Everyone knows there’s money to be made sending emails—but not everyone knows how to stay out of that Spam folder.
It’s important to note that when we talk about avoiding the Spam folder, we’re not just talking about avoiding the notorious “Spam filter” trigger words — we’re referring to the whole email experience.
Poorly written, poorly executed, and terribly boring emails will cause your followers to react in not-so positive ways (and that unfortunately means annoyed readers may mark these emails as ‘Spam’ even if they’re not—which is SO not cool, by the way).
But yes, generating revenue with your targeted mailing campaigns can be next to impossible if you’re not being seen or causing people to insta-delete / “Mark as Spam”.
However, don’t sweat! We have some great Mailing tips for you today that should hopefully help you prevent all of that from ever-happening.
Here are 8 things you can do to create more engaging email messages—that should help you land in the inbox.
THING #1 – DON’T GO ROGUE — COMPLY WITH THE CAN-SPAM ACT
- Don’t use false or misleading header information
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines
- Identify the message as an ad
- Tell recipients where you’re located
- Tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future email from you
- Honor opt-out requests promptly
The full CAN-SPAM Act Compliance Guide can be viewed here.
And if you do decide to go rogue… be prepared to be slapped with some pretty hefty penalties (up to $16,000 in fines).
THING #2 – ASK QUESTIONS IN YOUR SUBJECT
People love questions. Who doesn’t want to feel valued & asked a question? And people love answering questions even more…Subject Example: “Have you checked this out?”
Asking a question like this will provoke the reader; they’ll begin thinking about what you could possibly mean before they even open the email and that right there means engagement from the start!
THING #3 – HAVE A SENSE OF URGENCY
When you give people the need to open an email — they open it.Examples:
- “This is your FINAL chance!”
- “There’s only 1 Day Left to…”
- “Act fast! There’s only 4 hours left”
If your emails aren’t getting opened, they might as well be in the Junk/Spam folder.
N/B: Sure, it may be the oldest trick in the book, but guess what? It works especially well with an engaged, targeted audience.
If you’re dealing with a cold Mailing list, however, a sense of urgency isn’t always necessary – and isn’t always the best fit.
THING #4 – KEEP A GOOD TEXT TO IMAGE RATIO
Don’t go crazy with graphics/image-based Mailing templates.Send and format your emails in HTML (and by that we mean well formatted HTML…) whenever possible.
And most importantly, it’s recommended you have at least 2 lines of text for every image or graphic you plan on using.
THING #5 – MAINTAIN YOUR LIST, KEEP IT CLEAN
Keeping a clean list is vital to your overall Mailing success.If your list isn’t well maintained and kept up-to-date, let’s face it… your emails just won’t be delivered after a while.
Routinely review and RID your list of the following:
- Email addresses that appear more than once
- Any addresses containing typos (eric@gmial.com or bob@homail.com)
- Emails from your list that you deem inactive (these could be people who haven’t opened your emails in the last 100 days or so)
- Emails that have UNSUBSCRIBED !!!
We can’t emphasize the last point enough.
THING #6 – TAKE ADVANTAGE OF “SPAM CHECKING” SERVICES
Spam filters pick up on messages that are likely to be spam by analyzing the message content for spam characteristics.All aspiring amateur & professional Mailers out there should be regularly and routinely checking the emails they send out. The everlasting goal is to continue ensuring that your message content has no spam characteristics in it.
Thankfully, ISnotSPAM.com exists.
ISnotSPAM provides an email address you can “email” one of your campaigns to.
You’re able to view a detailed online report informing you of any potential problems that may exist when it comes to your email campaign.
ISnotSPAM performs the following tests:
- Sender-ID Check
- DomainKeys Check
- SpamAssassin Check
- SPF Check
- DKIM Check
Another great tool for testing different spam filters is EmailOnAcid — It’s a MUST for serious email marketers!
THING #7 – GIVE YOUR SUBSCRIBERS SOMETHING TO “WATCH”
We live in a visual world.When we spot that play button, nine time out of ten, as humans we have a tendency to click on it.
This tip definitely falls more under the total email experience point we discussed earlier — your Subscribers want to enjoy opening your emails, and a little entertainment with some interesting content never disappointed anybody.
One way of doing this can be to feature a still of a video in the email with a play button above it.
Anyone who clicks should then be taken to the appropriate but relevant landing page with the option to view the video there.
THING #8 – HAVE A PERFECT “PREHEADER”
In email marketing, the “preheader” of an email is often regarded as the second Subject line of an email.And we all know how important getting the first Subject line right is…
When you send emails, your readers see the following:
- The Subject line
- The ‘From’ field
- The preheader — also known as the “preview text” of an email
Getting your email campaign’s preheader text right is vital to your open-rate.
A good preheader is short and sweet. It’s persuasive and benefit-based.
In fact, a good preheader supports the subject line by reinforcing and expanding
For two outstanding, detailed articles on preheader & preview text, we recommend checking out:
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