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RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.
Reach vs. Reputation - it’s time to balance both
When email marketing becomes a numbers game (which it often and frequently does), email deliverability, sender reputation, and overall perception of your brand/business go down the toilet.
I get the thought process – more emails sent, more people reached, the higher the likelihood of something landing, right?
Well, it’s not strictly accurate. Not anymore, anyway.
Today, reputation rules and the smartest marketers know that scaling email isn’t just about quantity, it’s about qualified reach.
In this blog, we’ll be unpacking how to send to more people without blowing up your sender reputation. It’s time to ditch the batch-and-blast and learn how to be smart, not just big, with your email strategy.
Why more isn’t always better (unless it’s smart)
Sending to more people doesn’t mean just sending emails to every and any old person. If you’re emailing the entire database with the same message, at the same time, with no exclusions… you’re not scaling reach, you’re scaling risk.
Think of it this way: when you’re casting the net out to everyone, all you’re catching is low engagement.
The good stuff is slipping through the net, and you’re stuck with all of the low engagement signals that nobody wants, like deleted emails, ignoring and spam complaints.
And all of these signals are killing your email deliverability.
Instead, think of reach like advertising.
Not every impression gets a click, but every impression builds familiarity.
This is why you can and should use email as an awareness channel.
Visibility without opens? Yes, it’s a thing.
An inbox is kind of like a billboard or social media feed.
Even when your emails are unopened, they have value for this very reason.
After all, Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo all measure more than opens; they register when a message is seen, ignored, searched, and when your brand name appears regularly in the inbox.
The preheader text, subject line, and sender name are all doing brand awareness work. Like a billboard, your emails are counting on visibility to do the hard work, because even if your subscriber doesn’t open/click today, when they’re ready, they’ll (hopefully) remember you.
This is how email becomes part of the ecosystem, through subtle, cumulative brand, trust, and relationship-building, just like ads.
The only way to scale email: consistent, high engagement
If you want to send to more people, you’ve got to make sure that you’re driving consistent, high engagement from a decent portion of your email list.
Think of it as your safety net that proves to mailbox providers that people want what you’re sending.
But how do you go about building that all-important engaged segment?
- Provide valuable entry points like lead magnets, gated resources, or free tools - useful things people want and need
- Welcome sequences that train engagement early (opens, clicks, replies) - not boring ones though, actual fun, valuable, educational or memorable emails
- Email copy that encourages action - click, reply, save, forward (replies are the best signals)
- Clear expectations: tell your subscribers exactly what to expect, including what they’ll get and when
Replies are deliverability gold
Out of all the engagement signals, replies are one of the most powerful… but why?
Because it tells the mailbox provider that your email is part of a human conversation, which is about as valuable an indicator of genuine engagement as you can get.
- Start asking real questions
- Invite responses
- Use plain text formats when possible
Not only will all of these things improve your inbox placement, but you’ll also get insights that fuel segmentation and future sends because you’re hearing it first-hand from your audience.
And yes, you can use this in B2C or D2C - just because most brands do the same thing (same = same results), doesn't mean you can't.
Exclusions: the most underused strategy in email
Okay, so now we’re getting into how you can increase your sends without irreversibly crushing your sender reputation.
It starts with excluding the right people:
- Recent complainers or unsubscribers (ovbs)
- Those who just converted (don’t push them again instantly!)
- Overlapping segments
- People who may have an open complaint, recently complained, tickets etc
- Specific times of the sales cycle or journey/last interaction makes it make sense NOT to send those emails
Smarter exclusion results in better inbox placement for everyone who receives the email.
List structure & cadence: the long game strategy
Your email list isn’t just one list – it’s multiple audiences, all at different stages.
Great email marketers structure based on:
- Engagement level
- Motivations
- Lifecycle stage
- Product or service interest
- Persona type (my absolute FAVE)
You need to pair this list structure with a strategic cadence.
That means not just sending out weekly emails for the sake of it, because not everyone needs weekly (or daily) emails. Some might need monthly emails, and others might need just touchpoints.
You need to be strategic and intentional because otherwise you’ll simply be aiming for quantity, when you could have both quantity and quality if you play your cards right.
Wrapping up: reach and reputation aren’t enemies
If you take anything from this blog post, make it this: you don’t have to choose between reach and reputation.
You have to evolve your strategy, but you can have them both, and they can work harmoniously to give you the results you’re aiming for.
Scale comes from:
- A growing list plus engaged new contacts (a constant new flow and continuous engagement from a good portion of your list means you can email the people who do not engage - especially if they take actions in relation to you outside of email e.g. purchase, web visit etc)
- Content that’s genuinely helpful or interesting (never content for content’s sake)
- Understanding that email is an ecosystem, not just a campaign
Be pragmatic about it.
Email more people when it makes sense, not when it’s a last-ditch effort and you’re throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
You need to balance protecting your reputation and maintaining visibility by keeping engagement strong.
Even if someone doesn’t open, it’s still a pair of eyes on your brand!
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RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.