Are you looking for tips to avoid landing in spam folders? Have you noticed a decrease in your open and click-through rates, but you’re not sure why that’s happening?
You’re sending your emails to people who want to hear from you and who are interested in your products or services, so what gives?
It’s possible that you’re making some common mistakes with your email marketing that are hurting your efforts to reach your subscribers’ inboxes.
Even if you’re an email marketing pro, you could still be making mistakes that hurt your email deliverability and overall results.
In this article, we’ll share the top tips to avoid landing in spam folders and help you send better emails.
1. Ask your subscribers to add you to their address book
Spam filters look at a long list of criteria to decide whether or not an email is junk. One of the most important factors is the engagement of the people you’re emailing.
If you send an email to someone who doesn’t open it, that tells the spam filter that your email isn’t wanted. If you send an email to someone who opens it, that tells the spam filter that your email is wanted.
The more people who add you to their address book, the more likely your emails are to be delivered to the inbox.
Encourage your subscribers to add you to their address book by including a call-to-action in your welcome email and in the email footer.
2. Maintain a clean list
Scrubbing your email list of inactive subscribers is crucial. If you have a lot of emails bouncing, it can hurt your sender reputation. Make sure you’ve a list of professional email addresses which actually are active rather than dummy ones.
You can use a tool like SendGrid to monitor your email list and find any invalid or inactive email addresses. This will help you maintain a clean list and improve your email deliverability.
3. Authenticate your email
Email authentication is the process of verifying that an email is sent from a legitimate source and not a spammer. There are a few ways to authenticate your email, but the most common are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method that allows you to specify which IP addresses are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain. This helps prevent spammers from spoofing your domain and sending spam.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that allows you to sign your email with a private key. The recipient’s mail server can then use your public key to verify that the email was sent from a legitimate source and not a spammer.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication method that allows you to specify what your mail server should do with emails that fail authentication. You can choose to reject, quarantine, or allow the email to be delivered.
By authenticating your email, you can help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam and increase the chances of them being delivered to the inbox.
4. Use a consistent “From” name and email address
Email service providers take note of the “From” name and email address you use when sending emails. If you’re not consistent, it can hurt your email deliverability.
To keep your email list engaged and avoid spam filters, you need to send emails from the same “From” name and email address every time you send an email. This helps your subscribers recognize you and your business, which can help increase your open rates.
Minorities in Tech should be acknowledged and represented in your communications. It’s essential to ensure inclusivity, not just in your product or services but also in your branding and outreach.
5. Use a double opt-in subscription process
When someone signs up to receive emails from you, they’re added to your email list. The double opt-in subscription process adds an extra step to ensure that the email address was entered correctly and that the person wants to be added to your list.
After someone fills out the opt-in form, they receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription. If they don’t confirm, they won’t be added to your list and you won’t be able to send them email marketing campaigns. This extra step can help you avoid sending emails to people who aren’t interested, which can help you avoid spam complaints.
Using a double opt-in subscription process can also help you build a high-quality email list. This is because it ensures that the email addresses on your list are valid and that the people on your list are interested in your business.
Bonus Tip: If you want to take it a step further, you can use ReferralCandy to encourage your subscribers to refer their friends to join your email list. By incentivizing referrals with rewards, you can grow your list with even more engaged, high-quality contacts. This not only improves your email deliverability but also taps into the power of word-of-mouth marketing.
6. Avoid spammy words and phrases
We’ve all seen the “Nigerian prince” email scam. Most of us can spot an email scam from a mile away. But, that doesn’t mean we’re immune to them. Spammers are always coming up with new ways to try and trick people into opening their emails.
Some of the most common spammy words and phrases to avoid in your email marketing include:
• Free
• Act now
• Buy
• Cash
• Clearance
• Deal
• Discount
• Earn $$
• Easy
• Fast
• Make money
• Money
• Off
• Offer
• Only
• Order now
• Save
• Special
• Success
• Urgent
• Win
Spam filters use a point system to determine whether an email is spam. If your email hits a certain number of points, it will be sent to the spam folder. While using one of these words or phrases in your email won’t automatically land you in the spam folder, it will give you a higher spam score.
To avoid using spammy words and phrases in your email marketing, it’s best to focus on writing clear, concise copy. If you’re not sure if a word or phrase is spammy, try using a tool like SpamAssassin or ContactMonkey’s Spam Words Checker. These tools will tell you if your email is likely to land in the spam folder.
7. Use a spam checker
Spam checkers are tools that scan your emails and give you a spam score. This score tells you how likely your email is to land in someone’s spam folder.
If your score is high, you can make some changes to your email to lower your score.
Some email marketing tools, like Mailchimp, have spam checkers built in. If you don’t have access to a spam checker, you can use a free tool like IsNotSpam.
Spam checkers are a great way to make sure your emails are landing in the inbox.
8. Create a compelling subject line
The subject line is the first thing your recipients see, so you want it to be compelling. If it’s not, they may be quick to dismiss your email as spam.
But don’t just use any old subject line. Make sure it’s relevant to the content of your email, and try to pique your recipients’ interest. You can do this by asking a question, teasing the content of your email, or using humor.
Just make sure you don’t use all caps or exclamation points in your subject line, as this can make your email look like spam.
9. Design your email for the user
Your email should be designed with the user experience in mind. Make sure it’s easy to read and that your content is well-organized.
Use headings and subheadings to break up your content and make it easier to scan. You should also use images to help illustrate your points and make your email more visually appealing.
In addition, be sure to include a clear call-to-action (CTA) in your email. Whether you want the recipient to click through to your website, make a purchase, or sign up for something, your CTA should be front and center.
10. Don’t send spam
And the most important tip is to not send spam. If you’re not sure if your email is spammy, ask yourself these questions:
• Is it relevant? If you’re sending an email to someone who didn’t ask for it, you’re sending spam.
• Is it expected? If you’re sending an email to someone who didn’t expect it, you’re sending spam.
• Is it authentic? If you’re sending an email from an address that’s not yours, you’re sending spam.
• Is it valuable? If you’re sending an email that doesn’t provide any value, you’re sending spam.
• Is it easy to read? If you’re sending an email with a lot of text or images, you’re sending spam.
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re probably sending spam.
Conclusion
If you have a high percentage of users who report your email as spam, your email deliverability will decrease. So it’s important to have an easy way for users to unsubscribe.
