“Why are my emails going to junk?”
It’s a question every frustrated email marketer wants an answer to. Email deliverability can be a bit tricky for many, especially if you are using the wrong techniques. The spam filter’s job is to keep unwanted emails containing harmful content away from the inbox. On average, one in every five emails fails to reach the inbox and only 79% of commercial emails land in the inbox.
In theory, avoiding triggering the spam filter is easy. You need to convince it that your email is of importance to the recipient. But in practice, you will need to implement a thorough email marketing guideline to reach your recipients. Here are ten tips you need to follow to stop emails from going to junk.
Build Your Own Email List
Using bought or scraped email list is a sure-fire way to get your email address blacklisted. Instead, build your own email list from scratch consisting of people who are genuinely interested in hearing from you. Even though it is not the fastest way, an organically collected email list guarantees an email campaign’s success in the long term.
Authenticate Your Email
Email authentication helps protect email senders and recipients from spam, phishing, and spoofing. It helps build trust and reputation with the email service provider and improves email deliverability.
The four main methods of authenticating your email are –
- Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
- Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
- Domain-Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC)
- Brand Indicator for Message Identification (BIMI)
Comply By the Email Marketing Laws
Even though internet privacy laws or email marketing regulations do not directly correlate with email deliverability, violating them might get you blocked by ISPs. These legislations were placed to protect the privacy and rights of the consumers. The primary email marketing regulations are the CAN-SPAM, the Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). Ensure your email marketing campaign is compliant with the laws to avoid getting emails from going to junk.
Avoid Spammy Subject Lines
Spam filters flag an email as junk or spam by scanning the subject line for spam triggering words. Spam triggering words are phrases that verbalize and create a sense of urgency, are manipulative, and prompt negative emotions such as fear and anxiety. Spammers typically use these words to entice their target to interact with their email.
To prevent triggering the spam filter, you should avoid –
- Sounding needy and desperate
- Creating false urgencies
- Using sleazy slang
- Linking to sketchy websites
- Using enticing and cheap words
- Including far-fetched words and phrases
Remove Abandoned Email Addresses from Your List
The number of emails you send to inactive email addresses plays a significant role in email deliverability. It is one of the metrics spam filters use to identify errant emails. Regularly review and remove inactive accounts from your mailing lists to ensure you are not emailing dead accounts. However, if most of your mailing lists are inactive, you might want to rethink your email marketing strategy.
Offer a Double Opt-in
To ensure you are only emailing an audience interested in hearing from you, provide a double opt-in feature for your subscribers. People often mistakenly subscribe to services, and when you email them, they can mark your email as spam instead of unsubscribing. Send them a confirmation email that requires an action and add them to your mailing list only if you get a positive response.
Use a Spam Checking tool
Spam checking tools are online tools that let you test your email and check how likely they are to be marked as spam. Even though these tools cannot tell with 100% certainty whether or not an ISP or email provider will treat it as spam, they are still helpful to gain insights and build a better email campaign.
Include a Clear Unsubscribe Button
It is required by most internet privacy laws that all marketing emails need to include a way for the recipient to unsubscribe from their mailing lists. Make it easy for your subscribers to find and utilize this option. It will help you comply with the regulations and show subscribers that you trust in the value of your content.
Proofread Your Email
Typos and errors in your email are one of the primary reasons spam filters can flag it as junk. It’s due to the fact a majority of spammers and scammers come from non-English speaking countries, which contributes to poorly written spam emails. Besides bypassing spam filters, proofreading your email is crucial to grab your recipients’ attention.
Send Relevant Emails Regularly
If you email your audience at long intervals, they might forget who you are and unsubscribe to your email. Get in touch with your subscriber regularly. However, do not send irrelevant emails just for the sake of regular contact. Keep your mailing list engaged with helpful emails that will provide value to your audience.
Following the ways mentioned above can improve email deliverability and stop email from going to junk. But another critical aspect in email deliverability is to reduce the overall amount of spam. Typically, spammers collect email addresses when visible on the web, either on social networking sites or other spam lists. To decrease spam emails and improve email deliverability, you need to check the visibility of your email address.
To check your email address visibility, go to Sniff email — an online platform dedicated to finding out if your email address exists on the Internet. Enter your email address in the search field and click fetch to find out if your email address exists on the web within a few seconds. Based on the results, you can take appropriate action to remove it.