If you’re an email marketer, chances are that your emails ending up in spam at some point, has been a reality. As a business owner, marketing agency, or franchise, this is frustrating and disheartening. You’re spending time, resources and opportunities to send emails that don’t even make it to your audience!
The good news is there’s a lot of ways to avoid the dreaded “spam” label on your messages.
In this blog post we’ll share 14 tips that will help keep your email marketing out of the spam folder so you can focus on what really matters: providing value for your customers!
With newer social media platforms such as TikTok promising overnight virality, many brands are guilty of undermining the potential of the good ol’ email campaigns.
You may be wondering if email marketing is still relevant?
Well, it is, and more than ever! In fact, more businesses use email than any other social media. If your digital marketing strategy does not include email marketing, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity to connect with your target audience.
A well-curated email marketing campaign holds the potential to skyrocket your brand’s reach. It is an effective as well as an affordable way to reach your target audience in a personalized manner.
However, there’s no point in sending emails just for the sake of it. Emails that are bound to end up in spam are a waste of time, resources, and opportunity. In this post, we’re sharing blunders that are sending your marketing emails straight to spam. Let’s dive in beyond the CAN-SPAM act
Your Subject Lines Are Blatant Clickbait
There is nothing more disappointing than clicking on an email only to find out it has nothing to do with the intriguing subject line. Using blatant clickbait to induce recipients to view your message is a shortsighted strategy. Misleading subject lines can be annoying and even compel readers to mark your emails as spam.
Bad subject lines are not only annoying, but they’re a waste of your time. You can spend hours brainstorming and crafting the perfect email only to have it slip through the cracks and backfire.
You’re not alone.
It’s easy to judge a book by its cover. It’s natural for potential readers to be skeptical when they see emails with misleading subject lines. Why? Google doesn’t like it either! Gmail and other email providers don’t take kindly to these types of spammy, misleading titles that are quick ways to avoid your emails ending up in spam.
Subject lines affect your deliverability rates.
It’s easy to think email subject lines don’t matter. But, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Subject lines are one of the first impressions your email recipients will have about you. Your subject line is what gets them to open and view your email in the hopes you’re adding some sort of value to their life.
Sharing Overly Promotional Content
The ultimate goal of email marketing is converting visitors into paying customers. But leading with that mindset when curating emails will be the downfall of your campaign. Instead of exclusively sharing promotional content, focus on sending emails that your subscribers will find useful or entertaining. Emails that add value to your target audience boost click-through rates and conversions.
If you’re not giving your subscribers a reason to engage with email, then they’ll become spammy statistics. Like any other form of marketing – if the content isn’t worth reading or engaging with, it’s just noise that will be filtered out and discarded by its audience.
- Be mindful about what you share in emails. You want to solve their pain point , not add to their frustration
- Don’t rely on email as your only marketing channel. The best email campaigns are supported by other methods of communication like social media and blog posts
- Make it a point to create emails that will be read, shared, or commented on for good measure. It’s all about retaining the attention you’ve gained. You can lose that attention in a flash.
- Don’t forget to ask for your subscribers’ email address when you’re getting their contact information willfully from them through a form, event, or chat.
- Try using call-to-action buttons that lead to content they might be interested in and not just offer a link below an email signature
Doing these things will help to ensure your emails don’t end up in spam.
Here’s a great email promotion by OptinMonster:
Targeting Wrong Audiences
Maybe the reason why your opening rate is plummeting is that you’re sending emails to the wrong people. Getting marked as spam is not only a waste of your efforts, but it also puts your account in jeopardy. After all, the last thing you want is to get blacklisted. It is imperative to invest in tools that help you identify and attract target audiences.
Most products or services are targeted toward a certain buyer or persona. It’s great to want everyone to invest in what you’re emailing them about, but it’s not likely everyone will buy or even open the email.
That’s why we recommend using a tool that will help you funnel traffic to the correct audience. Tools like these will help you identify a prospect’s interests, needs and goals so that you can get their attention with emails tailored perfectly for them.
Sigh.
Buying Email Lists
Not having many subscribers can be discouraging. But that doesn’t mean buying email lists is a good investment. As previously mentioned, targeting the wrong audience is simply not worth the risk of getting blacklisted.
It would be better to explore different ways to build your email list. Start by adding a well-timed pop-up on your website asking visitors to subscribe. You can also use some highly effective LinkedIn prospecting strategies to connect with potential customers.
Even if you have just 20 subscribers, start your email marketing campaign. It’s a good way to figure out what works for your brand.
Inbound marketing is the best way to acquire a valid list that your prospects have opted into. It’s a great way to build trust, and nurture your leads.
People from these industries might be interested in reading this post:
- Marketing professionals using email marketing
- Entrepreneurs who want to see what email marketing best practices are out there
- Bloggers looking for new ideas on how to improve their email outreach strategy
Forgetting Personalization
It has become common for many people to wake up to an abundance of emails every day. And using a generic salutation isn’t going to get your emails noticed. That’s why it’s crucial to personalize your emails. Something as simple as using the subscriber’s name to address them can make your emails stand out.
But, don’t go overboard with personalization. That can come off creepy especially on social media. Here are some safe suggestions for personalization:
- Personalize your email subject line.
- Address subscribers by their first name in the opening paragraph of an email.
- Use a subscriber’s company or place of work in the greeting, and mention what industry they’re involved with where applicable. And finally, use personal pronouns (e.g., “you,” “your”) when addressing them.
- Your email signature should be personalized, too. It’s a good idea to include your social media handles in the signature and then link them up with buttons for easy access on smartphones.
- Include links to other posts you’ve written or services you offer in your email signatures as well since this is often overlooked but can generate more clicks if done right.
Sending Unsolicited Emails
Did you buy an email list for your campaign? We covered this earlier, but it is worth mentioning again.
This automatically means that you don’t have permission to send emails to the recipients. Sending unsolicited emails using such blackhat practices is not only unethical but also a finable violation.
If you use an email CMS like Mailchimp, Active Campaign, Constant Contact, or Sharpspring then you will get dinged for these kinds of practices.
Email marketing is a way to nurture long-lasting relationships with your audience. And sending emails without permission will immediately break the trust you’re trying to build. Permission marketing is a promise to deliver what you say you will.
Don’t send unsolicited emails. Even if you’re going for something like lead gen, it’s best to target people who’ve expressed interest in your content.
This is not the only way that email marketing can be a waste of time and resources. Let’s look at even more ways to avoid spam.
Not Segmenting Target Audience
Not all emails you’re sending out are relevant for every subscriber. Instead of sending irrelevant emails, make sure you are segmenting your target audience.
You can use different factors like age, gender, location, and purchasing history to effectively divide your audience. Segmentation not only increases click-through rates but also boosts engagement.
We also believe that beyond demographics, psychographics are a viably important way to segment your audience. You can use things like job title, company size, and interests when deciding how to group together your subscribers for email marketing campaigns.
Speaking of psychographics – these are the characteristics that describe a person’s emotional or cognitive state as influenced by social class, educational level, ethnic background etc. An example would be “middle-income family with two children living in rural suburbia”
Segmentation is also important because it will help you build more relevant content for each section of your email list/target customers too! This means less spam complaints on overbroad emails.
Not Proofreading Emails
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and broken links are some mistakes that can bring down the quality of your emails. Make sure you are thoroughly proofreading your emails as well as checking links before clicking send.
Moreover, subscribers may feel frustrated if your emails take forever to load. Refrain from using too many images, gifs, and other elements that reduce loading speed.
Using Spam Triggering Words
Did you know there are words that trigger spam?
Some words are notorious for triggering spam filters, so be sure to check with your email provider before using them in marketing emails.
Here are some words that will have your email landing in spam.
- Order now, risk free, cancel anytime and other offers with a time limit can be flagged as spam by inbox providers like gmail and yahoo.
- Amazing, winner and this is not spam – these are all attention grabbing words which may trigger spam filters.
- Some other spam triggering words are : “Sale,” “Best Offer,” and “$250 off.”
Using the right words will not only help you avoid spam filters, but also drive conversions. Include a call to action in every email so that your customers are enticed into engaging with what you have to offer – whether it’s scheduling a meeting, starting a trial, or just finding out more.
Sending Emails to Inactive Accounts
Sending emails to inactive or abandoned accounts is a mistake you might be making unknowingly. Not only are you wasting resources on inactive subscribers, sending too many bad emails can get your account blacklisted.
Maybe the person has left the company or changed email address, or maybe they’ve just become inactive. You can monitor the activity of your subscribers using tools like Customer.io and Cyfe, which will help you understand who is active on a regular basis so that you send less emails to people who are not interested in receiving them anymore.
- Monitor Your Subscribers
- Check to see if they have logged in recently or opened one of your emails.
If they have, it means that there is a chance they are still interested in what you are emailing them about–but if not, consider unsubscribing them from the mailing list after a certain period of time and make sure to stop sending them anything else.
Using Personal Account
This might seem obvious to most marketers, but for those just entering the space or maybe starting a business might not realize that you shouldn’t use your personal email account for email marketing best practices.
Using a personal account for email marketing is considered unacceptable and unprofessional by almost all accounts. Your emails are likely to end up in spam if you’re sending mass emails from a personal account.
You should always use an email account that is dedicated solely to your business.
Inconsistency
We all get tons of email, but sometimes we don’t get enough to remember what we opted into in the first place.
Your subscribers will probably forget your brand if you’re sending emails once in a blue moon. And if they are not interested in your brand, then why would they read or engage with your emails? Just like any social media marketing, consistency is key for a successful email campaign.
Some suggestions are :
- Send an email weekly, or biweekly
- Follow the “if you don’t hear from us within a week” rule. If they haven’t heard anything in that period of time, send a reminder email and make sure your subscribers know how to reach out if there is something wrong
- Reinvigorate your email with an RSS feed or regular weekly blog post, but make sure to offer value.
- Do not send too many emails at once. You don’t want your subscribers to feel overwhelmed by an onslaught of new messages in their inboxes, especially if they have a lot going on already. Send out one email per week and wait for responses.
Not Giving the Option to Unsubscribe
Understandably, you don’t want subscribers to unsubscribe from your email list. But you cannot force them to stay. What other option do recipients have if they can’t unsubscribe? They are likely to report your emails as spam. It is better to let them go.
Underwhelming Landing Pages
The momentum you’ve gained with a successful email campaign needs to translate into conversions.
Take your readers on a journey they are excited to be on!
Otherwise, what’s the point?
Provide them with links to your other content, products, or services. As they scroll down the page and see more about you, it’ll be easier for them to make a decision on what next step you want from them.
If your emails are directed readers to an unimpressive landing page, you’ll likely notice a higher bounce rate. Make sure you link a well-designed landing page in your email marketing strategy.
Wrapping Up
Emails are here to stay, and every brand needs to get on the bandwagon. If your email marketing efforts aren’t showing results, you may be making one or more of the mistakes mentioned above. It’s time to take a good look at your current strategy and identify shortcomings driving your audience away.
For more tips, blogs, and hacks to help you tackle social media marketing, check out eclincher’s blog.
eclincher is the only social media and brand management tool that allows you to manage all major social media accounts, grow your brand reputation, respond in real time tackling one brand or many, allowing for collaboration with your clients or teams from one place, at a price that doesn’t break the bank, without the red tape, 24/7. Period.
