images to use, unlimited autoresponders and subscriber segmenting.

The monthly fee starts at $19 for lists of up to 500 subscribers, and they also offer a free 30 day trial.

3. Constant ContactConstant Contact offers unlimited broadcasts and lists as well as a plethora of application integrations such as Facebook and Salesforce, image and file storage, and real-time stat tracking for a monthly fee.

Constant Contact starts at $15/month for up to 500 subscribers, and they currently offer a 60 day free trial.

4. 1ShoppingCartCombining an shopping-cart and payment processing system for selling products and services online with a fully-featured email service platform is a great way to operate an online business.

With support for up to 10,000 products, digital product delivery, unlimited autoresponders and questionnaires, an affiliate program and more, 1ShoppingCart is designed as an all-in-one service for online businesses.

5. InfusionSoftInfusionSoft is an alternate option to 1ShoppingCart. I often refer to it as a Cadillac that offers a lot of email marketing, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and eCommerce tools all under one roof.

If you have plans to build your list into the thousands and also offer products or services for sale on your website, InfusionSoft is worth exploring. It’s monthly costs are higher and the learning curve is quite steep, but well worth the investment for serious marketers.

If you choose one of the major newsletter service providers to use for your sendouts, you shouldn’t have any problems with THEIR deliverability but it is important to ensure YOU create newsletters that won’t get caught in the spam filters.

We have first-hand experience using all of the above email services; for more information and additional service options we recommend, visit this page.