Why Email Engagement Matters
Engagement is king
It’s tempting to think deliverability is all about tech settings. Yes, tech is critical, but email providers like Gmail have become really good (and sneaky) by using engagement signals. Their algorithms track everything: who opens your emails, how fast they delete them, if they drag your message out of the Promotions tab, if they reply, and it’s the death knell if they hit ‘Report spam’.
Gmail cares even more about user behavior than it does about a few spammy keywords. If recipients love your emails, Gmail, Outlook and all the ISPs love you. If users consistently ignore or delete your emails, expect trouble.
We mention Gmail a lot because they are a great bellwether for email deliverability across all email clients. Don’t forget that many companies use Google Workspace for their own corporate domains.
One huge tip
Replies are gold for deliverability. An email with even a 2% reply rate can outperform one with 40% opens and zero replies in Gmail’s eyes. A reply tells the algorithm ‘This is a conversation, not spam.’ Meanwhile, a high open rate means nothing if nobody engages beyond the click, or worse, if a chunk of people opens then immediately clicks ‘this is junk.’
The takeaway? Make your emails engaging and conversation-worthy. It’s the ultimate hack to bypass the spam filters because real conversations don’t get sent to spam.
The mission is to get recipients to engage, not buy stuff! Buying stuff comes later.
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