Just the thought of calling a person I don’t know gives me a case of the nerves. There’s something about talking, as opposed to writing, that just brings out the shyness in me. Since its creation, email was a godsend for someone like me. Not only did it eliminate the need for jittery, rambling phone calls, the idea that you can send someone something so quickly, without postage, was always fascinating to me. With email, you have the added bonus of having a document of what you sent, so you always know what you said. But how many of us have ever thought about how email actually works? I recently had the opportunity to interview Yanna Torry Aspraki, Deliverability Specialist and CRO of EmailConsul.
She is saving the world one email at a time.
Ms. Aspraki has a unique mission: to democratize and simplify email deliverability so that everyone can communicate effectively via email, regardless of their technical expertise, size of their business, or email lists, and to tackle the growing challenge of email deliverability in today’s complex digital landscape. As time progresses, email deliverability has become increasingly difficult due to constantly evolving spam filters and blocklists. Many senders assume that email marketing is all about creating compelling content, beautiful templates, and growing their email lists unaware of what happens after pressing the send button. It is oftentimes completely left in the hands of the email marketing software provider. Many important factors of getting emails sent and having them land in the inbox are overlooked. As a result, they may inadvertently engage in practices that can harm their email deliverability and reputation. This leads to emails landing in spam and oftentimes nowhere at all. Yanna Torry’s goal is to provide resources and easy-to-use tools that simplify the process of sending emails and ensure that they also reach the intended recipient’s inbox. She explained that we must all understand that email deliverability is an ever-changing world of email and that staying ahead of the curve is essential so that we don’t make decisions based on common misconceptions. That’s why she offers actionable advice, and shares knowledge openly that senders should have access to, real-time analytics and reporting, and guidance to help improve the sender’s deliverability and reputation.
Many of her clients are businesses that strongly feel the effects of bad email deliverability. She explains that if more businesses monitored their deliverability or were aware of how email actually worked, she would have a lot fewer clients, which would be great for the world. In her opinion, all email senders with a list over 1000 subscribers should definitely be monitoring their deliverability. That being said, she is hoping that by working on her personal goal of democratizing and simplifying email and deliverability information, senders out there will minimize the use of deliverability specialists that fix issues instead of monitoring.
Overall, her mission is to empower businesses and individuals and by simplifying email deliverability knowledge, she strives to ensure that everyone can send emails with ease and confidence, even in the face of evolving spam filters and blocklists or technological changes outside our control.
Yanna Torry explained to me that even though some of the younger generations may use email less frequently for personal communication, opting instead for social media or chat messengers, email remains a critical tool for businesses and professional communication. Studies have shown that the younger generations actually prefer email for brand or business-related communication. Email allows individuals to read the messages on their own time, rather than feeling the pressure to look at them immediately as they might with social media or chat messenger notifications. Email has been around for decades and is a tried-and-true method of communication, it is still the most effective way for businesses to communicate with their customers. Yanna Torry shared some of the benefits of using email over social media or chat messengers:
First, email allows for more personalized and targeted messaging because subscribers have already shared information that is personal to them, creating a foundation for a warmer relationship. People are more likely to follow a brand than they are to share their email address with a brand or business which shows a great commitment of interest on their part. With email, businesses can segment their audience and send tailored messages to specific groups, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion. This level of personalization is not as readily available on social media or chat messengers.
Secondly, email has a much higher ROI compared to social media and chat messengers. Studies have shown that email marketing has an average ROI of 42:1, meaning for every $1 spent on email marketing, businesses can expect an average return of $42. Social media and chat messengers, on the other hand, have a lower ROI and can be more difficult to measure as brands have less control over the data they have. Think of Google Ads where you share parameters in order for the system to make decisions versus email where the information and interest is coming directly from the interested party.
Finally, email is less intrusive compared to social media or SMS for example. With email, people can choose when to check their messages and engage at their convenience, whereas other forms of communication can be more demanding and may feel like an invasion of privacy, especially when not done right. While other forms of communication have their rightful place and are necessary to offer a full-rounded marketing experience, email remains a crucial tool for businesses to effectively reach and engage with their customers. The ability to personalize messaging, higher ROI, and its less intrusive nature make email a valuable asset in any communication strategy.
When I talk to experts like Yanna Torry, I like to get some insider tips to share with our audience, in the hopes that this specialized information can help someone out there. To begin, I asked for some best practices for businesses or individuals looking to expand their reach and engagement through email marketing:
- Building a targeted email list: It’s important to collect email addresses from people who are interested in your products or services, rather than buying or renting lists. This ensures that your emails are being sent to people who are more likely to engage with your content.
- Creating personalized content: Personalized emails have higher open and click-through rates than generic ones. Use customer data to tailor your messaging and content to each recipient.
- Optimizing for mobile: Most people check their email on their mobile devices, so it’s important to design your emails to be mobile-friendly. This includes using a responsive design, using a clear and concise subject line, and placing important information above the fold.
- Testing and optimizing: Regularly test different elements of your emails, such as subject lines, CTAs, and send times, to optimize your campaigns for better engagement and results.
- Following email deliverability best practices: Make sure your emails are getting delivered by following best practices such as using a reputable email service provider, maintain high engagement rates, and cleaning your email list regularly to remove inactive or invalid addresses.
Her number one tip for a business trying to build their email marketing strategy?
Prioritize the subscriber experience.
It’s important to be honest with yourself and understand that not every subscriber needs to receive every message. By respecting their time and inbox, you can build trust and loyalty with your subscribers. To achieve this, it’s crucial to follow email and deliverability best practices, which will help ensure that your messages are delivered to the inbox and not land in spam. By doing so, you can create a strong and effective email marketing strategy that engages your audience and builds lasting relationships.
Email technology is constantly evolving, with new features and capabilities being introduced regularly such as AMP for email. As long as businesses adapt to these changes and follow best practices for email marketing, email will remain a valuable tool for reaching and engaging with audiences.
Email has been around for over four decades, and it remains a crucial communication tool for both personal and business purposes. While social media and chat messengers have gained popularity in recent years, email is still widely used and shows no signs of going away. In fact, according to a recent report, the number of global email users is expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2025. While newer communication channels will continue to emerge, email’s longevity and versatility make it unlikely to become obsolete anytime soon. As long as people use email to communicate and businesses use it to market their products and services, email will remain an essential part of our daily lives.
I am always concerned about censorship, and it is a very hot topic these days. I asked Yanna Torry if she sees any censorship in the email deliverability world, and if there is a way that an email client and/or server can censor someone they basically “don’t like” or don’t agree with?
Her answer made me love email even more:
In the email deliverability world, there is no censorship of information based on acceptability or unacceptability. Unlike on social media or search engines, spam filters operate based on sender reputation and recipient preferences. Therefore, there is no possibility of email clients or servers censoring someone based on their views or opinions. The filtering process is not influenced by monetary factors, and instead is solely based on whether the recipient wants to receive the email or not. So, while there may be concerns about censorship in other areas, email deliverability operates on a different set of principles.
Yanna Torry’s newest endeavor is called Next-Gen Email. She describes it as a community created to help her succeed with her goal to democratize and simplify email deliverability. Deliverability knowledge has been kept under wraps to prevent spammers from accessing the information. However, as time passes, the email industry is becoming more divided, with larger businesses having the resources to succeed while smaller businesses struggle with email misconceptions, leading to their emails being delivered less frequently. Next-Gen Email aims to provide the world with the necessary information to succeed in email marketing and help individuals grow their email-related careers. By creating this group, she hopes to provide others with the opportunities that she had in her career by offering a great email network and access to the right information.
She and her partners have also developed EmailConsul, a deliverability monitoring tool. Email deliverability monitoring information is not commonly known or understood, and this lack of knowledge can lead to poor email marketing decisions. With EmailConsul, they aim to provide senders with the information they need to make better decisions and ensure that best practices are followed when communicating with subscribers. Email can be a powerful tool for communication, but it is essential that senders have the necessary information to use it effectively. EmailConsul is just one way that they are working towards improving the email industry and helping businesses of all sizes succeed in their email marketing efforts.
Yanna Torry is a great example of someone who has a strong work ethic and a never-give-up attitude. She credits getting into martial arts at the age of two and is now a black belt in karate. On top of self-defense and fitness-related reasons, she says that karate helped her develop discipline, confidence, control, and concentration. Karate helped her to set goals and work toward achieving them. In the past, she has opened and operated a karate school with her sister, which allowed her to share her passion for martial arts with others and help them to achieve their goals. Speaking with her, I can see that she truly has a passion for email also, and shares her knowledge freely to help businesses succeed.
Yanna Torry Aspraki, an email deliverability guru and black belt in karate, describes herself as an “Email Geek”.
I would describe her as an “Email Ninja”.
If you would like to learn more about Yanna Torry Aspraki and EmailConsul, please visit https://emailconsul.com/ and https://yannatorry.com/.
