Sending spam emails could be the main reason why your email marketing strategy isn't working.
With the rise of e-commerce comes spam filters, making the dreaded spam folder even more difficult to avoid.
While you can’t blame people for putting up better defenses against spam mail (after all, there were around 8.61 billion spam emails in the US the other year), it's tiring to send marketing emails that never reach your subscribers' inboxes.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way! It’s time to stop wasting time drafting emails that will never see the light of day. In this article, we'll share 10 tried-and-true tips to keep your marketing emails out of the spam folder and in front of your audience.
From using a professional email address to personalizing your content, these tips will keep your email marketing campaigns efficient and help you get the desired results.
10 Tips To Avoid Delivering Emails In Spam Folders
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Use a professional email address and sender name.
Having a professional email address and sender name can significantly improve the chances of your marketing emails dodging the spam folder.
A professional email address paired with a name that sounds real and personable indicates that your email is legitimate and, thus, trustworthy. This gives a solid first impression to the recipient as well.
The email address could be as simple as (Your Name)@(Your Business Name).com. Avoid using generic email addresses such as info@ or support@. Or worse, (YourBusinessName)@gmail/yahoo/aol.com. These addresses are commonly associated with spam.
As for the sender's name, the name should be recognizable – your name works best, but your company name is also acceptable.
These may seem like simple changes, but by doing something as simple as changing your email address, you’ll improve the credibility of your marketing email and increase the likelihood of them going straight to the inbox.
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Avoid using spam trigger words and phrases in the subject line and body of the email.
Using trigger words and phrases like "earn money fast," "limited time offer," "double your income," and "100% free" is a major reason why emails go to spam.
Avoid these generic phrases and use more descriptive and professional-sounding language in your subject line and body.
Speaking of subject lines—great subject lines lead to better open rates, so be sure not to inject sales-like trigger words and symbols. Instead, aim for a subject line that reads clearly and concisely, accurately reflecting the content of the email in a manner that entices the recipient to open it.
Additionally, be mindful of your capitalization and punctuation. Excessive use of all caps or exclamation points can easily trigger spam filters!
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Include an unsubscribe link in the email.
As much as you want to keep your subscribers, you must always include an unsubscribe link in your email. This simple link will help prevent emails from going to spam.
More importantly, the unsubscribe link is a legal requirement under the US CAN-SPAM Act, which sets commercial email standards and gives recipients the right to opt out of future emails from a sender.
While an unsubscribe link makes it easy for recipients to stop receiving your emails, it also ensures that they won’t leave angry messages on your customer service line when they get frustrated trying to find an opt-out option.
While it may be disheartening to think that people may not enjoy your content, remember that you can’t please everybody. Offering an unsubscribe link is a way to respect your recipient’s choices and prevent complaints against your business. It’ll reduce the volume of bounced or ignored emails, giving you a more engaged and interested audience overall.
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Don't use a sizable image-to-text ratio.
Spam filters look for specific patterns and characteristics in emails to determine if they are legitimate, and a high image-to-text ratio is one significant indicator. This is because emails with many images and limited text are often used for phishing scams or malicious content.
To avoid your email being flagged as spam, aim for a balanced ratio of text and images in your marketing email. Ensure that the text is clear, concise, and relevant to the image content that you’ve included. Use images to enhance your messaging, but avoid overloading the email with large, heavy images that could slow down the email loading time.
Additionally, consider using alternative (alt text) for images, as this can help improve accessibility for visually-impaired users.
5. Limit the use of links and attachments.
Spam filters often flag emails with a high number of links or attachments. Why? Like large image-to-text ratios, emails with a high volume of links are also commonly used to deliver malicious content or phishing scams.
Plus, too many links or attachments can make your email appear cluttered and difficult to navigate, reducing effectiveness.
To avoid emails going to spam, keep your links at a minimum. If you must include them, make sure they are relevant and valuable to the recipient, and avoid using shortened URLs, as these can often be associated with spam.
With attachments, ensure they are necessary and reasonably sized, as large files can be complex for some recipients to download.
6. Authenticate your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are three email authentication protocols that help improve email delivery and security.
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email validation system that checks if an email comes from an authorized source.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a method that uses a digital signature to verify that an email was not modified during transit and came from the domain it claims to be from.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that provides a way for domain owners to protect their domains from unauthorized use.
By authenticating your email with these protocols, you can improve the delivery of your emails and ensure they are not marked as spam.
It also helps protect your domain and brand reputation by preventing unauthorized use, phishing attempts, and email spoofing.
7. Build a clean mailing list by regularly removing bounced or invalid email addresses.
How do you keep your mailing list clean?
A clean mailing list contains subscribers who have actively opted-in to receive your emails and those with up-to-date and accurate email addresses.
Thus, make sure to remove bounced or invalid email addresses regularly. Bounced emails are those that cannot be delivered to the recipient's inbox, while invalid email addresses are those that are no longer in use.
Removing these addresses from your mailing list will prevent emails from going to spam and ensure that they are delivered to active and engaged subscribers rather than defunct or ignored email addresses.
8. Avoid sending bulk or mass emails.
Bulk emails are typically seen as impersonal and uninviting, which can reduce the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
Instead, consider segmenting your mailing list into smaller groups based on factors like subscriber interests, purchase history, or location. By doing this, you can send more targeted and personalized emails that are more likely to be relevant to your subscribers and avoid emails going to spam.
Now, what if you're sending emails to large groups?
If that's the case, then make sure that you're sending them at a consistent pace with regular email communication. This reduces the risk of your emails being marked as spam and allows your emails to reach your target audience effectively.
9. Personalize your emails as much as possible.
Personalization is a great way to prevent emails from going to spam. Including subscriber-specific information (such as their name or location) makes the email more relevant and tailored to the recipient.
For example, instead of sending an email that starts with a generic greeting like "Dear valued customer," you could use the recipient's name, like "Dear John." This simple change can make the email feel more personal and engaging.
Another way to personalize is to use subscriber location information to send targeted offers or promotions. Examples are discount codes for their nearest store or information about brand events happening near your subscriber’s location.
While personalization is a great tactic to avoid getting your hard work tagged as spam, studies show that it’s also a great way to keep customers engaged and interested in your brand.
10. Keep your email content relevant and valuable to the recipient.
Subscribers who receive irrelevant or uninteresting emails are more likely to mark the emails as spam. Or worse—unsubscribe from your mailing list!
Thus, your email content must be related to the recipient's interests, needs, or goals to avoid the email from being manually marked as spam.
This may seem impossible, considering subscribers may have a wide range of interests. The solution? Segmentation! Categorizing your mailing list into smaller groups based on specific parameters will help you send targeted and relevant emails to a particular audience, keeping your campaigns tailor-fit to specific groups of people.
And to make the email content even more valuable, you could include exclusive promotions, helpful tips or advice, industry news, or other information that the recipient would find beneficial. It’s all about providing value!
Wrap Up
Avoiding the spam folder is crucial to email marketing success. All that work in writing and designing a marketing email would be for nothing if the final result won't reach your target audience.
Cleaning up your mailing list, personalizing your campaigns, and omitting spam trigger works and cluttered links are just a few things you can do to improve the performance of your email marketing campaigns.
By taking the time to implement these tips, you'll be well on your way to building a successful and effective email marketing strategy.
Want to ensure the deliverability and effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns? Get in touch with our email marketing experts now!