Email Marketing: How To Avoid Ending Up In Spam
Sending a mass mailing
Since starting Whales Ventures, we’ve sent over 2M emails to our clients in different domains. And if I say we were never marked as spam, I’d be lying. Those who send frequent newsletters or invitations also know the case: your emails all of a sudden end up in the spam folder. In this article, I’ll tell you how to avoid this. It isn’t yet another article like “5 steps to do 5 steps”. Here, I outline the most useful and non-obvious tips based on our experience. So, the five effective and straightforward tips for you and your emails to not be classified as spam.
If You Pick The Wrong Subject Line, No One Will Read Your Email
The email’s subject line is important in the spam exam. It shouldn’t be wordy – as simple as possible works best. Excessive special characters use should also be avoided together with the unnecessary spaces and consistent capitalization of individual words or even the subject itself. Even if the spam filter allows a subject line like this, it’s perceived by the recipient as dubious.
Not only the form, but also the content of the subject matters. There’s an entire series of expressions like “offer”, “free”, “congratulations” or “limited” that regularly attract the spam filter. Even the subject line with “hello” or “invitation” can cause this. Here, objectivity is the highest bid in the formulation of your subject line.
Сomply With The Legal Situation
The valid General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) requires recipients’ consent to get business emails. If you send mail to recipients who never opted for hearing from your company, this may result in a complaint to the GDPR and a costly warning. In addition, the persons concerned will definitely mark those emails as spam.
Involvement should always be documented in case you need a proof later – once necessary and in what context the email address was found. That’s a great way to ensure that the recipients actually expect their emails.
Your Emails Need Answers
It’s highly important that the emails you send get responses. I’ll try to explain: Google is an intelligent machine and its algorithms are completely logical. If you send an email, you need an answer. And if you send a bulk of emails and have no answer (in a particular Gmail inbox), in other words, you’re sending spam. Are you following? Google only considers email chains, not one-way mail. So, if you stick to sending emails – try to start answering.
Create Relevant Content
It’s obvious: the emails you send should be relevant for the recipient. This also influences your spam rating: the more emails are read, the higher the reputation for further emails.
Also, email readability is key: the email should be clearly built so that the crucial information is easy to find without any spelling mistakes. Correct presentation of images, tables, or lists on all devices and operating systems also matters so that both spam filters and the receiver themselves even classify your email as high-quality.
Similar to the subject line, it’s better to avoid topics like loans, insurance, or medication. If that’s not possible, at least try not to use such terms too much.
Offer An Option To Unsubscribe
If you send newsletters or such, find a quickly detachable login link – after all, the GDPR also gives the recipient a right of withdrawal for processing data. Make it as easy as possible to unsubscribe from your messages. This saves emails from being marked as spam just because the recipients can’t unsubscribe.
Attachments, IP Addresses, Technical Details
Of course, emails’ technical subtleties also affect whether they’re classified as spam. Thus, email attachments are one of the most common ways to spread viruses, which is why emails with attachments are often filtered. If you want to send a file, it’s best to link it as an external download. Make sure that the links lead to your own server.
Furthermore, it’s best to reach out from the addresses the recipient can respond to. It’s also useful to send emails from the same address. If the name of your brand is in the sender field, you gradually increase awareness and thus, the recipient’s approval. For the same reason, do not change the sender address and the domain in particular. It builds reputation over time when emails are regularly sent out and only a few of them are classified as spam.
Finally, you should always send emails from static IP addresses because dynamic IP addresses often end up blacklisted. If you want to send an email to many recipients, do not enter them all in the BCC field. A high number of addresses in the BCC field is a spam sign for most filters.
To Sum Up
Even though the 100% delivery rate is never fully reachable, if you follow these tips, more emails reach the recipients. Of course, an email client would be a nice addition here, which automatically saves you from the common mistakes. All of this will definitely assist your next newsletter campaign, event invitation, or other email activities.
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