EASY WAYS TO KEEP YOUR SALES EMAIL OUT OF THE SPAM FOLDER

"You deserve better breasts!" I've seen a lot of weird sales emails in my spam folder but this was by far the most hilarious. Once in a while, I peep at my spam folder in case I missed anything interesting. Sometimes I do find something interesting, but most times there is nothing worth my time. Gmail users love having a (relatively well) functioning spam filter. For those people whose emails end up on the other side of the spam filter, it is not such a good thing. So here is how to avoid it:

Mind Your Language

Salesy words like 'free,' 'buy,' 'bonus,' 'order,' etc. are a dead giveaway. You bet spam filters are scanning your email for them. These words are risky and best avoided. Find other ways to communicate your message. Use exclamation marks sparely. Spam filters are wary of exclamation marks in subject lines. Use multiple exclamation marks and your email will take the express lane to the bin. A whole sentence in all caps? Spam.

Get a Quality List

Even the best email marketing techniques will not work with emails randomly harvested from LinkedIn or with purchased email lists. Quality trumps quantity. Always. It is better to have a hundred people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say than to have a very long email list littered with dead emails and active email addresses whose owners are just not interested.

The more people ignore your emails, the more likely your newsletter will end up in more and more spam folders. People who repeatedly do not open your emails should be removed from the email list. Give people the option to choose how often they want to receive newsletters. This should increase the open rate.

The solution? Begin with a clear picture of who your ideal customer/audience is. Figure out how to get them to opt in to your email newsletter. Make signing up on your blog easy by including a subscribe button and displaying it prominently. People who visit your website are likely to be interested in what you have to offer so make it as easy as possible for them to sign up. End every blog entry with a call to sign up. Use a physical sign-up sheet at your store or at any event that you speak at. Ask people for their business cards. Use your Facebook group by requiring would-be group members to fill in their emails. Create a giveaway - an eBook, a webinar a cheat sheet, or an infographic.

Cultivate Your Email List

An email list is a living thing. It is like a garden that needs to be tended. Some subscribers will stop using their email addresses. A few subscribers will unsubscribe from your newsletter. A few will go dormant. Clean up the list by removing all the dormant or dead emails and adding new ones. Add every new customer to your email list. Use a double opt in to make sure new subscribers are genuinely interested.

Monitor Stats

Keep track of all the important numbers. Spam complaints, Open Rated and Click Through Rates are all important. The wording of the subject line and the number of emails sent have a big impact on open rates. Email too often and people are overwhelmed. Email too infrequently, and they forget about you. Learn more about the people who open and click through, so that you can target more of those kinds of people. Learn how to avoid getting spam complaints. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe. That makes it less likely for your newsletter to get spam complaints.

Practice Moderation

Too many emails, too many links, too many images, too many capitalized letters, and too many offers, could all send an email straight to spam. Post links in long form, instead of bitly short forms, which are bad for spam filters.

Personalize emails

Address the recipient by name. Using the recipient's name increases the probability that they will open it. Subscribers should fill in one name along with their email addresses. A personalized email makes the recipient feel respected and recognized. The other way to personalize emails is to have custom newsletters for custom audiences. Customize them according to frequency and content.