Email Delivery Tip# 1: What It Takes to Prevent Emails from Heading to the Spam Folder?
Let’s say that you have already mastered the art of designing a template, compelling subject line and copy, and discovered the best day and time to send. So, how about taking your email delivery skills one step ahead – and find out what it takes to spam-proof your email.
The biggest enemy of an email marketing campaign is ‘Report Spam’ button – once your emails are marked and start getting diverted to the spam folder, the shelf-life of your email marketing campaigns expires abruptly. Fortunately, following email delivery tips will help you review your delivery practices and correct mistakes to prevent your emails from being trashed to the Spam.
1. Using “sales@anycompany.com” or “marketing@anycompany.com” instead of a name?
Most marketers and companies commit this mistake: they use their department’s email address. But, your emails can perform better when they rather seem coming from a person than a department; seem more personal and pertinent to readers’ areas of interest, thereby, increasing open rates of mails. On the other hand, emails bearing sales, marketing, info, or webmaster fail to connect and engage readers. No wonder, why these mails mostly head straight to the spam folder.
And for replies from recipients, you can use a marketing automation platform to set the rules to channelize replies to the particular team or department of your company.
2. Traces of multiple recipients’ names or email ids
Yes, your mass email marketing campaign might target tens of thousands of recipients all at a same time – but, why do they have to know it? Mails with multiple recipients’ email addresses are a major red flag and must be removed before pressing the ‘Send’ button. Your leads do not necessarily have to know the agenda of your mass mail campaign; once they find out they are not the only one at the receiving end to get the exclusive offer or discounts you made them, they are most likely to mark or report as spam – end of the story.
Utilize a marketing automation tool to automate your mails to deliver to thousands of leads, at the same time, without leaving traces of multiple recipients on your mail.
3. ALL CAPS in Subject line or mail copy?
The idea is to spread the brand awareness or updates on new products or offers, not to SHOUT! After all, your targeted audience won’t love to be shouted at, no matter how lucrative offer you make. Moreover, if the information or offer in your email marketing campaign is valuable, the content itself will be able to communicate effectively, sans the use of uppercase in the subject line or in content.
4. ‘$’ sign or “Click …” in subject line
A promise of monetary prize starting with ‘$’, a toll-free number or instructions such as, “click here” are considered as sheer signs of spam with massive outbreak of email scams. Banish such phrases or terms from the subject line in order to avoid the risk of being marked as spam by your leads. Instead, try these subject lines that suggest zero intention of selling:
- “Did you catch a glimpse of this yet?”
- “You would want to read and share this”
- “What did you miss this week?”
- “Haven’t spoken for a long while”
- “Your opinion is important”
- “Following up on the last time we talked”
5. Refrain from flooding their inboxes with mails
Sure does your lead nurturing protocol require following up prospects with multiple mails in a month of time, before the trial tenure lapses. Still, it doesn’t have to be this way – limit to two to three mails a month maximum.
Your leads’ inboxes must be filled with important communications, messages from their loved ones, colleagues, bosses, insurance premium reminders, credit card payment reminders and the like – at that, they might not appreciate more than two to three mails from you no matter how exclusive, limited edition offers or products you present them.
That’s why, it is imperative to keep a track of schedule and dates of your email delivery to maintain prominent gaps in between. Utilize the time to measure the responsiveness and efficacy of previous campaign, compare open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates and other data to optimize your next email campaign to recipients’ reactions.
So, what’s keeping your email marketing campaigns from a safe distance from the spam folder? Share your email delivery tactics below or talk to us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We love to hear and learn from you.