What does an email deliverability consultant do?

An email deliverability consultant will help you and your team follow email best practices and provide a customized plan to help you reach your email goals. Through audits and maintenance, an email deliverability expert can help you ensure every one of your emails gets through the mailbox providers (and doesn't land in spam folders.)

Hiring an email deliverability specialist will help you improve your email marketing metrics, from your spam rates to your complaint rates, clickthrough rates, and inbox delivery rates. 

What can’t an email deliverability expert do?

There is some misunderstanding on what email deliverability consultants can and cannot do, so here's a list of things your email deliverability expert won't be able to help with:

Influence ISPs directly

ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are the ultimate gatekeepers to your inbox. No matter how good your email deliverability consultant is, they cannot directly impact ISP decisions. So, for example, if an ISP is blocking emails from your emaildomain, there’s only so much a consultant can do to help with that outcome.

Influence third-parties

A consultant in email deliverability can help you manage your relationships with third-party providers, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact. They can also provide you with strategic guidance on a lot of matters connected to the deliverability of your email marketing campaigns. However, they cannot directly influence their decisions and actions.

Trick receiving servers

Contrary to what some may believe, a deliverability expert cannot "trick" receiving servers into accepting your emails if your domain is blocked. The consultant can, however, do everything in their power to help you make sure you follow email best practices that prevent servers from blocking your domain.

Make blacklist providers never list you

Unfortunately, no email deliverability consultant can make sure that a blacklist provider never lists your domain. What the consultant can do is help you avoid triggering any of the blacklist provider’s criteria that can lead to the listing.

Do your maintenance job

No email deliverability consultant can do the maintenance work for you. These consultants can provide guidance and expertise to point you in the right direction, and they can send you comprehensive monthly reports on your spam rates and email deliverability rates, but you must do the work yourself.

Tell you what your next campaign should be like

While they may be experts in email best practices, email deliverability freelancer won't build actual email programs and email campaigns for you. That's an email marketer's job -- and while the two specialties may sometimes intersect, they are most certainly not the same.

How much does an email deliverability consultant cost?

Generally, the cost of hiring an email deliverability consultant can get as high as $100/ hour (or more.) However, this may depend on a variety of factors, such as their experience, track record of success, and so on. 

Types of email deliverability experts

There are multiple types of email deliverability specialists, and knowing them will help you hire someone who will actually help you improve your email performance. 

Agencies and consultancies

Agencies focusing on email deliverability services are an excellent choice for very large enterprises, where email audits and strategic plans can take months to put together.

Experts (freelancers)

Hiring an email deliverability freelancer can help you achieve great results in a short amount of time - and usually at a much lower cost. These professionals usually specialize in one area, including reputation management, deliverability audits and more.

Working for email sending services

Some email sending services will also have in-house deliverability assistants ready to help you out. This is a good option for minor issues, but if you're having consistent, serious deliverability problems, it's better to hire a dedicated expert to work with your business.

What to ask your email deliverability consultant?

Not sure what to ask your email deliverability expert when hiring them? These questions could guide you to learn more about your candidates and make the right decision:

What do you think of our setup?

• Do we have a good sending reputation?
• Are we on a blacklist?
• Are our email deliverability metrics correct?
• Are we taking preventive actions?
• How can we build our sending reputation?What, in your opinion, are the three most important ways to avoid high bounce rates and improve deliverability rates? 
• What, in your opinion, are the top three most common deliverability issues? 
• How do you run a comprehensive audit? 
• How can you help us improve our sender reputation? 
• In the past, how did you help other businesses avoid spam traps?
• How can you help us make sure our cold emails get delivered? 

How to hire an email deliverability expert

Hiring an email deliverability expert doesn't have to be a chore. Here are some ways you can do it:

Traditional job board

You can post your job opening on a traditional job board. This is an excellent option if you want to go through a more traditional recruitment process, as it will allow you to compare the candidates based on their resume and experience.

Freelance job board

Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Guru can be a good source of freelancers in multiple areas (including email deliverability). However, do keep in mind that posting your job on these platforms is likely to bring a lot of applications, so be sure to have clear criteria for evaluating the candidates.

Referrals

Not sure where to start? Asking peers for referrals might be a great option if you want to avoid the hassle of screening multiple candidates. When you hire someone through a referral, you're more likely to trust them from the beginning, as you'll have a more personal source of information about the candidate.

Mayple

No time to waste? Mayple only works with vetted specialists, allowing you to hire one that fits your business needs and industry in a matter of days. Contact us and let us match you with the best email deliverability consultant!

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