Difference between revisions of "Learn/Staying-Out-Of-Spam-Folders"

Latest revision as of 06:01, 7 November 2013

By [[User:|]] on

No matter how beautiful or well written your email newsletter is, it can only be effective if people see it in their inbox and open it. Making sure your emails aren't interpreted as spam by the reader or email client is vital to the health of your email marketing efforts.

Here are 11 tips to help keep you out of spam folders:

Only email people that have opted in to receiving emails from you.
Include a clear and obvious "unsubscribe" link in your emails, or at least a description of how people can opt out of future emails. *
Don't email people that have unsubscribed from your mailing list. *
Include your physical address in the footer of your emails. *
Don't use false or misleading subject lines. *
Don't make the content of your email read or feel like spam.
Don't talk about money too much.
Send regularly: often, but not too often.
Don't hide the text of your email in an image.
Avoid sending emails manually to your whole list by emailing yourself in the "To" field and everyone else via "BCC".
Use a reputable email marketing provider (we have a list here) that follows strict spam guidelines.

* Indicates a CAN-SPAM Act requirement

...read more

Note: The bulk of this article has been moved to www.AboutUs.com/11-ways-to-stay-out-of-spam-folders/.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 | Writer        = KristinaWeis
 | Name          = Kristina Weis
-| Header        = Email%20Campaigns
+| Header        = Staying%20Out%20Of%20Spam%20Folders
 | Subhead       = Don't Get Confused With Spam
-| Bitly         = http://bit.ly/Tips4Email
+| Bitly         = http://www.aboutus.com/11-ways-to-stay-out-of-spam-folders/
 | Date          = July 20, 2010
 }}
-It's very important that your emails don't get marked as spam more than a very small percentage of the time.
+<big>No matter how beautiful or well written your [[Learn/Tips-for-Sending-Email-Newsletters|email newsletter]] is, it can only be effective if people see it in their inbox and open it. Making sure your emails aren't interpreted as spam by the reader or email client is vital to the health of your email marketing efforts.</big>
-If you get marked as spam too much you can get added to spam blacklists and less of your emails will make it to peoples' inboxes. Being marked as spam is also likely to result in your email marketing service dropping you as a client.
+Here are 11 tips to help keep you out of spam folders:
+#Only email people that have opted in to receiving emails from you.
+#Include a clear and obvious "unsubscribe" link in your emails, or at least a description of how people can opt out of future emails. *
+#Don't email people that have unsubscribed from your mailing list. *
+#Include your physical address in the footer of your emails. *
+# Don't use false or misleading subject lines. *
+# Don't make the content of your email read or feel like spam.
+# Don't talk about money too much.
+# Send regularly: often, but not too often.
+# Don't hide the text of your email in an image.'''
+# Avoid sending emails manually to your whole list by emailing yourself in the "To" field and everyone else via "BCC".
+# Use a reputable email marketing provider (we have a [[Learn/Find-the-Best-Email-Marketing-Service-for-You|list here]]) that follows strict spam guidelines.
-Below is a list of tips to help keep you out of peoples' spam folders:
-* '''Only email people that have opted in to receiving emails from you.'''
-:DO NOT buy email lists.
-* '''Include a clear and obvious "unsubscribe" link in your emails''', or at least a description of how people can opt out of future emails. *
-:Make it easy, and don't frustrate people. Personally, I ''hate'' being told to reply to a different email address with "remove" in the subject line, or having to do much work once I click an opt-out link.
-* '''Don't email people that have unsubscribed from your mailing list.''' *
-* '''Include your physical address in the footer of your emails.''' *
-: This can be a P.O. Box or your street address.
-* '''Don't use false or misleading subject lines.''' *
-: Let people know what the email is about so they aren't surprised, and so your loyal customers will know to open it.
-* '''Don't make the content of your email read or feel like spam.'''
-:Focus on letting recipients know what your company has been up to, rather than emailing a sales pitch. If you do try emailing a sales pitch -- which I don't recommend -- be up front and honest about it and how much the product or service costs.
-* '''Don't talk about money too much.'''
-:Spam filters look for certain phrases and words. Mentioning things like prices, a "money back guarantee" or "buy now" can help them decide you don't belong in the inbox.
-* '''Send regularly: often, but not too often.'''
-:If someone signs up for your email list in January and doesn't get a single email from you until July they may not remember that they signed up, and they may mark you as spam as a result. On the other hand, daily emails quickly become annoying.
-* '''Don't hide the text of your email in an image.'''
-:This is a bad idea for other reasons too, but because email spam filters can't read images they may assume that it's spam.
-* '''Avoid sending emails manually to your whole list by emailing yourself in the "To" field and everyone else via "BCC".'''
-:This looks spam-y to people and email clients. Sending emails manually like this isn't fun or very effective, so I would recommend using one of the bulk emailers listed above to up your game.
-* '''Use a reputable email marketing provider that follows strict spam guidelines.'''
-: Otherwise, your emails could be punished for the bad practices of other clients that use the same company (because your emails are being sent from the same mail server).
 <nowiki>*</nowiki> ''Indicates a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003#Applicability CAN-SPAM Act requirement]''
-[[MailChimp.com|MailChimp]] has more information on [http://www.mailchimp.com/articles/how_spam_filters_think/ avoiding spam filters] and [http://www.mailchimp.com/articles/how_legitimate_marketers_can_prevent_spam_complaints/ being marked as spam].
+<big>'''[http://www.aboutus.com/11-ways-to-stay-out-of-spam-folders/ ...read more]'''</big>
+<big>''Note: The bulk of this article has been '''moved to [http://www.aboutus.com/11-ways-to-stay-out-of-spam-folders/ www.AboutUs.com/11-ways-to-stay-out-of-spam-folders/]'''.''</big>
 {{LearnBottomBio
@@ Line 42: / Line 34: @@
 | Name          = Kristina Weis
 | Image         = Image:KristinaBluesFest.png
-| AuthorWebsite = AboutUs.org
+| AuthorWebsite = KristinaWeis.com
-| ShortBio      = Kristina is a community manager for [[AboutUs.org]] who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online.
+| ShortBio      = Kristina is a community manager for AboutUs who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. {{Twitter|KristinaWeis}}
 }}