This January marks Inman’s fifth annual Agent Appreciation Month, which culminates at Inman Connect New York in a celebration of agents at the end of January. Plus, we’re rolling out the coveted Inman Power Player Awards, as well as the New York Power Brokers and MLS Innovators awards.
Email is a cornerstone for communication in the real estate sector. However, its effectiveness hinges on a critical factor: deliverability.
Understanding and navigating the complexities of email deliverability can be daunting, but it’s essential for maintaining efficient and reliable communication.
Five key components determine how effective your email outreach can be: Reputation, trust, responsibility, malware and gateways.
1. Creating a positive email address reputation
Email address trust is fundamental to ensuring your emails reach their intended recipients. For newer email addresses, deliverability issues often arise.
This is especially true for new domains. It’s not always about being blacklisted; instead, it’s about building a reputation. Email service providers (ESPs) assign a reputational value to each sender, and email addresses with good reputations are almost always delivered, while those with bad reputations are almost always spammed (or blocked).
Warm up your email by sending emails to a smaller group of known and engaged recipients. Gradually increase the volume over time. This process helps build trust with ESPs.
Use tools such as MXToolbox or SenderScore to regularly monitor an email address has been blacklisted or flagged. These tools provide insights into your email’s health and reputation.
2. Building and maintaining trust with ESPs
Building a good relationship with email service providers such as Google and Microsoft is essential. They manage a significant portion of business and personal emails.
Ensure your emails comply with the sophisticated spam filters of major ESPs. This includes using legitimate subject lines, providing an unsubscribe option and avoiding misleading content.
In cases where problems occur with smaller ESPs, such as iCloud or me.com, proactive steps are necessary. This includes checking IP reputation and working closely with your email service provider to address issues.
3. Taking responsibility for domain trust
The trustworthiness of your entire email domain is vital. When multiple addresses from a domain are flagged as spam, it can lead to the entire domain being flagged as a “spam-sending domain.” This means that any email address sent from that domain will not be delivered.
Use domain reputation tools to regularly monitor the health of your domain and encourage all users of your domain to follow best email practices. This includes avoiding spammy content and ensuring that emails are solicited.
4. Navigating email domain malware problems
Malware in your domain can severely impact email deliverability and must be treated urgently. Email providers will rightly blacklist your domain if it hosts malware.
If your website is compromised, take immediate action. Use malware removal services like Sucuri.net to clean it up promptly.
After resolving the issue, communicate with email providers who have blacklisted your domain to restore your reputation. This means researching each ESP that blacklisted you and learning how to notify them that you’ve corrected your malware problem.
5. Protecting your IP address gateway
Your email’s journey begins with its IP address. This is crucial for bulk emails or automated communications like property alerts.
Services like SendGrid manage your email’s sending process. However, their IP addresses can sometimes be flagged by smaller ESPs, affecting deliverability. Regularly check the reputation of the IP addresses used (tools such as Talos Intelligence can help). If issues arise, work with your email service provider to resolve them.
Email deliverability is not just a technical challenge for agents and brokerage firms. It is a critical lead gen and relationship-building tool that requires a commitment to proactive management and best practices.
With valuable content and email delivery know-how, agents can ensure that their messages are being received.
Eric Bramlett is the owner of Bramlett Residential, a top-performing real estate brokerage in Austin, Texas. You can follow Eric Bramlett and Bramlett Residential on Instagram @Bramlett.Resi and Facebook.com/BramlettRE.
