Are you sure that your emails are getting to your subscribers? Today there are so many automatic spam filters in place that you could find that your great email gets lost in the spam folder.
It’s not a fault on your part and your email may be really helpful and valuable but it just doesn’t get through.
There have been so many spam complaints in the past that email clients have developed stringent spam filters to protect people using their email. This is of course good news as it means our in boxes don’t get too flooded with annoying spam.
However, if you use email for marketing and communicating with your list then you can get caught by these filters.
I remember an occasion when my brother sent me an email about a drug that the doctor had prescribed for his over active thyroid and I never received it. The reason being it contained the word drug and my spam filter automatically removed it.
Let me ask you: how many times do you press the spam icon when looking at emails you don’t want anymore? It wasn’t spam but you just didn’t want that particular email so instead of binning it you pressed spam instead. I expect we all do it.
So how can you avoid your emails being sent straight to spam? Before I give you some tips let me talk about spam score.
How to Check Your Email Spam Score
If you use an autoresponder such as Aweber or GetResponse then you will be able to check your messages and get a spam score.
I use GetResponse and they use the most recent version of SpamAssassin™ to check your messages for possible reasons why it might be classified as spam. It gives your message a score between 0 and 5. A high score being bad.
If your particular autoresponder does not have this feature then there are alternatives.
Free Online Spam Checkers
https://www.contactology.com/check_mqs.php
https://www.emailspamtest.com/
https://spamcheck.postmarkapp.com/
Tips To Avoid Spam Filters
Here are some things that you should avoid when writing your email messages.
Your subject line.
- Don’t use all capitals
- Don’t use the word free
- Be careful using your subscribers name in your subject line
- Avoid using symbols or punctuation
- Do not use ‘Re’ or ‘Fwd’ in the subject line
Your Content.
- Avoid all capitals – especially CLICK HERE or any call to action
- Avoid excess images
- If you need to add an attachment make sure it is not too large
- Never include any executable file (.exe, .zip, .swf)
- Don’t write hyped up call to actions
- Simple text is better than html (or use html that looks like text)
- You must include a visible link for your subscribers to unsubscribe
- Make sure you add a real ‘from’ address
For details on making sure your email campaigns are within the CAN-SPAM regulations check out this site:
Links To Ezine Articles Get A Spam Score
One thing I have noticed is that a link to an ezine article increases my email spam score. This is a shame as I have written some great articles over at Ezine article directory but if I link to one my spam score goes up.
Does that mean that Ezine articles is a spammy site?
No it doesn’t, but it does perhaps indicate that there have been marketers in the past that have spammed their lists with links to articles.
As with many other things, it is the few marketers that make it difficult for the many!
1. Always deliver what you have promised in your email subject line
2. Never hype up your emails – be genuine
3. Send valuable content to your subscribers
4. Use alternative words for ‘free’ – some marketers use f.ree or versions of it so be careful as these versions may become classed as ‘spam’ eventually