Email marketing remains one of the oldest and yet most effective means of marketing. However, if you are in the business of email marketing, you might be under constant pressure to think about spam traps. It is crucial to learn how to create targeted emails to avoid spam triggers or being marked as spam by the receipt.
If your email is spammed it is hard for it to be seen and hence loses the essence of marketing. Unfortunately if not careful you end up a victim. In addition, Internet service providers are waging a war against spammers. Some of us endure the consequence yet we are the good-willed email marketers who simply don’t have the luck or enough experience.
Research shows that only 79% of emails reach the subscribers’ inboxes. Guess what? Only a small error is enough to send your email to the spam box causing serious reputation damage. As an experienced marketing agency in Nairobi, we have come up with a list of dos and don’ts to avoid landing in the spam folder.
1. Double Check Emails
Always request visitors to fill out a subscription email that confirms their registration through a separate email. It is referred to as a double opt-in form. When your visitors go the extra mile to confirm their subscription they are less likely to report an email as spam.
2. Don’t send Many Emails At First
Your IP address reputation is a huge factor in email deliverability. If you send an email campaign from a newly created IP address to a high volume of recipients, email service providers like Gmail and Yahoo may hesitate to send your email to the recipient’s inbox. You should warm up the IP address by sending a low volume of emails at first and increasing the quantity over time.
Building your IP reputation slowly helps email service providers better understand your sending behaviors, list accuracy, and how subscribers respond to the emails. If they’re positive, email service providers are more likely to deliver them.
3. Use a recognizable sender name
You wouldn’t want to receive an email with a weird name, probably one that doesn’t clearly state the sender. Similarly, it’s a good practice to use personalization and always strive to send emails from an email address that contains preferably your name with your brand name so that the recipients recognize you to avoid spam filters. Remember, people receive many emails daily, and they have to choose which ones to open. People prefer to open those which include a personal name in the ‘from’ box, rather than an impersonal, generic one. A study by Finances Online shows that 45% of email recipients will click spam based solely on the info they see in the ‘from’ field, name, and email address.
4. Use Reliable ESP – Email Service Providers
Email Service Providers gain a good reputation based on the good reputation of their clients. If ESP’s clients send out valuable and relevant content and have high scores on their IP addresses, their ESP becomes trustworthy. Steering clear from disreputable ESPs is a must, as their IP addresses usually get blocked by reputable ESPs such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Hotmail.
5. Avoid trigger words or misleading subject lines
Your words can trigger spam filters no matter what your original intention was. Phrases like “earn extra cash” or “increase sales” often get caught by email filters. Pay careful attention to every word and phrase you use, from the subject line to the body copy.
6. Avoid attachments
If you’re inclined to attach a document with more information, a special coupon, etc., don’t do it. Attachments not only mean it takes longer to download the email, they often lead the email directly to a bounce or the spam folder. Instead, send subscribers to a landing page with that content by including a link or call-to-action button in the email
Conclusion
Notably, paying attention to technical issues like cleaning email lists and observing all the things we have listed helps you to avoid spam triggers. Avoiding landing in spam helps you to maintain your reputation. As a creative agency, we do email marketing for companies, you just need to reach out. Check a list of marketing tools that you can use to reach many people.
