Did you know one of the most common reasons for missing a payment is because delinquent customers simply forget to pay their bill?
But staying top of mind for consumers is harder than ever using traditional call-and-collect methods considering stricter compliance regulations and the fact that 94% of unidentified calls go unanswered. Plus, surveys have found that when it comes to debt collection, 59.5% of consumers prefer email as their first choice for communication, and contacting through a customer’s preferred channel first can lead to a more than 10% increase in payments.
But just adding email into your customer communication mix isn’t enough—if your messages never reach their inbox, it doesn’t matter what that customer’s preferred method of communication may be.
The saying goes “don’t shoot the messenger,” but it’s time to re-evaluate how well that messenger is actually delivering your messages.
It’s time to start measuring deliverability.
Delivery Rate vs Deliverability Rate (and Why You Should be Measuring Both)
The word “deliverability” may sound similar to “delivery,” but when it comes to customer engagement via email, it’s critical to understand the difference and measure each rate accordingly.
What is Email Delivery Rate?
Email Delivery Rate refers to the successful transmission of an email from the sender to the recipient’s mail server. It is the measurement of emails delivered divided by the number of emails sent. Bounces (when an email gets rejected by the mail server for any reason) and failures will impact this number.
Measuring delivery rates helps answer the question “did the email you sent actually make it to the recipient?” But if your email gets caught in the recipient’s spam filter or junk folder, how much will a good delivery rate help? That’s why it is important to also measure deliverability.
What is Email Deliverability?
Successful email delivery, when your email was accepted by the recipient’s mail server, doesn’t mean that it actually makes it into their inbox. Deliverability, or inboxing rate, divides how many emails reach the recipient’s inbox, as opposed to their spam folder, by the total number of emails sent. Your deliverability is influenced by a variety of fluctuating factors, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Measuring deliverability rates helps answer the question “Did the email you sent actually make it to the inbox—or did it get caught in spam?”
Best Practices to Get Your Emails Delivered into Your Recipient’s Inbox
Understanding these different metrics can help influence your email strategy to delinquent accounts, but there’s more to a successful email program than just measuring data and analytics and hitting “send.” Several best practices to follow include:
- Build and maintain a positive sender reputation with ISPs and ESPs
- Ensure good email list hygiene
- Send to actively engaged subscribers
- Maintain consistent volume and cadence (avoid spikes)
- Avoid spammy subject lines
- Develop valuable content that would engage subscribers
While many of these best practices may seem like no-brainers, achieving them can take more skill and effort than most businesses expect. Each of these contribute to email delivery rates and more importantly, deliverability to recipients’ inboxes—key drivers towards consumer engagement and your bottom line.
The Retain Difference
So how does Retain perform above and beyond the competition for email delivery and engagement?
Retain’s dedicated Email Operations and Deliverability Team proactively monitor and make adjustments, along with using our patented machine learning engine to dynamically make updates in real-time. Our team of deliverability experts proactively stay on top of Email Service Provider (ESP) best practices and maintain relationships with ISPs for optimal email acceptance rates.
Additionally, Retain allows your business to use a suite of digital communication channels including email and SMS to meet your customers where they are. It is designed to scale seamlessly and cost-effectively to meet the needs of your organization at any given time.
Ready to learn more and start improving your digital debt collection efforts through better digital engagement strategies?