Sending Best Practices

There's a direct relationship between the effectiveness of your emails and where they're placed in your subscribers' inbox. Learn how to follow some industry best practices to get the most out of your email marketing effort!

We also share some special guidance for Gmail - often a major part of every list and widely considered the industry leader for deliverability and inbox placement.

On this page

• Starting on the right foot with Seguno
• Continuing to be a great sender
• Bulk sending best practices

Starting on the Right Foot with Seguno

Here are some easy steps you can take with Seguno to become an "A+" sender.

1. Authenticate your domain. Not nearly as daunting as it sounds, we will guide you step-by-step to this foundational block of your email program. A reputable domain is more likely to be delivered to your recipients' inbox and avoid the dreaded spam folder.
2. Update your sender details in your Seguno Settings with a clear From email, From email, and Reply email. Strive for brand consistency and make sure your Reply email address is monitored in case of any inquiries or requests. Avoid using any misleading names and make sure that the sender details match what your subscribers saw when they signed up on your site.
3. Style your header and footer to make it clear and easy to unsubscribe. Seguno supports one-click unsubscribe with all unsubscribe links and offers a header unsubscribe link that is enabled by default and can be set for each Newsletter and Automation. A higher unsubscribe rate is a small price to avoid falling into the spam folder.
4. Spam Protect cleans your list when you come onboard with Seguno and keeps troublesome emails off your list as they sign up, but cleaning your subscriber list of non-engaged subscribers every 6 months or so is strongly recommended. We constantly monitor results and best practices with your deliverability success in mind, so don't be offended if we reach out - we're just trying to help!
5. Use unique and interesting Subject lines and Preview text in your emails. Avoid reusing the same subject line within a 6 month period and never use misleading subject lines.
6. Seguno's templates and design sections were built to use email design best practices, so they're a great place to start if you're new. Pay attention to our warnings if your content is becoming too large or has exceeded guidelines.
7. Domain Warm-up is automatically applied for all newly authenticated domains. Think of your warming send as an introduction of your list to the recipient domains. You should plan for your warming send to not be time-sensitive and target your full subscriber list. After the domain warming is completed, give your recipients at least a 4-hour break - you don't want to come off as too clingy!

Continuing to be a Great Sender

Now that you have a stellar reputation as a sender, you need to continue to be active in these best practices. Remind yourself of these from time to time.

Sending too often can overwhelm your contacts. Find a cadence that works well for you and remember that if you send newsletters to your contacts too often, even your VIPs are less likely to open them. Sending a few times might work for you but a few times a day probably won't for your contacts. If you want to increase your email sending but are afraid you're sending too many bulk emails, make sure you're taking full advantage of automations that make sense for your store. Automated sends trigger relevant content to your contacts at the right time, so it's less noise and more personal engagement.

Keeping your contact list is healthy a balancing act - you want to keep your hard-earned contacts but some churn may be necessary if your contacts are no longer engaging with your emails or your shop. Remember, the whole point of sending your emails is to generate traffic for your store and increase revenue. If you're sending to non-engaged contacts who are negatively impacting your reputation, you may be risking more revenue than you'll find in that group. If you're concerned that your list needs bulk cleaning, please open a support case in Seguno and we'd be happy to look at your subscribers with you!

Bulk Sending Best Practices

While provider-specific guidance may be available (such as Gmail's support article) for successfully sending bulk emails to their contacts, we've consolidated and highlighted a few key points for you to consider.

• Use a Sender Name that is consistent and easily recognized. Don't change up your From Name or From Email Address too often - your name and your reputation go hand in hand.
• Authenticate your sending domain! Verified domains show Gmail that you're not just hiding behind an email address on the internet.
• Only send to contacts who take action to explicitly opt-in. While it's tempting to cast a broader net, it's not worth losing your good contacts and getting blocklisted. Better contacts get better results.
• Make it easy for contacts to unsubscribe! Easy to find unsubscribe links and one-click unsubscribe options make it less likely a contact reports you as Spam.
• Use good subject lines. Check out our 3-minute video on creating good subject lines.
• Never use misleading subject lines. This is a sure-fire way to land your newsletter in spam where no one will see it! To avoid this, it is critical that the subject line matches the content of the message.
• Build great emails with high-quality content. If your email file size is too large, you will raise red flags. If your email is too lengthy, the excess parts will be clipped out in the inbox.
• Grow your reputation slowly at first and consistently over time. New senders need to get introduced and random spikes in sending volume raise eyebrows.
• Check on your reputation with Postmaster Tools. Get feedback directly from the team who decides where your emails end up - in the inbox or in the spam box