Ten ways to make sure your emails don't end up in the spam folder
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 8:47 am
Everyone hates marketers. That's right. In fact, everyone hates bad marketers because bad marketers take us all out of the game.
So, I wanted to share some of the best ways to avoid being a bad marketer, especially when it comes to email marketing.
The question is, "What makes a bad email marketer?"
And the answer is, "Poor email deliverability is one of them."
As marketers, we should have this mantra “always give value first.” If you focus on giving value, things will naturally fall into place.
In this article, instead of takedowns of bad emails, we'll be looking at the "inbound aspect" of email marketing. In other words, we'll break down several ways that will help you get your subscribers into the sales funnel and avoid the "spam family."
Once you finish reading this, you'll be able to take home the best ways to get your email into the inbox, instead of the spam folder.
If you stick around to the end, I'll give you a trick that can even help you get to the main Gmail folder. So stay tuned.
1 – Always give value first
Any campaign or email I have ever written or done – I have gotten huge reciprocal karma points, sales, leads or money if I have provided the value. That is why I recommend that whenever you have something valuable to share with your subscribers, only then send emails.
It's better to norway phone number library have 30 subscribers who love you and find value in your emails than 100 subscribers who open and never read, click, or respond.
You can use free tips, eBooks, resources, courses, or even articles or images to add value to your email campaigns. Provide something of value in your email, it could be free content such as free tips, eBooks, resources, or courses.
Your subscribers will promote you by word of mouth and you will grow by having more engaged subscribers.
You'll earn karma points back if you provide value first. Your subscriber will never click "report spam" again.
2 – Be empathetic with your readers
Whenever you write those emails, always put yourself in the recipient's shoes. Do you want that email? Do you find it valuable?
Don't try to promote content or discounts that will make your readers cringe.
Create content in your email that makes your users want to share it or forward it to their friends.
Find inspiration in what you love and then monitor your subscribers' behavior. If they like it, good job! Continue with it. If not, make changes as needed.
I have an inspiration too. I love the content from Drift's VP of Marketing, Dave Gerhardt. He rightly points out the need to be empathetic.
Dave - Empathy
So always ask yourself, "As a consumer, would I respond to that campaign or email?"
Seth Godin rightly says:
Seth
3 – Comply with spam filters and their rules
Gmail and other ESPs are strict with spam rules. To comply with spam rules, you simply need to avoid using spam trigger words, cheesy subject lines, and work on your preview.
Spam trigger words
The following are spam trigger words that ESPs (email service providers) don't like.
e-commerce:
Clearance, things, buy, buy now, order now, direct, order status, claim and sale
Marketing:
Ads, click here, subscribe and much more.
Here are a set of resources related to spam words that might help you avoid spam:
550 Spam Trigger Keywords
Industry-based list of keywords that trigger spam
Subject lines
Subject lines are the most important for any reader to decide whether they would open this email or not.
Don't use these while writing your subject lines:
Do not use capital letters or exclamation marks.
Don't use spam trigger words
Subject lines should not contain clicks
Don't mislead the recipient with the subject line
You shouldn't have long subject lines.
Don't make grammatical mistakes
But instead, do this:
Do it on the reader
Name of user or company if possible
Usa emojis
Synchronize subject lines with the body of the email
Make it mobile friendly because everyone is on mobile now
Preview of the text:
Nowadays, ESPs give you the opportunity to preview the body copy. Make sure the preview text is also aligned with the subject and body.
Protip: Attract the user with preview text of what's to come.
4 – Email deliverability
Email deliverability is a measure of how many of your emails actually reach your subscribers' inboxes, often expressed as a percentage.
It's a big problem for marketers. 21% of subscription emails never make it to the inbox.
If you want to avoid email deliverability follow these principles:
Don't buy an email list.
Check your sender reputation and fix it.
Have a specific subdomain for sending emails so that the user can recognize it.
We focus on validating emails .
Use your brand name. For example, "Tomer de Poptin".
Make sure your IP is not blacklisted. You can check it here .
Warm up your IPs and send emails from a dedicated IP address (not shared).
Don't send too many emails and send them at the set time and frequency.
Don't wait too long before reaching out to your subscribers. Reach out to them right away if they subscribe. Ask at least one question in your first email.
5 – Remove unengaged subscribers
Subscribers who don't open, click, or respond to your emails have likely ignored or forgotten about you.
Unengaged users are more likely to mark you as spam if they haven't heard from you or interacted with you.
Unengaged users don't value your content anyway. I always recommend doing this type of filtering every month.
So, I wanted to share some of the best ways to avoid being a bad marketer, especially when it comes to email marketing.
The question is, "What makes a bad email marketer?"
And the answer is, "Poor email deliverability is one of them."
As marketers, we should have this mantra “always give value first.” If you focus on giving value, things will naturally fall into place.
In this article, instead of takedowns of bad emails, we'll be looking at the "inbound aspect" of email marketing. In other words, we'll break down several ways that will help you get your subscribers into the sales funnel and avoid the "spam family."
Once you finish reading this, you'll be able to take home the best ways to get your email into the inbox, instead of the spam folder.
If you stick around to the end, I'll give you a trick that can even help you get to the main Gmail folder. So stay tuned.
1 – Always give value first
Any campaign or email I have ever written or done – I have gotten huge reciprocal karma points, sales, leads or money if I have provided the value. That is why I recommend that whenever you have something valuable to share with your subscribers, only then send emails.
It's better to norway phone number library have 30 subscribers who love you and find value in your emails than 100 subscribers who open and never read, click, or respond.
You can use free tips, eBooks, resources, courses, or even articles or images to add value to your email campaigns. Provide something of value in your email, it could be free content such as free tips, eBooks, resources, or courses.
Your subscribers will promote you by word of mouth and you will grow by having more engaged subscribers.
You'll earn karma points back if you provide value first. Your subscriber will never click "report spam" again.
2 – Be empathetic with your readers
Whenever you write those emails, always put yourself in the recipient's shoes. Do you want that email? Do you find it valuable?
Don't try to promote content or discounts that will make your readers cringe.
Create content in your email that makes your users want to share it or forward it to their friends.
Find inspiration in what you love and then monitor your subscribers' behavior. If they like it, good job! Continue with it. If not, make changes as needed.
I have an inspiration too. I love the content from Drift's VP of Marketing, Dave Gerhardt. He rightly points out the need to be empathetic.
Dave - Empathy
So always ask yourself, "As a consumer, would I respond to that campaign or email?"
Seth Godin rightly says:
Seth
3 – Comply with spam filters and their rules
Gmail and other ESPs are strict with spam rules. To comply with spam rules, you simply need to avoid using spam trigger words, cheesy subject lines, and work on your preview.
Spam trigger words
The following are spam trigger words that ESPs (email service providers) don't like.
e-commerce:
Clearance, things, buy, buy now, order now, direct, order status, claim and sale
Marketing:
Ads, click here, subscribe and much more.
Here are a set of resources related to spam words that might help you avoid spam:
550 Spam Trigger Keywords
Industry-based list of keywords that trigger spam
Subject lines
Subject lines are the most important for any reader to decide whether they would open this email or not.
Don't use these while writing your subject lines:
Do not use capital letters or exclamation marks.
Don't use spam trigger words
Subject lines should not contain clicks
Don't mislead the recipient with the subject line
You shouldn't have long subject lines.
Don't make grammatical mistakes
But instead, do this:
Do it on the reader
Name of user or company if possible
Usa emojis
Synchronize subject lines with the body of the email
Make it mobile friendly because everyone is on mobile now
Preview of the text:
Nowadays, ESPs give you the opportunity to preview the body copy. Make sure the preview text is also aligned with the subject and body.
Protip: Attract the user with preview text of what's to come.
4 – Email deliverability
Email deliverability is a measure of how many of your emails actually reach your subscribers' inboxes, often expressed as a percentage.
It's a big problem for marketers. 21% of subscription emails never make it to the inbox.
If you want to avoid email deliverability follow these principles:
Don't buy an email list.
Check your sender reputation and fix it.
Have a specific subdomain for sending emails so that the user can recognize it.
We focus on validating emails .
Use your brand name. For example, "Tomer de Poptin".
Make sure your IP is not blacklisted. You can check it here .
Warm up your IPs and send emails from a dedicated IP address (not shared).
Don't send too many emails and send them at the set time and frequency.
Don't wait too long before reaching out to your subscribers. Reach out to them right away if they subscribe. Ask at least one question in your first email.
5 – Remove unengaged subscribers
Subscribers who don't open, click, or respond to your emails have likely ignored or forgotten about you.
Unengaged users are more likely to mark you as spam if they haven't heard from you or interacted with you.
Unengaged users don't value your content anyway. I always recommend doing this type of filtering every month.