Useful hints to avoid spam filters when e-mail marketing!

With e-mail marketing a cost effective way of communicating to your clients, make sure you don't become a victim to its downfalls, take a look at some of the useful tips we have put together for you to ensure the success of your campaign and maxmise the number of potential clients you reach.

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Email marketing can be an extremely effective way to promote your business and communicate on a wider scale. By sending email campaigns, you will eventually encounter spam-filter issues. Statistics say 'you can expect 10-20% of your emails to get lost in cyberspace' mostly due to overzealous spam filters. With no quick fix, we thought it would be helpful to put together some simple guidelines and advise that will help maximise the number of emails reaching your recipients.

Firstly – some of the most common mistakes and some tips to avoid spam filters:

 

The following steps will aid you in avoiding spam filters when sending out emails to your prospective clients and target audience.


Send a Welcome Message

This is an effective way of letting the recipient know what type of communication they will be receiving. In this message you can also let them know how frequently they should expect your emails or eshots in order for them not to feel as if they are being spammed.

 

Send the Message in Plain Text and HTML

You can use HTML text and colors or just plain text. The best way, however, is to send the message in both formats. Its important to be aware that not all ISP software will process HTML or the reader may have purposely turned it off. By sending it in both formats you know people will be able to read it either way.

 

Clearly Identify Yourself or Your Business

Never try to disguise the sender of the email. In most cases it is best to use your company name or the subject you are emailing them about in the subject line. Use your personal name in the sender line only if you or your company is well known by the individual.

 

Keep Your Subject Lines Consistent

Make it easy for your recipient to quickly know what to expect when they open the email. By doing this you are branding your company, eshots or newsletter and cementing consistency for future communications.

 

Maintain and Cleanse Your Data

There is no hard and fast rule on this, but keeping incorrect data could potentially be damaging to a brand if you don't correct your data after receiving bounce backs and removals from your contacts. Be sure of the quality of your data and make sure the recipients you are sending too are relevant to your business and hold potential to be converted in to sales leads. The more disinterested and unqualified contacts that remain on your opt-in list the higher the chances are that some of them will accuse you of spam or damage your brand.

 

Include a Whitelisting Message

Whitelisting allows your subscribers to add your email address to a list of sites that are NOT to be filtered. It doesn't only give it priority, it sometimes avoids the filters altogether!

Either placed at the top or bottom of your message you should encourage the receiver to whitelist your email address and domain name. Just a simple sentence to add you to their address book or Whitelist you is sufficient.

 

Include a Resource or Footer Box

Every email should include some standard information and this is best put at the bottom under your signature line. Some of this information is just good business practice and some is legally required. You should include:

 

Do Not Send Email Too Frequently

Some online businesses send emails to individuals several times a week or even every day. Most people would not have opted-in if they thought they would receive that much email. You should stick to the frequency of emails you agreed to when the person agreed to receive correspondence.

 

Don't Ever Spam!

That might seem obvious but it cannot be ignored as the number one rule. Make sure you obtain permission to contact recipients. It is so easy to acquire email addresses; it may be tempting to send messages and just hope for the best. This is not only illegal, it is a poor marketing tactic since it will only annoy people and you will see poor results if any at all – permission should have been obtained from the recipients.

All of this information aids your subscriber. It is also one more way to build trust and their desire to stay on your email list. By presenting honest and valuable emails in turn this will build relationships strengthen your brand and will reduce or even eliminate accusations of Spam. Following good email procedures will help build and maintain subscribers that look forward to receiving your messages.

Hopefully, all these tips will help you avoid email spam accusations and make your campaign a sucess!

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