8 Best Email Domain Practices in 2024

In 2024, email continues to be a crucial tool for businesses to connect with customers. However, getting your emails into the inbox and not the spam folder requires following some important practices. Here, we’ll discuss the eight best email domain practices to help you maximize your email deliverability and maintain a good domain reputation.

Key Takeaways

• Create a custom domain to make your business look more professional and trustworthy.
• Implement email authentication to prove to ISPs that your domain is reliable.
• Warm up your domain gradually to build a strong sender reputation.
• Monitor your send volumes to avoid triggering spam filters.
• Maintain a good domain reputation by practicing good sending etiquette.

1. Create a Custom Domain

If you’re running a serious business, it’s time to ditch the generalized domain name. Your domain name is what comes after the “@” symbol on your email address. Your personal email account is likely managed by “@gmail.com,” “@outlook.com,” “@yahoo.com,” “@mxsuite.co,” or something similar. Setting up a business account through your favorite email provider is free, easy, and comes on a familiar platform.

So why should you use a custom domain?

For starters, your business will look more professional with a custom domain. An email address like “[email protected]” doesn’t make as strong of an impression as “[email protected].” A custom domain will show your customers that you are a serious, legitimate business and just some random scammer.

Additionally, having your own domain allows you to customize your brand image. A custom domain opens the door to subdomains, email authentication, tracking, custom envelope domains, and many other essential email deliverability practices. It also offers you the ability to maintain your domain reputation with ease.

Tip: You can also consider getting an older (or well-prepared) domain instead of a new one.

2. Implement Email Authentication

Email authentication is crucial for ensuring that your emails are trusted and delivered. It helps prevent hackers from spoofing your account and shows that you care about your customers' well-being by reducing spam.

There are three main parts to domain authentication, and it's best to complete all of them:

• Sender Policy Framework (SPF): This DNS record lets you specify which domains are authorized to send emails on your behalf.
• Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM): This DNS record adds encryption to your outgoing emails, ensuring that the content hasn't been tampered with.
• Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC): This DNS protocol uses both SPF and DKIM to help ISPs validate the authenticity of your emails.

Implementing these protocols can indicate to ISPs that your domain is reliable and can be trusted. This is a key step in maintaining a good domain reputation and ensuring your emails reach the inbox instead of the spam folder.

3. Warm Up Your Domain

Warming up your domain is a crucial step to ensure your emails land in the inbox and not the spam folder. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to building a solid sender reputation.

Start by sending a low volume of emails to your most engaged subscribers. Over the next few weeks, gradually increase the volume. This helps build trust with ISPs and ESPs, proving that you're a reliable sender.

Keep a close eye on your email metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. If you notice any unusual patterns, adjust your strategy accordingly.

Remember, warming up your domain takes time, but the end prize is a solid sender reputation.

If you're looking for tools to help with this process, MX Suite is the best email warm-up tool that allows you to warm up your inbox in a few simple steps.

4. Monitor Your Send Volumes

Keeping track of how many emails you send is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation. Sending too many emails too quickly can get you flagged as spam. Here are some tips to help you monitor your send volumes effectively:

1. Start Slow: If your domain is new, begin by sending a small number of emails and gradually increase the volume. This process, known as warming up your domain, can take about four to six weeks.
2. Consistent Sending: Avoid long periods of inactivity followed by large email blasts. This can be a red flag for ISPs.
3. Daily Monitoring: Keep an eye on the number of emails you send each day. This can help you catch any unusual activity, like a hacker using your domain to send emails.
4. Use Tools: Utilize tools like Google Postmaster Tools or MX Toolbox to monitor your domain's reputation and sending patterns.

Regularly monitoring your send volumes can help you maintain a healthy sender reputation and improve your email deliverability.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your emails reach your audience's inboxes and not their spam folders.

5. Maintain a Good Domain Reputation

Maintaining a positive domain reputation is crucial for ensuring your emails land in the inbox rather than the spam folder. If your domain reputation drops too low, your emails might be blocked or sent to spam, which can severely impact your marketing efforts.

Key Practices to Maintain a Good Domain Reputation

• Authenticate Your Emails: Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your emails and protect against spoofing.
• Limit Spam Reports: Keep spam complaints low by sending relevant content and honoring unsubscribe requests promptly.
• Provide an Unsubscribe Option: Always include an easy way for recipients to opt out of your emails.
• Use Double Opt-In: Ensure that your subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails by using a double opt-in process.

Regularly monitoring your domain reputation and making necessary adjustments can help you stay in good standing with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

By following these practices, you can build and maintain a strong domain reputation, ensuring better deliverability and engagement with your audience.

6. Clean Your Email Lists

Regularly cleaning your email lists is crucial for maintaining high open rates and click-through rates (CTR). By keeping only active email addresses, you ensure that your messages reach real people who are interested in your content.

Benefits of Cleaning Your Email Lists

1. Save Resources: A clean email list helps you save both time and money. You won't waste resources sending emails to invalid addresses or bots.
2. Protect Your Domain Reputation: Regularly verifying your email list can protect your domain from being associated with spam traps, soft bounces, and invalid addresses.

How to Clean Your Email Lists

• Use Email Verification Tools: Tools like EmailListVerify can automatically identify and remove invalid email addresses, spam traps, and soft bounces.
• Segment Your Audience: By segmenting your audience, you can target your emails more effectively and remove those who are no longer interested.
• Monitor Email Metrics: Keep an eye on metrics like bounce rates and engagement to identify and remove inactive subscribers.

Regularly cleaning your email lists helps you avoid email error 550 and reduce spam probability. This practice is essential for effective email deliverability.

Avoid Sending to Catch-All Domains

Catch-all domains accept all incoming emails, making it difficult to verify if an address is valid. Sending to these domains can result in a high rate of undelivered or bounced emails, negatively impacting your email reputation.

7. Use Multiple Subdomains

As your business grows and you send more emails, consider using multiple subdomains. This strategy helps you manage your domain reputation effectively.

Benefits of Using Subdomains

• Segmentation: You can separate different types of emails, like promotions and updates, by using subdomains such as @promotions.mxsuite.co or `@updates.mxsuite.co
• Reputation Management: If one subdomain gets spam complaints, it won't affect your main domain's reputation.
• Deliverability: Subdomains can improve email deliverability by clearly indicating the type of content being sent.

Best Practices

1. Plan Subdomain Naming Conventions: Choose clear and descriptive names for your subdomains to make it easy for recipients and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to understand the purpose of the emails.
2. Consistent Authentication Setup: Ensure that each subdomain has the same email authentication settings as your main domain to maintain trust with ISPs.
3. Monitor Performance: Regularly check the performance of each subdomain to identify any issues and make necessary adjustments.

Using multiple subdomains allows you to scale your email campaigns without compromising your main domain's reputation. This approach is especially useful for businesses that send a high volume of emails.

By following these practices, you can effectively manage your email campaigns and maintain a positive domain reputation.

8. Send High-Quality Emails

When sending emails, ensure they are worth reading. Your subject line should grab attention immediately. Avoid misleading subject lines. The "From" line should clearly identify your brand, like "Sarah at Warmup Inbox" instead of just "Sarah Jane". Recognition is crucial in email marketing.

Be creative with your copy, but keep it concise. Get to the point and include a clear call to action. Avoid spammy words that might trigger spam filters. Tools are available online to check how your message appears to an ISP. Spam filters are sensitive to large attachments and too many images or GIFs, so consider providing an HTML-only option.

Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly. Many customers check their email from their phones, and poor formatting can lead to your message being deleted.

Providing a text version of your email can help engage recipients who have filters blocking images. Always aim for high-quality content to keep your audience engaged and improve your email deliverability.

Sending high-quality emails is crucial for reaching your audience effectively. With MX Suite, you can ensure your emails land in the inbox, not the spam folder. Our easy-to-use dashboard and unlimited mailboxes make email marketing a breeze. Ready to take your email game to the next level?

Conclusion

In 2024, following the best email domain practices is more important than ever. By creating a custom domain, warming it up properly, and maintaining a good reputation, you can ensure your emails reach your audience's inbox. Regularly cleaning your email lists and using email authentication are also key steps. Remember, a well-maintained domain not only improves deliverability but also builds trust with your recipients. Stick to these practices, and you'll see better engagement and success in your email campaigns.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I use a custom domain for my business?

Using a custom domain makes your business look more professional and trustworthy. It shows customers that you're serious and not just using a free email service.

How do I warm up my email domain?

Warming up your domain involves gradually increasing the number of emails you send over a few weeks. This helps build a good sender reputation.

What is email authentication and why is it important?

Email authentication involves setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. These help prove that your emails are legitimate and protect against spam.

How often should I clean my email list?

It's a good idea to clean your email list regularly, at least every few months. This removes inactive or invalid email addresses, improving your deliverability rates.

Why is monitoring send volumes important?

Monitoring send volumes helps you avoid sending too many emails at once, which can trigger spam filters. It also helps you spot any unusual activity.

Can I use multiple subdomains for different types of emails?

Yes, using multiple subdomains can help you manage different types of emails, like promotions or updates, without affecting your main domain's reputation.