So you’ve put a lot of care and energy into your latest email marketing push. You’ve carefully curated the customer segment you want to reach. And you’ve created a campaign you just know they’re going to love.
It’s looking great. The graphics and HTML template are working beautifully together. Your subject lines and call to action are both irresistible.
You’re spending a bit of money to send your messages, too. And ideally, you want a good return on that investment.
Only one thing can stop you now.
Oh God. It’s happened, hasn’t it?
All that time and money gone to waste.
Your email marketing campaign has been caught by the spam filter. Chopped down in its prime.
It never stood a chance, really. Not if you didn’t take the proper steps to avoid being flagged as spam.
But don’t worry. Here are the steps you need to get it right next time.
1. Learn the rules that spam filters use to block your emails
First things first. To beat an email spam filter, you have to think like an email spam filter.
That means knowing the things that a spam filter looks for and then blocks.
The good news?
a) It’s not difficult, and
b) Your email marketing content will probably improve in quality along the way
Here’s a list of things spam filters are checking in your email campaigns. It’s not totally exhaustive, but it’s an excellent start.
Whether you’re on a blacklist
It’s self-explanatory. If you’re on an email blacklist, your messages ain’t getting delivered. Check your email sender’s reputation. If they’re blacklisted (or you are), switch to a provider that knows how to manage its reputation. I recommend Mailrelay, obviously.
Your sender and domain reputation
Your reputation is being indexed based on the IP address and domain your emails come from. The best way to improve your sender reputation is to use a reputable email provider, and to improve the quality of your email messages. (See the section on spam words below).
Spam complaints against you
Providers like Gmail give customers a very easy way to mark messages as spam. And then Google uses that data to improve its spam filter. Improving the quality of your campaigns (and possibly your subscriber list too) is the answer.
Your email message content
Yeah. Spam filters are reading the content of your email campaigns and then judging you on it. And you’re just gonna have to deal with it.
Speaking of dealing with it, let’s do that now.
2. Improve your subscriber list
Hey wait… maybe it’s not the quality of your email messages that’s landing you in the spam bin. Maybe it’s not even your sender reputation.
That’s it! It’s the customers’ fault. This is all their doing… those fiends.
Sounds crazy?
Well, it might not be all that far from the truth. Especially if you didn’t build your own email subscriber list through best-practice methods.
Here are some things to consider.
If they aren’t real subscribers, delete them
If a customer didn’t ask to be on your email list, they don’t really want your email.
And that means they’re much more likely to report it as spam. Which in turn means that your reputation will be damaged, so the customers who do want your emails won’t get them either!
If you bought your email list from a dubious seller, or you scraped it from websites, or anything like that… then there’s a good chance you’re going to end up in the spam filter. Sorry about that.
Build your email list the right way
Here’s a better way to build your email subscriber list, which won’t land you in the junk folder.
Offer your customers something valuable to them and relevant to your organization. Invite them to subscribe through a sign-up form on your website, or at your conference stand, or wherever you meet them.
The subscriber list will be full of people who have given you express permission to email them. You’ll get fewer spam reports, your rep will improve and you’ll get past more spam filters.
3. Improve your email marketing content
Earlier on I tried to cheer you up by suggesting that your spam filter problems are your customers’ fault, and not yours.
That was… probably not true, even given the advice about improving your list that followed.
So what can you do? It’s not as if you’re deliberately sending spammy email. (If you are, then shame on you.)
Well, it again comes down to knowing what the spam filter finds acceptable. Here’s what you need to be aware of.
Certain words and phrases trigger spam filters
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What do all these phrases have in common? They’ve all been over-used by email marketers, many of them real spammers, to the point of meaninglessness. And now they’re on lists of phrases that spam filters are more inclined to block.
Make sure your subject lines and message content don’t carry the hallmarks of spam, and it’s less likely to be treated like spam.
In other words: use high quality, original content instead of falling back on tricks and clichés.
And leave out the spam phrases!
Don’t be so loud
Sometimes we shout to be heard more clearly. But as a result, the people we’re trying to reach ignore us even more.
That’s definitely true with email marketing.
Big fonts. CAPITAL LETTERS. Brash colours like red. High contrast designs. Outrageous offers.
These ‘techniques’ (for want of a better word) not only turn off your customers with their tackiness. They also alert the spam filters. And with good reason – they’re spammy as hell.
Stay classy, and your emails will be received accordingly.
Use good quality email marketing tools
If all of the above is too much to remember, you could always just get a computer to do it.
There’s a wide range of email marketing tools available, and they’ll scan your campaigns for signs of spam in a matter of seconds.
Always check campaigns before you send them. Then use the results to improve your email content as necessary.
You’ll have better email marketing results in no time. Good luck!