Whitelisting: A Marketer’s Guide to Ensuring Email Deliverability

While an ability to craft compelling campaigns is with no doubt a decisive factor for your email marketing success, it is unfortunately not the only necessary condition. For those email marketers whose emails end up in the spam folder—all the effort is wasted. This is why the second important component of your success is whitelisting.

Whitelisting is a critical tool for improving email deliverability by allowing your emails to bypass spam filters and land directly in the inbox. Understanding what whitelisting is and how to encourage subscribers to whitelist emails can make a substantial difference in the success of your email marketing campaigns.

In this article, we’ll provide a detailed observation of this important, yet often overlooked, mechanism and discuss how to nudge your subscribers to whitelist your emails.

What Is Whitelisting?

Whitelisting is a security mechanism that allows certain emails to bypass spam filters. But what does whitelist mean? For email marketers, this means that when a subscriber whitelists your email address, your emails are automatically delivered to their inbox without being subjected to the same demanding filtering as other, potentially less trusted, messages. This is the opposite of blacklisting, where emails from certain addresses are entirely blocked.

Most email platforms, such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo, use sophisticated algorithms to filter out spam. However, these algorithms can sometimes mistakenly identify legitimate marketing emails as spam, especially if they contain promotional content. By encouraging subscribers to whitelist your email, you reduce the risk of your messages being unfairly classified as spam and ensure they reach your audience.

Whitelisting works similarly across most platforms: users either add the sender to their contacts, mark an email as “not spam,” or add the sender to a “safe senders” list. This tells the email provider that the sender is trusted, allowing future emails to bypass the spam filters. While the specific steps may vary, the underlying principle remains similar across different email clients.

Why Whitelisting Matters to Marketers

If you consider whitelisting as a nice-to-have rather than a necessary option for your email marking, you might want to reconsider. Here’s why:

• Deliverability impact: The primary advantage of being whitelisted is the assurance that your emails will reach the inbox, not the spam folder. Even the most engaging, well-designed email campaigns can become completely useless if they aren’t seen by your subscribers. Whitelisting helps maximize your reach by ensuring your messages are delivered where they’re most likely to be read—your subscribers’ inbox folders. 
• Sender reputation: Your sender reputation is a critical factor in determining whether your emails are delivered to the inbox or considered suspicious. If your emails are consistently flagged as spam, your reputation suffers, which can lead to broader deliverability issues. On the other hand, when your emails are whitelisted, it improves your reputation by signaling to email providers that your messages are trustworthy. This can improve your overall deliverability, and not just for those who have whitelisted you.
• Engagement rates: Emails that are whitelisted are more likely to be opened and engaged with, simply because they land in the inbox. This direct correlation between whitelisting and engagement means that the more your subscribers trust you enough to whitelist your emails, the more successful your campaigns will be.
• Return on investment (ROI): Ultimately, the goal of any marketing campaign is to drive revenue. Whitelisting directly impacts your ROI by ensuring that your emails reach their intended audience. Higher deliverability leads to higher open and click-through rates, which in turn leads to more conversions and sales. 

How to Encourage Subscribers to Whitelist Your Emails

Considering the importance of whitelisting for your email marketing success, getting your subscribers to whitelist your email address should become a strategic part of your overall efforts. Here are some proven strategies to encourage whitelisting:

• Educate subscribers early: The best time to ask subscribers to whitelist your email is right at the start of your relationship. Include a clear, simple call to action (CTA) in your welcome email, explaining how and why they should whitelist your address. Like this, you can set the tone for future communications and increase the likelihood that your emails will be properly delivered.

• Personalize your request: No secret that personalization can make a big difference. Tailor your messaging based on the subscriber’s previous interactions with your brand. For example, if a subscriber has shown interest in a particular product or service, mention that in your request and point out that whitelisting ensures they receive updates and offers relevant for them.
• Leverage social proof: People are more likely to act when they see others doing the same. A phenomenon known as social proof. Use testimonials or statistics to show that a large portion of your audience has already whitelisted your emails. Like this, you can build trust and also create a sense of community and belonging among your subscribers. 

• Incorporate whitelisting instructions in every email: While the initial ask is crucial, reinforcing the message is just as important. Consider adding a brief note at the end of your emails reminding subscribers to whitelist your address. This can be particularly effective in your onboarding emails, where you can guide new subscribers through the process with easy-to-follow instructions.

• Offer an incentive: Sometimes we all need a little nudge. Consider offering a small incentive, such as a discount or exclusive content, in exchange for whitelisting your email. This not only encourages whitelisting but also drives immediate engagement with your brand.

Technical Aspects of Whitelisting

Beyond encouraging subscribers to whitelist your emails, there are several technical steps you can take to improve deliverability and ensure your emails are viewed as legitimate:

• Email authentication: Implement authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These protocols help verify that your emails are actually coming from you, which increases the likelihood that email providers will whitelist your messages. Without proper authentication, your emails might be flagged as suspicious, hurting your deliverability.

• Dedicated IP address: If you’re sending a large volume of emails, using a dedicated IP address can be beneficial. A dedicated IP allows you to build a strong sender reputation that isn’t affected by the actions of other senders. In case you share an IP with other senders who engage in poor email practices, your reputation—and your ability to be whitelisted—can suffer.
• Email verification: By regularly verifying your email list, you maintain a healthy sender reputation. Using email verification tools like Sendigram Email Checker can help you identify and remove invalid or outdated email addresses before you send a campaign. Why? Because high bounce rates can damage your sender reputation, making it less likely that your emails will be whitelisted in the future. 
• Monitor feedback loops: Some ISPs provide feedback loops that allow you to monitor how recipients are interacting with your emails. If a subscriber marks your email as spam, this feedback can help you quickly address and resolve issues that might prevent you from being whitelisted. By monitoring feedback loops, you can adjust your email practices to better align with what your audience wants, improving your overall deliverability.

Steps to Take if Your Emails Are Not Whitelisted

Despite your best efforts, there may be times when your emails struggle to get whitelisted. Here’s what you can do:

• Review and adjust your practices: Start by analyzing such parameters of your email as content, frequency, and engagement metrics. Are you sending too many emails? Is your content relevant to your audience? If your emails are not being whitelisted, it may be a sign that your email practices need improvement. Adjusting your strategy can help improve your deliverability and increase the likelihood of being whitelisted.
• Run re-engagement campaigns: If you notice that a significant portion of your subscribers isn’t engaging with your emails, it may be time to run a re-engagement campaign. Offer something valuable, like an exclusive offer or a helpful resource, and encourage these subscribers to whitelist your email to continue receiving updates. Re-engagement campaigns can help reactivate dormant subscribers and reduce the risk of being marked as spam.
• Reach out to ISPs: In some cases, persistent deliverability issues may require direct intervention. If you find that your emails are consistently not being whitelisted despite following best practices, consider reaching out to the ISPs or email providers. Sometimes, to resolve deliverability issues, you need to work directly with these providers to understand what’s causing the problem and how it can be fixed.

Long-Term Whitelisting Strategies

Ensuring your emails are whitelisted isn’t a one-time effort—it requires ongoing attention and strategy. Here are some long-term strategies to maintain and improve your whitelist status:

• Ongoing list maintenance: Continuously clean and update your email list to ensure it remains healthy. Remove inactive subscribers and bounce-backs regularly. A clean list not only improves your engagement rates but also reduces the chances of your emails being flagged as spam.
• Engagement optimization: Regularly test and optimize your email content to keep your audience engaged. A/B testing different subject lines, email copy, and calls to action can help you understand what resonates best with your audience. High engagement rates signal to ISPs that your emails are valuable, which in turn increases your chances of being whitelisted.
• Build relationships: Trust is the foundation of whitelisting, so focus on building strong, trust-based relationships with your subscribers by consistently delivering value. This can involve sending personalized content, offering exclusive deals, or simply staying true to your brand’s values. The more your subscribers trust you, the more likely they are to whitelist your emails.

To Sum Up

We hope that in this article we could showcase that whitelisting is a vital practice for any email marketer who cares about the wholesome success of his campaigns. Understanding what whitelisting is and even more—knowing how to encourage subscribers to whitelist your emails—can make a difference between your campaign’s success or failure.

By approaching whitelisting not merely as a better deliverability practice but rather as an investment in building trust, maintaining reputation, and boosting your overall ROI, you might be willing to explore and implement practices outlined in this article.