We weren't able to attend these questions during the webinar. However, we're answering them there. 

Q&A

Q1: How can A/B test help me? 

A1: A/B testing is one of the most tried-and-tested practices among email marketers to understand the tastes and preferences of recipients. It allows you to test different email attributes among two audience groups and see what works the best. Zoho Campaigns allows you to carry out A/B testing with the subject line, sender details, or content as the parameter. Just have two versions of your test element ready, and you're set. 

Now comes the next question, how do I go about selecting my audience? First, select your mailing list. Second, choose the size of your test audience. Supposing your mailing list has 100 contacts, and you choose 60% as the target ratio, version A is sent to 30 contacts and version B is sent 30 contacts. The winning version is sent to the rest of the contacts. 

Q2. Why should I emphasize on segmentation? 

A2: On any given day, your subscribers would want to receive emails that are relevant to them. Different people will be in different stages of the sales cycle, and it's important to tailor to their specific needs. So you should produce unique content to different target groups. However, the challenges lie in identifying and classifying your contacts based on different conditions. This is where your email marketing software comes to the fore. You can easily segment your audience based on their profile information, engagement levels, and more, with your email marketing software.

Q3. Can you explain the difference between email delivery and email deliverability? 

A3: Email delivery - This refers to whether your receivers' server accepts your email or not. If there's a delivery failure at all, the email is returned as a bounce. Bounces can be classified into two categories: 

1. Soft bounce - It's a temporary delivery failure that happens when a receiver's server is busy

2. Hard bounce - It's a permanent delivery failure. And it normally happens when a receiver's email address is invalid or no longer active

Email deliverability - This refers to the placement of your email in the recipients' mailbox. Put simply, the folder (inbox, spam, or others) where your email ends up after successful server communication. 

Q4: What are the best practices of email deliverability? 

A4: You can taste a good amount of success in email deliverability by following the below-mentioned practices: 

1. Always use your own domain to send out your campaigns. Avoid using free email addresses. 

2. Authenticate your domain by adding SPF and DKIM records. By doing so, you're making it easier for the receivers' server to identify you as a safe sender and not a spammer. 

3. Be sure to have a clean mailing list. Remove inactive and invalid contacts from your mailing lists. 

4. Your subject line should be written in relevance to your email content. It should be short and sweet. Adding the pre-header text further helps your cause. 

5. Don't design your newsletters in a flashy manner. It's also advised not to use too much of text. 

6. Expand your email database organically and never purchase lists.