In today’s world, email allows you to touch more people in less amount of time, for less money, and gain more information about recipient’s behaviors/actions than any other form of marketing. You may be one of the companies who are sending out email marketing messages. If not, you are definitely one who is receiving them! A majority of the spam today is some type of marketing or sales message.

Make Sure Your Email Gets Delivered!

The last thing you want is to develop a good customer or prospect list, spend your time creating your email message, only to have it stopped before reaching its destination! Some common ways to stay off of the Spam list/filters is to follow these simple suggestions:

• Keep Your List Clean. It is critical to maintain a clean list. Each time you send to a bad email address, you look like a spammer. In order to maintain a successful campaign, you should only put good, valid addresses and practice opt-in, opt-out campaign, so only people who want to be on the list are there. This will prevent your recipients from reporting you as a spammer. And never purchase a list! There are email addresses baited on the Internet to catch those who harvest or purchase lists. They will get you blacklisted so every time you send an email, you are considered a spammer. Find out who is on a Black List.
• Follow the Spam Rules. Laws have been put in place to manage the spamming in the US. They are pretty simple and something you probably would do anyway. To summarize, when sending mass emails you should:
  
  • Send from a legitimate email address, and be clear about who you are
  • Be descriptive with your subject lines (no trickery allowed)
  • Include your contact information in the email (physical address, phone, etc)
  • Give recipients the ability to opt out of receiving your emails
• Avoid Heavy Graphics and ‘Spam Content’. If a message has too many images embedded in the html it may be considered spam. Certain words trigger spam filters such as FREE, Act Now!, Bargain, Work From Home, using ALL CAPS, a lot of !!!, $$$, etc. Instead of using all caps and punctuation, you can always use different font sizes or headings. Finally, be sure to proofread your email, as misspellings and bad English/grammar can be viewed as spam. Just remember to keep it simple.
• Use a Reputable Email Provider. Make sure your provider is not a known spammer. They should be professionals is the latest Do’s and Don’ts for mass mailing, and should be following common spam practices, from SPF records, staying off of blacklists, etc. Not sure on your options for sending mass emails? Read Options for Mass Mailing.

Make Sure Your Email Gets Read!

So your email has been delivered into the inbox, now what? Getting to your audience is only half the battle. Now you have to make sure they read it! A few tips for making sure your email gets read include:

• Give Your Audience Something of Value. If you are providing something they already know, have, or have seen many times before, you are not giving the users a reason to read. So, make your email worth reading.
• Make Your Message Clear and Make it Fit. You have to know how people will be viewing your email. Think about the space they will be viewing it, or what about reading it on their smart phone. Don’t clutter the reading pane; try to give them the important information or a reason to click/continue to read.
• Be Consistent. Use a template for repeated messages. Let the end user know what to expect, otherwise it may just be too confusing.
• Send it at the right time. Your email is less likely to be read if you send it at 6:00 pm on Friday. Use the information available to track your emails where possible to find out when the best time to send your message to get the best response.

Ways to Track Your Emails.

There are many ways to track to determine if users are receiving your emails or clicking on links. Some providers offer this as an added service, while others do not. The most common ways to track your mass emails include:

• Downloads. You can put an image in the body of the message that must be downloaded from your site. You can then track how many downloads you have.
• Message Delivery. Some providers can actually provide a report of if the message was delivered or read and who (based on the email address) received them.
• Unique Links. You can provide unique links for each user to click on or just general links only available from your email to help you track actions from your site. Once a user comes in from that link, you can find out exactly what paths they have taken using your web statistics.
   

If you work to follow the guidelines or work with a professional, you have a much better chance of getting your email message delivered and NOT be marked as a spammer!