The power of subdomains: enhancing email delivery
The power of subdomains: Enhancing email delivery
When it comes to B2B prospecting, getting your emails into the inbox—rather than lost in the spam folder—is a crucial part of a successful campaign.
Email deliverability is a complex, ever-evolving landscape that requires constant monitoring and fine-tuning to ensure your messages reach your potential clients.
This post will explore the latest essentials of email deliverability and how subdomains can significantly improve success rates.
The key pillars of email deliverability
Sopro is an award-winning, market-leading B2B email prospecting service. We’ve been leading the way for a decade, and we know that achieving high deliverability is not just about sending out well-crafted emails. There are five critical factors:
1. Technical setup of the sender
This includes the configuration of your domain, IP addresses, and authentication protocols like SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail).
2. Reputation
Your domain’s and IP’s reputations are pivotal. These reputations are influenced by various factors, including how often recipients engage with your emails and how frequently they mark them as spam.
3. Technical content of the message
Email providers scrutinise the structure of your email, including its headers and body content, to determine its legitimacy.
4. Relevant targeting
Sending your emails to the right audience who are likely to find your content valuable.
5.Relevant messaging
Crafting content that resonates with your audience and encourages engagement.
How emails are delivered
The journey of an email from sender to recipient involves several steps, with numerous checks and balances along the way.
When you send an email, your server contacts the recipient’s server and provides details about the sender and the intended recipient.
The recipient’s server then performs a series of checks to verify that everything is in order—from ensuring the email is properly authenticated (via SPF and DKIM) to assessing whether the content appears to be spam.
Deliverability changes in 2024
In April and June 2024, the major Email Service Providers, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo introduced technical updates that have significantly impacted email deliverability across the industry.
At Sopro, we immediately conducted extensive testing across various domain setups, including older domains, subdomains, and main domains. This testing has allowed us to fine-tune our strategies and ensure that our clients’ emails continue to reach their intended audiences effectively.
Our testing revealed an increased importance of Domain Age, which now plays a pivotal role in how emails are received and processed.
Why domain age matters more than ever
The emphasis on Domain Age is largely a response to evolving anti-spam measures by ESPs. These measures have effectively reduced spam and phishing emails but have also raised the stakes for prospecting emails.
Some bulk email providers have tried to circumvent these measures by using multiple new domains, suggesting the use of 30 domains – with 10 mailboxes on each – to increase email volume.
This short-term focus on quality rather than quality has led to a surge in emails being sent from newer, lower-quality domains, worsening the issue and contributing to the growing emphasis on Domain Age.
At Sopro, we understand that sustainable email deliverability is built on quality, not quantity. By using established domains and focusing on targeted, high-quality content, we ensure that our clients’ emails are not only delivered but also well-received.
The role of subdomains in email deliverability
One of the most impactful strategies we’ve found for improving email deliverability is the use of subdomains. A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain; for example, if your main domain is example.com, a subdomain might be email.example.com.
Here’s why subdomains can be a game-changer:
1. Inherited reputation and age
A subdomain inherits the age and reputation of the main domain. This is crucial because many email providers view newer domains with suspicion. By using a subdomain, you leverage the established credibility of your main domain, which can lead to better deliverability rates.
2. Segregation of sending activity
Using subdomains allows you to separate different types of email activity (e.g., marketing vs. transactional emails) which helps in managing the reputation of each domain independently. This means that if one subdomain encounters issues, it won’t affect the reputation of your primary domain.
3. Improved response rates
Our tests have shown that using subdomains can increase response rates by 40-80%. This is because recipients are more likely to trust emails that come from a subdomain associated with a familiar brand, as opposed to a completely new domain.
Common concerns about subdomains
You might have heard that the reputation of a subdomain can affect your main domain.
While this can be a concern in poorly managed campaigns, our extensive testing shows that well-managed subdomain usage does not negatively impact the main domain’s reputation. We track domain reputation meticulously using tools like Google Postmaster, and our data confirms that subdomains, when properly handled, operate independently of the main domain.
The following results from Sopro’s internal campaigns demonstrate the positive impact sending campaigns from subdomains can have:
| Standard domain | Subdomain | |
|---|---|---|
| Prospects engaged | 46,000 | 167,000 |
| Response rate | 1.02% | 1.77% ⬆️ |
| Lead rate | 0.63% | 1.02%⬆️ |
Implementing subdomains: practical tips
If you’re convinced about the benefits of subdomains, the next step is implementation. Here are some tips:
- Use an Existing Domain: If you already have a domain that’s been around for a while (e.g., the .co.uk version of your .com domain), consider using that or setting up a subdomain under it.
- DNS Setup: The exact process of DNS (Domain Name System) setup can vary by provider, but typically, it involves either delegating nameserver control to the service managing your email delivery or manually adding DNS records.
Improving email deliverability is an ongoing challenge that requires careful attention to multiple factors, from the technical setup to the content of your emails. Subdomains have proven to be an effective tool in enhancing deliverability by leveraging domain age, reputation, and allowing for better management of sending activity. By implementing subdomains, you can improve your chances of reaching the inbox and ultimately increase your response rates.
If you’re looking to improve the performance of your email outreach, starting with subdomains could be a significant step in the right direction.
Sopro customer? Remember, we’re here to support you with any technical setup or questions you might have. Our team is always here to help with your email campaigns, making sure they are not just delivered but effective.
