Deliverability Defined
Alyssa Dulin & Melissa Lambert
5.0
(4)
Each week, Deliverability Defined will dive deep into topics about email deliverability, giving you the insight you need to reach the inbox of your subscribers.
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How to Learn From Unsubscribes
Deliverability Defined
02/15/22 • 33 min
5.0
Rejection is a terrible feeling. Especially when you’re pouring everything into a business and yearning for the approval of a new audience. But there are things to learn from every negative in life, and unsubscribes are no different.
So if you’re feeling down about your unsubscribes, consider this: the unsubscribe button is an automated list-cleaner, allowing subscribers the option to opt-out themselves, saving you the hassle of removing them manually when your deliverability starts to wane. And by implementing tools like exit surveys, you’re turning that unsubscribe into an invaluable insight.
Not to mention, unsubscribes are an unavoidable fact of email marketing. As our lives change, so do our email preferences. Plus, with a new feature from ConvertKit, you can send every unsubscriber a survey on their way out the door. While responses are never an exact science, there’s knowledge to be gained from every answer.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss why an unsubscribe option is a win-win, what you can learn from every exit survey, how not to position your unsubscribe option, and why trying your best to avoid them can turn a minor loss into an email catastrophe.
Key Takeaways
- [04:47] - Legally, all bulk emails are required to have an unsubscribe button, and morally, including an unsubscribe option is respectful to everyone.
- [08:47] - Don’t make the unsubscribe button difficult to find. If you make it extra complicated, subscribers may mark your emails as spam to speed up the process.
- [11:48] - Subscribers removing themselves from your list is beneficial to you because unengaged subscribers will ultimately damage your deliverability.
- [12:11] - Surveys are a great way to learn from unsubscribers, and a new feature from ConvertKit sends your unsubscribers an exit survey.
- [17:09] - If someone responds, “I no longer want to receive these emails”, most likely, they’ve simply outgrown your services.
- [20:26] - A lot of “I never signed up to receive these emails” responses indicate that you’ve been a victim of listbombing.
- [23:00] - Responses that your content is “inappropriate” may mean subscribers are surprised by the content they’re receiving. Be transparent with your subscribers about what they’ll be receiving from the get-go.
- [26:51] - Multiple responses that your content is “spam” is also concerning. It may be an email frequency issue.
- [28:46] - When someone marks “other”, there’s not much to be learned. It may be that you’re sending too much, the emails are no longer relevant, or maybe that subscriber just didn’t feel like explaining themselves.
Quotes
[11:07] - “Deliverability is one of those things where you really do have to follow the rules or you’re going to end up putting yourself in a hole. There are not a lot of ways you can get around doing things you don’t want to do. You have to do the right thing or you’re not going to have success.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[11:51] - “Unsubscribes are not personal, but they’re beneficial to both the subscriber and you. If someone doesn’t want to be on your email list, you don’t want them there. Having people on your list who don’t actually want to be there is guaranteed to damage your deliverability, ultimately hurting your ability to reach those people who do want to be on your list.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[22:26] - “We’re here to help you reach the inbox and emailing people who didn’t sign up for your list is not going to get you there. Make sure that any list you’ve imported comes from sources where each individual opted in to receive emails from you specifically.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
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- The Deliverability Defined podcast archives
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2

Top 5 Email Myths
Deliverability Defined
02/01/22 • 24 min
5.0
Are there tips and tricks to avoiding the promotions tab? Can simple keywords send you straight to the spam folder? Is email on the way out? Misinformation about best practices can send your email strategy spiraling. While it sounds cliche, avoid trusting everything you read on the internet.
Because despite living in the era of information, many email mythologies have survived. If you’re feeling lost and confused about what’s true, what’s old news, and what never served anyone in the first place, this episode is for you. From the value of open rates to email’s future as a medium for successful creators, Alyssa and Melissa tackle the ever-present underlying question: email fact or email fiction?
Key Takeaways
- [02:19] - Specific words will automatically send your email to the spam folder. This is a myth! Sender reputation and list health determine your deliverability.
- [06:55] - When it comes to list collection, following legislation is enough. Don’t forget, subscribers need to give explicit permission to receive your marketing emails.
- [09:43] - Email is dead (or dying). Far from the case, with social algorithms changing daily, email is more powerful than ever before.
- [13:06] - Tips and tricks will push your email out of the promotions tab and into the primary tab in Gmail. These tricks don’t exist and landing in the promotions tab is usually beneficial.
- [19:09] - Open rates should be the main metric you use to measure email success. Open rates are less reliable than ever. Focus on engagement instead.
Quotes
[09:09] - “If you want to reach the inbox and you want to be a good responsible sender, you need to make sure that every single person on your list opted in for your messages and you are delivering what they were expecting to receive.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[10:14] - “Any of these social media platforms could go away tomorrow. We’ve seen it happen. And being able to communicate with people on your list in a more targeted way is really cool and I don’t think it’s going to go away anytime soon.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[17:12] - “Trust the process, encourage engagement, but trying to trick an algorithm isn’t going to work for very long, even if you find a loophole. And it’s not going to make people more likely to purchase something from you.” ~ @mel_lambert_
Links
- Gmail
- Microsoft Outlook
- Yahoo! Mail
- Substack
- Deliverability Defined 0301: Creative Strategies to Increase Engagement
- Deliverability Defined 0222: Ask Our Experts: Help, My Emails Are Landing in the Promotions Tab!
- The Deliverability Defined Newsletter
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It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.
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1

Email Behind the Scenes
Deliverability Defined
02/22/22 • 30 min
5.0
Many creators know the ins and outs of authentication, spam traps, BIMI, and listbombing. And if you’ve been creating for a while, you probably understand best practices for email strategy and creative tips for encouraging engagement. But what about the basics? Do you really understand what happens to your email after clicking “send”? Most creators don’t, and there’s a strong case for shifting that statistic.
When a tool helps you earn a living, it’s important to have a general understanding of how that tool works from a technical standpoint. Email is no different. The inner workings of email are complex and understanding those complexities helps you improve your strategy, ask better deliverability questions, and stay calm when unexpected issues arise. So if you think technical know-how is irrelevant and only for the computer programmers of our world, think again.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss technical complexities behind clicking “send”, how inbox providers determine where your email lands, what ESPs like ConvertKit really can control, and why understanding email basics sets you up for deliverability success.
Key Takeaways
- [03:22] - Knowledge is power, and when you’re a creator depending on email for your livelihood, having a technical understanding of email can only help you.
- [03:57] - There are many steps between when an email is “sent” and when the email reaches the inbox of your subscriber. This back-and-forth conversation between the sender and the recipient is complicated but only lasts several seconds.
- [06:34] - Once a message is sent, there are still things on the recipient’s end that can cause deliverability issues. Once sent, an email is either accepted (delivered) or rejected (bounced).
- [10:32] - Once delivered, the mailbox provider has to consider several factors before determining where your email will land.
- [18:48] - Once a message is delivered, you can track how subscribers react to that message through open tracking, although it’s important to look at open rate trends over time versus day-to-day open data.
- [24:47] - Spam complaints are another great data point for senders searching for feedback.
Quotes
[26:48] - “Being able to break down every step of email, in general, will help highlight how it all works together because it’s definitely not a to and from, easy send, one-sided piece of mail. Even with the post office, when you take a letter to the post office, it’s not just being magically delivered instantaneously to that person, it’s going through a lot of work to get there.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[27:34] - “I think one of the best outcomes from this episode is at least maybe you have a better understanding of how complex email is and whenever you do have a subscriber bounce or someone says their message went to the spam folder, it will feel a little more like, ‘Ok, I get that there’s a lot of moving pieces going in here, let’s take a look, let’s not panic.’” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[28:13] - “Our whole goal at Convertkit is that you’re earning a living from your emails, from your products that you’re selling, things like that. So when something is the cornerstone to your business, you should have a general understanding of how it works.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
Links
- HappyLight
- Gmail
- Microsoft Outlook
- Yahoo!
- DMARC
- Bitly
- Deliverability Defined 0310: Top 5 Email Myths
- Deliverability Defined 0207: How To Avoid Automatic Clicks and Opens From Skewing Your Metrics
- Why Are My Emails Being Automatically Opened or Clicked?
- ConvertKit Creator Pro
- iCloud
- Microsoft
- Comcast
- Sign up for our monthly newsletter!
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2 Listeners
1

iOS 15’s Impact on Open Rates So Far
Deliverability Defined
02/08/22 • 17 min
When change happens, many of us panic. The rules of yesterday no longer apply and our future feels uncertain. But not all changes are catastrophic. In fact, a few recent email updates may seem more dramatic than they actually are. Case and point: Apple’s new privacy changes.
Earlier in 2021, Apple announced an update that sent many senders stressing. Within Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection feature, pixels load automatically and recipients are unable to determine who’s actually opening their emails. For years, open rates have been a hallmark metric in the world of deliverability, but now that technology has turned the tables, what’s next for measuring email success?
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa explain what the iOS 15 update really means for senders and subscribers, who’s impacted, where open rates are surprisingly still useful, and why Apple’s update is an email blessing in disguise.
Key Takeaways
- [01:50] - Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection is a feature that automatically loads pixels in an email to prevent senders from collecting information about the receiver. As a result, it will always appear that subscribers are opening emails.
- [05:56] - Who’s impacted? Any subscriber using an Apple device with iOS 15 installed who uses the Apple Mail app to manage their emails. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell which subscribers fall into this category.
- [07:48] - Since Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection was released, ConvertKit has seen open rates increase from 30% to 37%.
- [11:14] - Even before the release of iOS 15, open rates were becoming less and less reliable. With this update, open rates are officially an email metric of the past.
- [14:48] - It’s time for creators to move away from relying on open rates to determine email success and start focusing on increasing engagement.
Quotes
[05:43] - “An interesting effect of the Mail Privacy Protection is that a lot of senders aren’t going to be able to clean their list and make sure people are receiving what they want to receive the way that they could with accurate open rate data.” ~ @alyssa_dulin[14:51] - “It takes the pressure off. You don’t have to make [open rates] such a large part of your goal. Because if your goal is to make a sale, then maybe we shouldn’t be focused on just the open rate, maybe we should be focusing on that actual purchase.” ~ @mel_lambert_[15:46] - “Having that pulse on your open rate can tell you how your deliverability is doing and that’s really what open rates are good for these days, just that basic, ‘ok, I’m getting through the front door.’ But when you’re really focusing on what metrics are going to tell you, ‘Are you being successful? Is this message resonating? Did people read it?’, there are other things you need to be focusing on, like clicks, conversions, and replies.” ~ @alyssa_dulinLinks
- Sign up for the monthly newsletter!
- Deliverability Defined 0218: Apple’s New Privacy Changes
- Gmail
- Microsoft Outlook
- Hey Email
- Mixpanel
- Deliverability Defined 0301: Creative Strategies to Increase Engagement
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It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.
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How to Fix Reputation Issues with Gmail
Deliverability Defined
03/08/22 • 21 min
According to Finances Online, as of January 2020, Gmail had over 1.8 billion active users. When you’ve got a mailbox provider so prevalent on your email list, keeping yourself on good terms with that provider is essential for the survival of your subscriber count. But how do you know if your reputation with Gmail has tanked? And what’s the best way to respond?
While every mailbox provider cares about customers first, Gmail has its advantages for senders too. For example, Gmail allows you to track your domain and IP reputation. Gmail also sends helpful hints when your emails land in the spam folder, but it can be confusing.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss how to determine where your sender reputation stands with Gmail, what to make of every possible inbox tip-off, how to respond when you realize your reputation has tanked, and reaching the root cause of your strained relationship with Gmail.
Key Takeaways
- [03:28] - There are many clues and data points Gmail provides that can point senders in the right direction when it comes to fixing your reputation.
- [06:37] - While Gmail is the mailbox provider, the actions of your subscribers determine where you land in the inbox. Remember that mailbox providers care about their customers (your subscribers) above all else.
- [07:34] - Subscribers will sometimes tell you when your messages are landing in their spam folders. Keep in mind that the promotions tab is still the inbox.
- [11:24] - If you land in the spam folder and see a banner that reads, “Why is this message in spam?” — it usually means you’re not using a verified sending domain with an ESP.
- [13:16] - If you realize you have a bad reputation with Gmail, immediately stop sending to unengaged subscribers and figure out the root cause.
- [14:07] - Clean your list, check to see if you’ve been listbombed, and avoid sending to unengaged subscribers for two weeks. As you see your reputation start to improve, you can gradually begin re-engaging subscribers who haven’t been receiving your messages.
Quotes
[06:59] - “Gmail’s number one priority is their customers, who are your subscribers. So you may have every good intention in the world of helping people, sending relevant content, but if those subscribers are not interacting in a positive way, then your reputation may be suffering.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[17:43] - “You have to give them time to build that trust back. And you want to make sure that in that process, when you’re building it back, you don’t do anything that would cause more negative signals to show up. Don’t try and re-engage your list too fast. You want to do all that really slowly and try to make sure that the most things they’re seeing when you send messages are those positive engagements like opens, and clicks, and replies.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[19:22] - “Even though reputation issues can be scary, at least at Gmail there are a decent amount of tools, signals that you can use to be able to work on certain aspects of your list and your sending habits, and they give you an opportunity to get better.” ~ @mel_lambert_
Links
- Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
- Monthly deliverability reports
- Starbucks
- Slack
- Gmail
- Hotmail
- Yahoo Mail
- Finances Online report
- Google Postmaster Tools
- Deliverability Defined 0222: Ask Our Experts: Help, My Emails Are Landing in the Promotions Tab!
- Ask Alyssa & Melissa questions or suggest content for our next monthly newsletter!
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Why Some Subscribers Don't Confirm Their Opt-In
Deliverability Defined
12/28/21 • 35 min
As creators and email marketers, we’ve got a lot of important things keeping us up at night. From our marketing strategy, the hassle of freelance taxes, and, of course, those subscribers who don’t confirm their double opt-ins. But of all our worries, is an unconfirmed subscriber really something to stress over? After all, what’s “normal” subscriber behavior?
It might be time to rethink how you expect subscribers to engage with your emails. Because subscribers don’t follow the same rules you do, and what feels negative to you may feel normal to them. For example, according to a recent MailChimp study, 61% of subscribers never complete the double opt-in process.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa talk about why subscribers don’t confirm their opt-ins, when to know if it’s a real red flag, how to fix your double opt-in dilemma, and why you shouldn’t obsess over it. Because having unconfirmed subscribers doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong — sometimes, it’s just human behavior.
Key Takeaways
- [03:38] - Subscribers may not confirm their opt-in if the confirmation email is confusing or unclear. Make your confirmation email simple and straightforward.
- [07:47] - If subscribers don’t confirm the double opt-in, it’s also possible that they never signed up for your list. You may have been a victim of list-bombing.
- [11:30] - While it sounds like a joke, it’s very possible that subscribers have not checked their inbox and that’s why they have yet to confirm.
- [16:33] - It’s possible that your confirmation email bounced or went to spam.
- [22:05] - If the number of unconfirmed subscribers is driving you crazy, it’s ok to remove the double opt-in, but make sure you’re securing your email list in some way.
- [28:58] - If you’re stressed about unconfirmed double opt-ins, remember, there are better metrics to focus on.
Quotes
[11:06] - “I would rather see a bunch of unconfirmed subscribers on my list than see a bunch of confirmed ones who are never going to engage in my emails.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[31:44] - “It’s way better to have this small, engaged list that’s protected than to have a huge list where you let in anyone who wants to be there, but then a big chunk of them are marking your messages as spam or not opening your messages and your deliverability is tanked and now everyone receives your email in the spam folder. That is a reality we’ve seen happen for people who don’t clean their list and don’t protect their list with double opt-in.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
Links
- ClickZ
- MailChimp
- Deliverability Defined 004: Protecting Yourself from Listbombing
- reCAPTCHA
- Invisible reCAPTCHA
- Amazon
- Apple Pay
- I Am A Creator: How To Make Music You Love and Find The Right Audience with Drew Holcomb
- Deliverability Defined 0302: Growing Your List With a Referral Program
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It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.

Utilizing BIMI to Display Your Logo in Subscriber's Mailboxes
Deliverability Defined
01/04/22 • 24 min
What happens when security and style combine? Enter BIMI, or Brand Indicators for Message Identification, a text record that lives in your DNS records and helps verify your email address against phishers with malicious intent. This verification can be found in the brand’s logo, conveniently embedded in a sender’s email.
While this high-tech security option may be a tough bet for small creators working alone, if you’ve got a large following and an equally large team, BIMI is a great way to increase your security.
According to the Harvard Business Review, companies are falling victim to hackers at an alarming rate, with COVID and remote work leaving us vulnerable to keyboard bandits and email spoofing more than ever before. Needless to say, security is important, and anything you can do to protect your own brand and the privacy of your subscribers saves you face and money. If you can add a personal branded touch, all the better.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss the importance of mixing style with security, the technicalities behind implementing BIMI, and why security is so important for big brands, small creators, and everyone in between.
Key Takeaways
- [05:08] - The goal of BIMI is to provide another layer of trust to your emails. With the embedded logo, subscribers can verify that the email is coming from your brand.
- [10:05] - While massive data breaches aren’t a top concern for the average creator, email spoofing can happen to anyone, and BIMI protects against spoofing.
- [12:06] - To start using BIMI, you have to be using a strict DMARC record. BIMI is incentivizing senders to use DMARC.
- [17:38] - Aside from setting up a strict DMARC record, if you’re a ConvertKit user, you have to set up a verified sending domain.
- [19:51] - You must also have a proper TXT record in your DNS.
- [21:55] - Keep in mind that not all mailbox providers support BIMI. Yahoo, AOL, Netscape, Gmail, G Suite, and Fastmail are mailbox providers that do.
Quotes
[11:45] - “We care a lot that email is a safer place and that people aren’t being spoofed. And then, on the other end, a lot of people who send mail probably aren’t as interested, don’t care as much about it. But [BIMI] gives them an incentive to start to really crack down on their security.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[18:17] - “I feel like people think that they have to have all these things. A lot of new senders think, ‘Oh I need to change things in my DNS settings and I need to add a DMARC record’, and you don’t have to do anything. It’s not like those things will make you land in the inbox more often.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[19:03] - “At the end of the day, [BIMI] encourages people, or it should encourage people, to really work on their sender reputation if they want to have these things set up, which is a good thing.” ~ @mel_lambert_
Links
- Deliverability Defined 0106: Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- The 10 Biggest Ransomware Attacks of 2021
- Using a Verified Domain for Email Sending
- Generate Your BIMI Record
- Yahoo
- AOL
- Netscape
- Gmail
- G Suite
- Fastmail
- DMARC
- Outlook
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...
Growing Your List With a Referral Program
Deliverability Defined
12/07/21 • 40 min
Creators always ask, “how do I grow my audience?” While the answer is different for everyone, when you’re an emerging creator with a tight budget, referral programs are a great way to expand without burning revenue. And not only expand, but find subscribers more likely to engage.
As we continue moving away from open rates as our main metric, referral programs are a great step toward increased engagement. Luckily, where there’s a will, there’s an app. Tools like SparkLoop smooth out the logistics and make tracking your referral progress fun and easy.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss the benefits of a referral program, the steps to referral success, and examples of creators who are doing it right.
Key Takeaways
- [07:09] - Referral programs are a great way to grow your audience in a way that’s relatively “hands-off”.
- [08:39] - Tools like SparkLoop help you automate your referral program. Automation is especially useful if you’re a small creator.
- [14:24] - People trust referrals from friends more than anything else. A referred subscriber has built-in trust with you that otherwise, you would have to spend time, money, and energy to establish.
- [16:11] - Referral programs reward subscriber engagement.
- [16:47] - Using incentives not only drives traffic to your newsletter but also the content outside of your newsletter.
- [19:22] - Referral programs lower the cost of subscriber acquisition and get people excited about your upcoming content.
- [22:18] - Before launching a referral program, you need a newsletter with measurable subscriber value rather than a brand new newsletter with no built-in audience.
- [24:08] - You also need a clear explanation of how your referral program works so it’s obvious to your subscribers what they have to do.
Quotes
[12:12] - “Any other way to try and find people to join your list, like maybe doing paid ads, can only do so much to get the right person in front of that sign-up form. And it’s kind of more like casting a wide net and hoping to find the right people. But this is perfect. Your subscribers clearly are the perfect fit for your email list, they’re already there, they signed up for it, and they likely know other people who also would love your content.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
Links
- Contact Us!
- Morning Brew
- theSkimm
- SparkLoop
- ConvertKit Creator Pro account
- Manuel Frigerio
- Louis Nicholls
- Codie Sanchez
- Nathan Barry’s newsletter
- SparkLoop’s growth calculator
- SparkLoop rewards library
- James Clear
- The 3-2-1 Newsletter
- Great Talks Most People Have Never Heard
- Nathan Barry’s podcast
- Brennan Dunn
- Create & Sell
- Angel at ConvertKit
- Isa at ConvertKit
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It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.

The Future of Email
Deliverability Defined
01/11/22 • 31 min
If you could peek into a crystal ball and see the next 10 or 15 years of email evolution, what would it look like? Are the strategies you’re implementing ready for the future?
Many say that in a world of ever-changing algorithms, email stays the same. While it’s never an exact science, the predictability and control senders have over their content certainly makes email an attractive outlet. However, nothing is ever stagnant, email included. For example, Apple’s recent privacy changes, the promotions tab controversy, and that infamous ‘unsend’ option rolled out by Gmail years ago.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa make their email predictions for 2022 and the years ahead. From metrics to privacy to engagement and open rates, here’s everything the experts are betting on. While there’s no guarantee these changes will come to fruition, it’s always important to consider what’s next.
Key Takeaways
- [03:27] - Over time, Alyssa predicts that metrics like open rates will become more and more unusable before eventually returning.
- [04:47] - Further into the future, large mailbox providers will develop new tools to help senders understand their email performance while still protecting the privacy of subscribers.
- [11:32] - Melissa predicts that emails will become more and more targeted and senders will continue finding creative ways to encourage engagement.
- [17:25] - Alyssa believes that more and more creators will use email to connect with their audience rather than relying only on social media.
- [22:26] - Melissa predicts that emails will become more interactive and senders will find new ways to encourage and track that engagement.
Quotes
[12:28] - “I think people have a lot of options and they’re becoming smarter with what they’re interested in, and I think senders and marketers will have to be even more specific about what they send subscribers, especially if they don’t have that open rate data.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[17:55] - “ A lot of [people] still probably don’t use email, especially the ones getting started, because they just don’t understand the value of it. But I think as time goes on, that’s going to change, and as soon as you decide you want to be a creator or have some sort of platform or build an audience, email is going to be one of the first things you do.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[21:13] - “Figure out a way to beat [social media] and own your audience instead of trying to constantly worry about what people aren’t seeing. Because if they were on your email list and you had good engagement and also practiced good deliverability, they probably would see everything.” ~ @mel_lambert_
Links
- How iOS15 Has Impacted Open Rates For Creators
- Gmail
- Microsoft Outlook
- Apple Mail
- Deliverability Defined 0108: Hey.com: The New Mailbox Provider that Blocks “Spy Tracker” Pixels
- Tempur-Pedic
- DSW
- Skechers
- Instagram Help Center
- Facebook Help Center
- AMP for Gmail
- Southwest Airlines
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It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.

How to Serve Multiple Audience Types
Deliverability Defined
12/14/21 • 22 min
As we evolve as creators, it’s inevitable that our audiences evolve with us. If you find yourself serving multiple audiences, deciding which audience to speak to and when can feel like an impossible task that inevitably isolates one fan base or another. Unfortunately, with most mediums, creators must choose.
In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa answer the question, how do you create for multiple audiences? Because this is Deliverability Defined, email is always the answer. And while email has many superpowers, audience segmentation is possibly the most undervalued. Whether your audience is made up of both parents and teachers or dog owners and cat lovers, here’s how to embrace them all while keeping it personal.
Key Takeaways
- [08:08] - Social media will inevitably be filled with clutter you don’t care about. Email allows us to subscribe to only the content we’re interested in.
- [13:33] - Before you segment subscribers, you have to learn about them. Start by asking questions through a welcome sequence.
- [16:23] - Don’t feel weird asking people for information. We underestimate how much people enjoy talking about themselves.
- [18:02] - Segmentation isn’t permanent. As you start sending content, you can combine your lists when content is relevant to multiple audiences.
- [19:00] - Having multiple audiences via email can lead to multiple business opportunities.
- [19:35] - Gathering subscriber information at signup is more upfront work, but it makes your life much easier down the line. Build the system, don’t be the system.
Quotes
[07:00] - “I think it’s easy to overlook that there are people in your audience who are different.” ~ @mel_lambert_
[11:25] - “Email is so unique in the way that you can have all of your audience together in one place, but send them completely different emails.” ~ @alyssa_dulin
[16:23) - “People underestimate how much people want to share about themselves. It’s definitely an art to learn to listen and ask people questions that get them excited about themselves, but once you do, people are willing to share a lot. And I don’t mean that in a weird way, it just creates that deeper connection with your audience.” ~ @mel_lambert_
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