Having taken the resolution to build up a list of subscribers it is vital to take specific steps so that you are maintaining a high deliverability rate at all times. Some priority factors will ensure that ISP’s recognize your email as credible and increase the prospect that it is delivered to your subscribers.

Building a list over time which is appropriate for your market is an important factor in ensuring that email deliverability is achieved. Buying lists can lead to your email marketing campaigns being regarded as spam. So if you have a viable list and supplement it with a one off hit to a list you have bought you could damage your reputation and be blacklisted for your actions. Unless your email marketing is permission based you do run this danger. So extend your list in an organic fashion by ensuring that each subscriber is a willing participant in your email campaigns by having a sign up facility via an opt in box.

You should have your opt in box clearly conspicuous on each of your web pages. If you use offline methods to gather email addresses ensure that these are collected in an honest way and with the full agreement of the potential subscriber that they will receive regular communications from you.

Your opt in box should also clearly explain what the potential subscriber will receive if they decide to join your email list. If you have offered a free service as a means of gathering the email address ensure that you also obtain permission for sending further communications. Give subscribers the ability to receive emails on a daily, weekly or monthly basis depending on the kind of information you would normally provide through your email marketing campaigns.

Ensure that any new subscriber is sent a welcome message as well as a request to confirm that they are indeed willing to subscribe to your list. By implementing this permission based method of email marketing you significantly reduce the potential to have your email communications marked a spam.

Bear in mind that the major ISP’s are now using special methods to protect their users from unwanted email communications. Spam is obviously the number one issue as a certain proportion also contains injurious code. However ISP’s are also monitoring their customers’ open rates and if a high proportion of regularly delivered email is never opened it will lead to the sender being relegated to the spam folder.

Rather than only targeting size as the main criteria for a email subscriber list it is now becoming vital to measure the opening rates of your email marketing campaigns. There is little to be obtained from continuing to send emails to subscribers who never open them. Just like any project where you monitor to ensure effective results so with your subscriber list it is wise to consider removing anyone who repeatedly fails to open email messages. If a retention program has failed to improve these specific subscribers then it is probably best to remove them from your lists altogether to ensure they do not impact on your overall delivery rates. This will also importantly improve your standing with the major ISP’s.