It’s easy for anyone to make mistakes with email marketing, especially with deliverability. One false step can make or break your email campaign, negatively impacting guest engagement and revenue potential.

Now that we have a high-level foundation of basic deliverability terms from the last post, let’s talk about how to avoid some common mistakes in deliverability.

1. Emails aren’t segmented

Sending to every contact in your database can negatively impact your email reputation. From an increase in soft bounces to hitting recycled spam traps, the older your email addresses are, the more risk you run.

Keep it simple and segment your email list so recipients are only getting relevant, meaningful messages. A helpful tip is to only send to engaged recipients. I recommend that you target a list of those who have opened and clicked an email in the last six to twelve months. Anything more may make your program fall off that tightrope.

2. Emails are too long

The longer your email, the less likely the recipient will scroll to the bottom of the message. This is especially true if your call-to-action isn’t above the fold. The standard above-the-fold height is 600 pixels, and anything greater than that reduces your chance of success.

3. Emails don’t render correctly

Unfortunately, we’ve all been there when a promotional message doesn’t render correctly. Sending test emails to yourself and your staff to ensure there aren’t any rendering issues helps avoid this major and obvious mistake that impacts every sender.

At Revinate, we equip our customers with the right tools to improve their email rendering performance. For example, we recently introduced a brand new library of template designs and stock images that will help generate a beautifully rendered, on-brand email every time.

4. Poor text to image ratio

Like in any high wire show, there’s a fine line between what’s functional and what’s part of the act. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of images or become too text heavy when preparing an email. I recommend a minimum of 60% text and a maximum of 40% image coverage, as shown in the best practices infographic below.

5. “Non-Curvy” subject line

First impressions matter, and a poor subject line can spell certain doom for any campaign. A subject line lacking certain elements will put your emails (and open rates) at a disadvantage. Our blog post, The Best Subject Lines Have Curves, offers tactical advice on how to achieve high open rates with your subject lines.

Email deliverability made simple

By addressing these common mistakes, I hope to make email deliverability less intimidating. Revinate Marketing makes it easy for hotels to be successful with email marketing, including deliverability. If you’re not already using Revinate to increase direct bookings with smarter email marketing, please reach out to learn more.