Voices of Search Podcast: Episode on Email Deliverability

Title: Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast
Host: Jordan Cooney
Guest: Alex Goffstein, Co-founder of Pitchbox
Episode: Email Deliverability
Release Date: March 25, 2025

1. Introduction

In this episode of the Voices of Search podcast, host Jordan Cooney engages in a deep dive into the critical topic of email deliverability within the realm of link building. Joining him is Alex Goffstein, the co-founder of Pitchbox, a leading influencer outreach platform. This conversation builds upon their previous discussion about link building and automation, shifting focus to the nuances of ensuring that outreach emails effectively reach their intended recipients.

2. Understanding Email Deliverability

Alex Goffstein begins by elucidating the concept of email deliverability, emphasizing its significance in successful link-building campaigns.

Alex Goffstein [02:07]: "So many of us don't think what happens to our email after we click the send button... It goes through a number of servers, it goes spam filtering machines... deciding whether to deliver your email and where it should end up."

Key Points:

• Email Journey: After sending, an email traverses multiple servers and spam filters before landing in the recipient's inbox or spam folder.
• Cold Outreach Focus: Deliverability is particularly crucial for cold outreach emails, where volume and personalization play pivotal roles.
• Server Scrutiny: Major providers like Gmail and Microsoft scrutinize sending patterns to prevent spam, affecting how bulk emails are handled.

3. The Importance of Personalization and Uniqueness

Personalization emerges as a cornerstone for enhancing email deliverability and engagement.

Alex Goffstein [05:08]: "Personalization is extremely important... It ensures that your emails aren't flagged for being identical and maintains the integrity of your sender reputation."

Key Points:

• Avoiding Templated Emails: Sending identical emails in large volumes can trigger spam filters, leading to account bans.
• Personal Touch: Tailoring emails based on the recipient's content, interests, or recent activities can improve receptivity and reduce the likelihood of being marked as spam.
• AI-Driven Personalization: Leveraging AI to generate unique subject lines and email bodies based on extracted website and content data enhances uniqueness at scale.

4. Automation and AI in Email Outreach

The integration of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is pivotal in managing large-scale email campaigns without compromising deliverability.

Alex Goffstein [09:14]: "With AI, we can extract H1, H2 keywords, content links, and more, then generate personalized prompts that ensure each email is unique and relevant."

Key Points:

• Scalable Personalization: AI assists in creating personalized content swiftly, allowing marketers to maintain high levels of uniqueness across thousands of emails.
• Email Rotation: Distributing email sends across multiple accounts in a round-robin fashion prevents overuse of a single email address, mitigating the risk of bans.
• Tools and Features: Platforms like Pitchbox utilize features such as an "inner browser" to assess website relevance and extract pertinent information for personalization.

5. Challenges with Email Providers

Even B2B email communications are not immune to the stringent filtering mechanisms of major email providers.

Alex Goffstein [06:36]: "If you send a thousand templated emails from one account, Gmail might pause or send them to spam based on their initial interactions."

Key Points:

• Unified Filtering Systems: Regardless of the email's end purpose (B2B or personal), providers like Gmail employ consistent filtering rules.
• Response Signals: Early interactions, such as unopened emails or spam reports, can adversely affect the deliverability of subsequent emails in the batch.
• Domain and IP Reputation: Maintaining a good sender reputation is essential; sending high volumes of similar emails can tarnish this reputation quickly.

6. Monitoring and Optimizing Deliverability

Effective monitoring is essential to identify and rectify deliverability issues promptly.

Alex Goffstein [14:12]: "When your response rates start to drop, it's time to evaluate your outreach. Look at your last 100 emails to identify potential problems."

Key Points:

• Response Rate Tracking: Establishing a baseline response rate helps in identifying deviations that may indicate deliverability problems.
• Scoring Systems: Tools like Pitchbox's upcoming MXRite feature analyze email templates for spam potential, offering scores to guide optimizations.
• Error Identification: Common mistakes, such as incorrect merge fields, can drastically reduce response rates and need immediate correction.

7. Resources and Continuous Learning

Staying updated and continuously experimenting are vital for maintaining effective email deliverability strategies.

Alex Goffstein [18:33]: "It's all about experiments and giving it a shot. Nobody's going to hand over their 100% proven template, so you have to figure out what works for your business."

Key Points:

• Educational Content: Engaging with content from industry leaders and tools (e.g., Clay) provides valuable insights and best practices.
• Experimentation: Testing different approaches and iterating based on results is crucial for discovering effective strategies.
• Perseverance: Success in email outreach often requires numerous attempts and adjustments; resilience is key to long-term success.

Conclusion

Jordan Cooney and Alex Goffstein conclude the episode by reiterating the importance of thoughtful automation, personalization, and continuous optimization in achieving high email deliverability rates. They encourage marketers to embrace experimentation, learn from failures, and persistently refine their outreach strategies to maintain effective link-building campaigns.

Notable Quotes

• Alex Goffstein [02:07]: "It's all about making sure that your emails are not very templated. Personalization was important a while ago, but now it's more important not just because you want to make sure that the personalization makes the person on the receiving end feel nice and warm and fuzzy, like you actually wrote the email, but it's also the sending service because they don't want you to send the same identical email..."

• Jordan Cooney [08:16]: "Let's break some of this stuff down. We covered a lot of stuff here, Alex. Probably more than what most people can process, especially if they have zero experience with email deliverability or email systems in general."

• Alex Goffstein [17:45]: "Garbage in, garbage out. So no, before you go and automate, do it manually, get it right, and then you can start automating what actually works."

For more insights and updates, listeners are encouraged to visit Pitchbox and follow the Voices of Search podcast across various social media platforms.