Email marketing provides the second-highest return on investment (ROI). According to HubSpot, you can earn $36 for every dollar spent!
However, in 2023, around 45.6% of all emails worldwide were thrown into the spam folder, resulting in lost revenue and missed business opportunities for many businesses.
In this interview, Folderly Founder and CEO Vladyslav Podoliako discusses how businesses can tap into the email marketing goldmine and avoid the dreaded spam-filled pit of doom.
Who Is Vladyslav Podoliako?
Vladyslav is a serial entrepreneur and investor with over 10 years of management expertise in companies with a 100-million valuation. He has extensive knowledge and expertise in building and growing service companies and SaaS startups in SalesTech and MarTech. Vladyslav specializes in building businesses from scratch with top-notch teams that drive ventures to the top of their industries.
Even an email from someone you know can end up in the junk folder.
Vladyslav says this can be due to several reasons, such as needing proper authentication protocols, having a history of spam complaints, or sending emails in bulk from a new domain without preparation.
He emphasizes the importance of understanding these pitfalls as many companies underestimate the impact of poor sender reputation.
“Without proper authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, BIMI, and DMARC, email service providers (ESPs) can't verify your identity, increasing the likelihood of emails being marked as spam.
Purchasing email lists or not regularly cleaning your database leads to sending emails to invalid or uninterested recipients. A history of high bounce rates, spam complaints, or sending to unengaged recipients can damage your sender's reputation,” he says.
Moreover, sending a large volume of emails without proper warm-up can raise red flags with ESPs.
“Prepare your sending infrastructure — gradually increase your email sending volume to establish a positive sending history,” he advises.
For example, Vladyslav shares that one of Folderly’s clients in the eCommerce sector lost sales because their emails kept being marked as spam, significantly reducing their reach.
“Being listed on spam blacklists requires immediate attention,” says Vladyslav.
As a result, they had low inbox placement rates, high bounce rates, and a damaged sender reputation — despite significant marketing efforts.
To identify the causes, Folderly conducted a deliverability audit via email authentication and sender practices.
The agency implemented authentication by setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records and performed email list cleaning to resolve invalid addresses and unengaged subscribers.
Email list cleaning involves removing fake emails and inactive or disengaged subscribers from your email list. The process boosts ROI by decreasing the chances of campaigns being marked as spam.
“We also revised email templates to improve relevance and reduce spam triggers and developed a strategy to rebuild their reputation through gradual sending and positive engagement,” he adds.
These actions resulted in:
- 40% improved inbox placement: More promotional emails reached customers.
- 35% increase in open rates: Enhanced subject lines and personalization boosted interest.
- 25% revenue growth: Direct correlation between improved deliverability and sales.
- Long-term engagement: Established ongoing strategies for maintaining high deliverability.
“Through strategic planning and best practices, [we] achieved high inbox placement rates, significant increases in open and click-through rates, and a substantial boost in sales attributed to email marketing,” he reveals.
Efforts like these demonstrate how refining email strategies, often with insights from digital marketing specialists, can lead to measurable success.
Why Your Sender Score Matters
Several factors affect ROI, such as the size of your team and email frequency, spam filter testing, whether your content is dynamic, and the use of third-party tools.
A sure-fire way to ensure that your email marketing strategies work is to maintain a high sender score.
“Maintaining a high sender reputation leads to improved deliverability. Emails consistently reach the inbox rather than being filtered as spam.
A strong reputation, on the other hand, allows for safely increasing email volume without compromising deliverability. Reliable delivery ensures accurate metrics for informed decision-making,” Vladyslav says.
He adds that some measures to maintain a high sender score include regularly monitoring the sender's reputation, sending relevant and valuable content, and removing unsubscribes and inactive users to keep the email list healthy.
In addition, you should monitor your email deliverability landscape.
“Almost every quarter, there is an update of Gmail or Outlook, so you want to be 100% sure you are compliant,” Vladyslav adds.
Some issues can also be attributed to technical difficulties and stagnant engagement metrics.
For Parallax, a B2B software development company, incorrect DNS settings affected their sender reputation.
Folderly reconfigured these settings and addressed spam triggers across its domain, IP, mailbox, and content.
These efforts improved deliverability to 97%, ensuring that emails reached customers and vendors.
Fixing Email Deliverability Challenges
But how exactly would a business know whether they’ve got a problem? And how would they be able to address those pitfalls? Declining sales aren’t the only giveaway.
According to Vladyslav, businesses should consider email deliverability services if they notice a decline in email open rates, an increase in bounce rates, and a rise in spam complaints.
“A sudden drop [in open rates] may indicate emails are not reaching the inbox. Frequent bounces suggest issues with email lists or sender reputation. A rise in complaints can damage reputation and deliverability,” he explains.
In addition, stagnant engagement metrics could indicate technical difficulties.
“Lack of improvement despite efforts indicates underlying deliverability issues,” he adds.
For those new to email marketing, you can check out our video below about using automation software for triggered email marketing:
When choosing an email deliverability service agency, Vladyslav notes several key points.
“Businesses should consider expertise and track record, services that cover all aspects of deliverability from authentication to ongoing monitoring, and the ability to tailor services to specific business needs and objectives,” he says.
In addition, he says businesses should also look for services that offer:
- Customer support: Responsive, knowledgeable support teams are available when needed.
- Integration capabilities: Seamless integration with existing email platforms and CRMs.
- Transparent pricing: Clear understanding of costs with no hidden fees.
- Educational resources: Availability of training and resources to empower internal teams.
By doing this, businesses can expect the 38:1 email channel profitability, Vladyslav shares.
“Improved deliverability leads to higher engagement and conversion rates while faster resolution of deliverability issues allows teams to focus on core activities. Reaching more inboxes expands the potential customer base.
Avoid wasted spend on ineffective campaigns and reduce the need for extensive troubleshooting. Sustainable practices contribute to ongoing success and scalability, and clear metrics and reporting demonstrate the value and ROI of the services,” he adds.
Overall, tweaking and troubleshooting your email deliverability capabilities can result in increased revenue, cost savings, time efficiency, an expanded customer base, long-term growth, and measurable results.
Balancing Personalized Content with Bulk Outreach
Another key factor to ensure email marketing success is personalization, Vladyslav says.
“Personalized emails are more likely to be opened and interacted with. Recipients are less inclined to mark relevant emails as spam, [and] positive engagement signals to ESPs that your emails are valuable.”
He says emails can be personalized based on behavior, preferences, or demographics for targeted messaging. Greetings, subject lines, and content blocks can be personalized manually.
Invest in email marketing platforms that support automated, scalable personalization, and track and analyze these to empower data-driven strategies.
Above all, Vladyslav says to make sure that your customer data is accurate and up to date for effective personalization.
Nailing Cold Outreach and Email Strategies
It is important to properly prepare for large-scale cold outreach to boost your marketing performance.
According to Vladyslav, authenticating your domain to establish trust is the first step.
“Set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and BIMI. Optimize sending infrastructure, consider using dedicated IPs, and ensure your email service can handle large volumes.
Test emails before sending: use deliverability testing tools to identify and fix issues,” he shares.
After this, you need to keep an eye on open rates, bounces, and spam complaints to adjust your strategies.
It is also important to adhere to regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR to avoid legal issues and maintain trust.
“Build trust by prioritizing data security and complying with privacy laws. Change your content frequently; there is no world in which your best email templates perform for months.”
Vladyslav adds that mobile optimization, AI for timely communications and predictive analytics, and aligning email campaigns with other marketing channels for a cohesive customer experience form part of a successful strategy.
“Provide content that offers real value to recipients, strengthening relationships,” he says.
Establishing trust and thus fostering stronger customer relationships by implementing best practices when it comes to your email marketing strategy enables businesses to reap great rewards.
In a competitive landscape, driving higher customer engagement and revenue growth can be achieved by refining your approach and optimizing deliverability — ultimately transforming your email campaigns into a powerful engine for business success.
