Every business owner wants to do whatever they can to ensure their business grows and continues to keep in contact with their clients. One great way to do this is by having customers on an email list. When customers are on a marketing list, the business can send out periodic emails to the customers to inform them about promotions, new items or simply to connect. Unfortunately, some business owners learn their emails are not going to the top of their customer’s emails but are instead going into the spam folder. There are some things that can be done to help the emails land in the right spot.
Instruct Subscribers to Whitelist Email Address
Many of the top email providers have a spam filter. This means they look for certain things within an email that are usually congruent to spam emails. When a subscriber whitelists an email address, this ensures emails from a particular source will never go into the spam folder. The only way for an email to be added to someone’s whitelist is for the customer to do it or for someone on their team to do it. It is important to understand that not all subscribers might know how to whitelist an email. For this reason, it is imperative for the person sending emails to include instructions and even pictures on how to do it. The instructions can be included in the first welcome email the subscriber will receive.
Receive Permission Before Sending Emails
Some people may be under the impression they can send emails to anyone; however this is not the case. Business owners should always get permission to send marketing emails. If someone did not sign up for emails, there is a chance they will report it as spam. If a sender’s emails get reported as spam repeatedly, there is a chance their emails will automatically start going into the spam folder. Before sending emails, business owners must have a way of gauging a person’s interest.
Choose the Right Email Marketing Program
Sometimes business owners may overlook details about the email marketing program they choose for their campaigns; however the wrong email marketing program can cause a person’s emails to mistakenly go to the spam folder. One way that email providers choose what emails to send to spam can be based on the program that is used. If an email marketing program gets numerous complaints for sending spam emails, there is a chance they will send other emails from the same program to spam as well. It is important to always use a program that has a good reputation and is legitimate. Sometimes the legitimate program may be a bit more expensive; however, it is worth the extra cost associated with it. A legitimate email marketing program will also have filters in place to help the emails to not get tossed into spam folders.
Take Adequate Time to Proofread Emails
Many times business owners are extremely busy and would like to get information out to their clients as quickly as possible; however it is quite important to take the necessary time to proofread all emails that are sent out. If there are numerous grammatical issues with an email, typos, and sentences that do no make sense, there is a chance the email could be placed with spam emails. It is even a good idea to run emails through some form of grammatical correction software before sending the email to customers. By doing this, there is less chance the email will be sent to spam because all issues or most issues will be corrected. One program that many people use is Grammarly, and there are many similar tools to choose from.
Beware of Subject Lines
When creating emails it is important to share great information, and that starts with the subject line. If the subject sounds like spam, then some email spam filters will label it as such. Sometimes emails that talk about discounts, deals or have exclamation points in the subject line can end up in the spam folder. Even if the emails come from reputable companies, there is still a chance they will be regarded as spam. So, it is best to pay close attention to the subject line that is used.
Remove the Email Address of Certain People
Another way email providers determine if someone is sending spam is by seeing how many of the emails that a person sends information to are actually active. If the percentage is relatively low, the email provider could relate this to spam. So, to deter this from happening, it is recommended to remove inactive email addresses from the marketing campaign. If someone has not opened the emails in a very long time, then those addresses should be removed. If there is a small number of people on the email list that is not opening emails, then that is to be expected. If a large number of people are not opening emails, then the marketing strategies should be revisited. This shows that something is not working properly.
Utilize a Spam Checker
Many people who create emails on a regular basis purchase a spam checker tool to do everything possible to keep their emails from going to spam. The spam checker tool will be able to show how possible it is that a certain email will go to spam, and it will suggest strategies to reduce that likelihood.
Be Clear About Who the Sender is
It is best to be as clear as possible on who is actually sending the email. The sender is what recipients will see in the “from” field of the email. There should never be any special characters or anything like this in that particular field. If there are special characters, the likelihood the email will be filtered into spam rises significantly. In the “from” field, there should be a person’s name or the company’s name.
Conclusion
All of these are great tips to deter marketing emails from ending up in the spam folder. If these tips are followed, there is a better chance that an email campaign will see positive results because the recipient will actually receive the email.
