If your perfectly crafted emails keep missing your recipients’ inboxes, and instead go to their spam or junk folders, it can be frustrating. But why does it happen?
As it’s more likely to be a problem with your actual mail messages rather than the mail service provider, we take a look at why your emails might be going to spam or junk folders, and what you can do about it.
Spam filters are getting really good
One of the reasons more emails go to spam and junk folders these days is simply because the spam filters are more sophisticated than they’ve ever been. Spam filters now judge behaviour. So, if you are new to your recipient, there’s a good chance that the filter will class you as a scammer, unknown to the recipient and filter out your message.
Is your email wanted?
Mail providers watch behaviour carefully and send email to junk or spam if they don’t think the message is part of wholesome, organic engagement. Mail servers attempt to anticipate the engagement and if it’s wanted, from previous behaviour. If your recipient has given you permission to email them, and expects, and wants to engage with your message, potentially then forwarding it to a colleague or other interested party, then bingo, you’re likely to be home free.
Does your email contain an unsubscribe link?
The last thing you want is for recipients to class your message as spam, because they can’t see a clear unsubscribe link. Give your recipients the easy opt out option, with an easy-to-spot unsubscribe link. The mail provider will know you are providing the link and will filter accordingly.
Is your email well-designed?
When we say ‘well-designed’ we mean, is it put together with your recipients’’ ease of use in mind? Here are a few prompts on best practice:
- Is it on- brand? Will the recipient recognise you by your use of colour, font and messaging?
- Has it been designed to be mobile and desktop friendly?
- Is it free of spam ‘trigger’ words like “special offer” and “risk free”?
- Is the text easy to understand and to the point?
- Do you have a mix of images and text? A message composted of images only is not good practice.
Use a mail testing service
A mail testing service, like mail.tester will test the ‘spammyness’ of your email and give you a score. It’s a good way to check the viability of your message’s potential delivery before you send it out to real recipients.
But there’s no way to guarantee that all your messages will get to all the inboxes you intend to get them to. Every mail filter is different, and even if you get a perfect score with a mail tester, although helpful, may still mean you get filtered to spam or junk via another filter.
If you follow the pointers above, and follow best practice when it comes to email messaging, particular marketing messages, you at least stand a better chance of your messages being delivered to inboxes. But if you use a mail tester too, even better, you’ll potentially get to know what needs to be fixed beforehand.
Originally published at https://www.cultrix.co.uk.
