There's no sense spending all that time designing, coding and
writing your email newsletters, only to get them trapped in your
recipients' junk folders. Make sure your newsletters go straight to
your subscribers' inboxes by learning how spam filters think. Spam
filters look at a long list of criteria to decide whether or not
your email is junk. The list of spammy criteria is constantly
growing and adapting, because spam filters learn more about what
junk looks like every time someone clicks the This is
spam button. Spam filters even sync up with each other to
share what they've learned. There's no magic formula, but these
tips will help you avoid common mistakes that often send email
marketing to junk folders.
Avoid these common
mistakes:
- Using spammy phrases like "Click here!" or "Once in a lifetime
opportunity!"
- Going crazy with exclamation points!!!!!!
- USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF YOUR
LUNGS VIA EMAIL (especially in the subject line)
- Coloring fonts bright red or
green
- Coding sloppy HTML, usually from converting a Word file
- Creating an HTML email that's nothing but one big image, with
little or no text (since spam filters can't read images, they
assume you're a spammer that's trying to trick them).
- Using the word "Test" in the subject line
- Sending a test to multiple recipients within the same company
(that company's email firewall assumes it's a spam attack)
- Designing HTML email in Microsoft Word and exporting the code
to HTML (That code is sloppy, and spam filters hate it.)
Inbox
Inspector
MailChimp has a spam filter checker (look for Inbox
Inspector under your Campaigns tab) that'll tell you
exactly what your email's spam score is, and what you need to
change if you want to improve your chances with spam filters.
Inbox Inspector is free
and unlimited for paid, monthly customers.
For more information, visit
mailchimp.com/features/inbox-inspector.