When running an email marketing campaign, the spam folder is the last place you want your emails to end up. Unfortunately, legitimate marketing emails are as susceptible to falling foul of spam filters as scam emails for a number of reasons – they can also be sent to spam hell by users themselves; even if the user signed up to receive the emails. Having too much of your content marked as spam can have dire implications for both your read rates and reputation, so here are some tips to make sure your emails steer clear of the dread spam folder!

If you’ve followed the basic tips of email marketing, you should be trying to create great content on a regular basis for your readers. If you aren’t, you should start right now – not only will it engage you subscriber base but it’s also the first step to avoiding being marked as spam. Spam filters will analysis your email’s content and text, so if it’s heavy with spammy phrases then you are more or less guaranteed to end up in the spam folder. We won’t go into specific spam phrases here as anyone who’s taken a look at their spam folder is bound to be familiar with them already!

The quality of your content also extends to the way your email is presented and coded. If you’re sending out emails regularly, it makes sense to have a template that all of your content adheres to so that readers can instantly recognise it’s from your organisation rather than unsolicited. Keep your layout, maintain a good image to text ratio and make sure that all HTML is correct and not broken – badly coded emails usually signify junk to spam filters.

It also helps to build up a relationship with your subscribers, such as having a set time and date when they can expect to receive your email. That way, they know that any email they receive from you at that time and date is legitimate. If you do have to deviate from your schedule, make this clear in your email so your subscribers don’t think it’s a spammer pretending to be you.

One of the main reasons legitimate emails end up in the spam folder is that subscribers either can’t find a link to unsubscribe or the process is too laborious and therefore they simply junk your messages. Avoid this by making unsubscribe options easy-to-find and simple to understand – it may seem counterproductive in the sense that you want to keep as many subscribers as possible, but it negates the possibility of your email marketing campaign receiving a junk reputation through too many people sending your messages to spam.

It also helps to have any subscriber double opt-in to your mailing list. The double opt-in process basically means sending anyone who signs up for your emails on your site a follow up email containing a verification link. By clicking this link, the user confirms they want to receive emails on a regular basis. This ensures your email is only going out to legit email addresses, and also negates the issue of someone being signed up by someone else as a prank and then sending your emails to their spam folder – which could affect your reputation.

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Extravision, specialists in email marketing software

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Extravision (http://www.extravision.com), specialists in email marketing software

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Extravision, specialists in email marketing software

Category: Marketing
Keywords: email marketing, email marketing campaigns

When running an email marketing campaign, the spam folder is the last place you want your emails to end up. Unfortunately, legitimate marketing emails are as susceptible to falling foul of spam filters as scam emails for a number of reasons – they can also be sent to spam hell by users themselves; even if the user signed up to receive the emails. Having too much of your content marked as spam can have dire implications for both your read rates and reputation, so here are some tips to make sure your emails steer clear of the dread spam folder!

If you’ve followed the basic tips of email marketing, you should be trying to create great content on a regular basis for your readers. If you aren’t, you should start right now – not only will it engage you subscriber base but it’s also the first step to avoiding being marked as spam. Spam filters will analysis your email’s content and text, so if it’s heavy with spammy phrases then you are more or less guaranteed to end up in the spam folder. We won’t go into specific spam phrases here as anyone who’s taken a look at their spam folder is bound to be familiar with them already!

The quality of your content also extends to the way your email is presented and coded. If you’re sending out emails regularly, it makes sense to have a template that all of your content adheres to so that readers can instantly recognise it’s from your organisation rather than unsolicited. Keep your layout, maintain a good image to text ratio and make sure that all HTML is correct and not broken – badly coded emails usually signify junk to spam filters.

It also helps to build up a relationship with your subscribers, such as having a set time and date when they can expect to receive your email. That way, they know that any email they receive from you at that time and date is legitimate. If you do have to deviate from your schedule, make this clear in your email so your subscribers don’t think it’s a spammer pretending to be you.

One of the main reasons legitimate emails end up in the spam folder is that subscribers either can’t find a link to unsubscribe or the process is too laborious and therefore they simply junk your messages. Avoid this by making unsubscribe options easy-to-find and simple to understand – it may seem counterproductive in the sense that you want to keep as many subscribers as possible, but it negates the possibility of your email marketing campaign receiving a junk reputation through too many people sending your messages to spam.

It also helps to have any subscriber double opt-in to your mailing list. The double opt-in process basically means sending anyone who signs up for your emails on your site a follow up email containing a verification link. By clicking this link, the user confirms they want to receive emails on a regular basis. This ensures your email is only going out to legit email addresses, and also negates the issue of someone being signed up by someone else as a prank and then sending your emails to their spam folder – which could affect your reputation.

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Extravision, specialists in email marketing software

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Extravision (http://www.extravision.com), specialists in email marketing software

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Extravision, specialists in email marketing software

Category: Marketing
Keywords: email marketing, email marketing campaigns