How can an email marketing campaign avoid spam filters?
To help you avoid your email campaigns getting sent straight to the spam folder, we asked business leaders and marketing experts this question for their best email tips. From avoiding spam trigger words to choosing the right email providers, there are several tips for email marketing campaigns to avoid spam filters.
Here are nine email marketing campaigns that avoid spam filters:
- Send Email at Optimal Times
- Send Direct Mail
- Avoid Spam Trigger Words
- Make Unsubscribing Easy
- Get Permission
- Segment Mailing Lists
- Warm Up Your Email Account
- Carefully Choose Your Email Provider
- Clean Up Your Mail List
Send Email at Optimal Times
Studies suggest that B2B emails for the “9-5” office employees are best sent mid-week around 10 AM. However, make sure that you balance being relevant and being annoying. It is a delicate line on the marketing end of your business. You want to make sure you’re keeping your customers up-to-date about new services, or products, or sales, but you don’t want to bombard anyone and they see it. Sending a marketing email in the middle of the week and sticking to a schedule for emails operates best. This allows you some freedom if you need to send out a special promotional email without crossing the too-much line.
Anastasia Avgerinou, Comidor
Send Direct Mail
One thing Mailchimp began doing several years ago was offering customers the ability to send postcards to their mailing list. There’s a reason why Mailchimp made postcards available: to help customers improve their deliverability rates. It’s easy for an email campaign to get caught in a spam filter or an inbox. By sending direct mail to accompany an email campaign, marketers can extend the effectiveness of their communication and ensure the recipient gets the message.
David Wachs, Handwrytten
Avoid Spam Trigger Words
As the client services manager at an SEO company, words really matter to me. Words also matter when composing email marketing campaigns. Certain words and phrases, such as ‘free,’ ‘best price,’ ‘cash,’ ‘no obligation,’ have been blacklisted, which will send your email campaign straight to spam. Remember those emails we used to get that offered a free prize in the subject line in return for following a couple of steps listed in the email? Spam trigger words were usually collected from emails such as these and should be avoided.
Kayla Centeno, Markitors
Make Unsubscribing Easy
If a customer who wants to opt-out of your communication can’t easily find a way to unsubscribe, they’ll often simply mark your emails as spam. So, make sure your emails have a clear “unsubscribe” button. If your correspondence is marked as spam often enough, your emails could automatically be flagged as spam when it’s sent to subscribers that actually want to receive your emails. This is because spam filters weigh campaigns with a “spam score,” and if the score becomes high enough, it’s automatically filtered into the spam folder. Each time your campaign is marked as spam, its spam score increases.
Vincent Bradley, Proper Wild
Get Permission
First and foremost, only email people who have signed up for your email list. Not only is permission important for your marketing strategy, but it’s also required by many mailing services. If customers have expressly signed up for your email list, they’re more likely to interact with your campaigns — and the more they interact, the less likely it is that your correspondence will end up in the spam folder.
Tyler Boyd, Squeeze
Segment Mailing Lists
Instead of sending the same email to your entire list, try segmenting your list and targeting the campaign to those you know will be interested. By doing so, you will increase the number of recipients who open your campaigns and decrease the number of people who delete them, sending positive signals to email providers about the validity of your campaigns.
Oliver Andrews, OA Design Services
Warm Up Your Email Account
When you’re ready to implement a new marketing campaign, don’t use a brand-new email account. Nothing will set off spam filters faster than a never-before-used email address instantly sending out hundreds of messages. If you have the time to plan ahead, start sending out a few emails slowly to establish your account. Or, better yet, use an email that has already been put to use. Many companies create an email account specifically for their marketing endeavors.
Travis Killian, Everlasting Comfort
Carefully Choose Your Email Provider
You might think that the different email marketing service providers out there are all the same. But that’s far from being the case. The email marketing tool you use plays an important role in the deliverability of your email campaigns. So, it’s critical that you do your research, find out which platform has the highest deliverability rate, and invest in it. Also, consider using an SMTP tool to whitelist your domain and make sure your emails land in your users’ inboxes.
Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
Clean Up Your Mail List
Low opening rates and lack of engagement from your subscribers might hinder the trustworthiness of your company’s domain, decreasing the deliverability rate. To avoid being blacklisted, assess your emailing KPIs such as CTR and response rates. If necessary, use more captivating call-to-action text and email subjects. As the option of last resort, unsubscribe inactive accounts.
Rebeca Sena, GetSpace.Digital
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