5 December 2024

7 Tips to Make Sure Your Email Doesn’t End Up in the Trash

By Ronald Smith

This article is brought to you by Nextiva

7 Tips to Make Sure Your Email Doesn't End Up in the Trash

I want to talk about an important topic in email marketing: how to ensure that your company’s emails don’t end up in your prospect’s junk folder. It’s a tricky aspect of email marketing that often leads to failure. But don’t worry, I’ll share some steps with you to help get your emails read and land them right where they belong – the inbox.

Sending Emails in Batches

Sending an email to your entire recipient list might seem like the easy way to go, but it’s not the most effective strategy. Spam filters are designed to catch mass emails, so when you send out a large blast, you increase the risk of getting flagged as spam. Instead, try sending out smaller batches of emails. This way, you minimize the chances of email providers like Google, MSN, and Yahoo! receiving a bunch of spam complaints all at once. If you’re sending more than 2,000 emails, it’s a good idea to send them in batches, as this is the maximum number of emails that should be sent per hour. Fortunately, many paid email marketing systems can handle this for you automatically.

Cleaning and Updating Your Email Lists

When I send emails to a lot of people and many of those email addresses are no longer valid or have issues, email service providers get upset and punish me. This means that the emails I send from my company might end up in your junk folder. It’s surprising, but some people in the US change their email accounts every six months. This means I have to constantly update my mailing list, but it’s important to do this so that I don’t get labeled as a spam sender.

Make It Easy to Unsubscribe

It’s not only a good practice, but also a legal requirement for me to include an unsubscribe link in my emails. By giving you the option to unsubscribe, I’m hoping that you won’t mark my emails as spam right away. The main reason why emails end up in junk folders is because people complain that they’re spam, so I have to do everything I can to avoid that.

Let’s Stay in Touch

I want to share a cool tip with you. Whenever you see an email from our company, it’s super important to make sure it always lands in your inbox. How do you do that? Well, you can add us as a contact, or as some people call it, white listing. It’s super easy!

Firstly, please note that our emails should come from a real person, not from [email protected]. This makes it more personal and trustworthy. You know, like getting an email from a friend!

Now, I want to tell you some awesome times to add us as a contact. One is when you sign up for our emails. After you sign up, you’ll get a confirmation email. In that email, we’ll let you know how much we appreciate your interest, and we’ll kindly ask you to add us to your contact list. This way, you won’t miss any of the awesome information you specifically requested from us!

Another perfect time to add us as a contact is right after you complete a transaction with our customer service team. We want to make sure you have all the important details about your purchase or any updates about it. So, in those emails, we kindly ask you to add us to your contact list.

Remember, adding us as a contact is like giving us a VIP pass to your inbox. It’s a win-win situation! So, go ahead and add us as a contact, and you’ll always get our top-notch emails in your inbox!

Keep Images Small and Sweet

Let me tell you why sending an email with only images is not a good idea. You see, there are these filters called spam filters that are always on the lookout for image-based files in emails. They do this because these files often contain words that would normally get caught in the spam filters. The problem is that these filters can’t read the words on an image, so they play it safe and assume that the email is spam. That’s why it’s important to make sure that all your emails contain real text for the filters to read. This way, they can understand that the email is safe and pass it on. Oh, and by the way, it’s totally fine to include small images in your email marketing copy that can be seen on mobile devices. It’s just those image-only emails that can be a problem.

Avoid Using Certain Words and Phrases

Spam reads like spam. You know, those emails that end up in your junk folder? They usually have words like Vi***a, free, drugs, p**n, and guaranteed winner. So, it’s best to avoid using these words and phrases in your emails. And here’s another tip: don’t use ALL CAPS, colored fonts, or multiple exclamation marks. Many email marketing solutions actually check the spam score of an email before it is sent out, so keeping these things in mind can increase your chances of reaching your recipient’s inbox.

Why You Shouldn’t Purchase an Email List

Did you know that it’s against the law to send a promotional email to someone you’ve never talked to before? Yeah, it’s a digital rule that we all have to follow. That’s why I strongly advise you not to buy an email marketing list.

Buying a list might sound tempting, but trust me, it’s not a good idea. Not only is it against the law, but it can also cause some serious problems. You see, when you buy a list, there’s a greater chance that people will see your email as spam. And we definitely don’t want that to happen!

So, instead of relying on purchased lists, let’s focus on finding more effective ways for our emails to get read. What strategies have worked for you so far?

Republished by permission. Original here.