Email deliverability begins and ends with the quality of your list. ISPs are on the lookout for signs that your list is not so good-- namely, too many bounces from outdated addresses and spam complaints from wary recipients. Both of these red flags are avoidable-- if you follow permission-marketing best practices.

The first tenet of permission-based marketing is that permission is not optional, negotiable or something you can kinda, sorta pretend that you have. People either want to hear from you or they don’t.

Start thinking of email marketing as your company’s primary tool for building relationships and moving users through the customer life cycle. It’s a lot like dating, actually. Focus on:

• making a great first opt-in impression
• setting the stage for a great relationship with a benefits-driven welcome email
• keeping communication channels open via email preference centers
• giving subscribers an easy way out by periodically re-opting-in your list
• breaking up with dignity via your unsubscribe process.

I know, I know. Best practices always sound good on paper, but at the end of the day, they’re just words. This article has fewer words telling you what to do and more pictures showing what these best practices look like in action.

Let's go!

Author notes: Jim Herbold is general manager of EmailLabs. Read full bio.