Any business that has experienced it knows how annoying it is: email spam jail.
When your email deliverability isn’t good your emails either go directly to spam or they end up in the promotion email tab of most email providers.
While the spam folder is the worst-case scenario, the promotions tab isn’t ideal too. Because an email in the promotions tab doesn’t show up when a person logs in. The user has to go to the promotions tab on purpose – and very few people ever do that.
In fact, according to marketingcharts.com, 84.5% of the messages triggered as promotion land in the promotion tab, out of which only 19.2% are read.
To maximize the ROI of every email you send out, you want to make sure your email goes to the primary tab.
In this article, we will show you a few quick and easy ways to avoid your email getting flagged as spam and how you can improve overall email deliverability.
Step #1 – Avoid Spam Trigger Words
Email systems are smart. The algorithm filters out certain words and phrases which are commonly used in spam emails. Think of words like ‘for free’, ‘make money’ or ‘bargain deals’.
If you use these words in your subject lines, it will likely get flagged as spam. Especially if your email address is new and hasn’t built trust yet.
Plus, if you send out emails that seem like spam, readers can flag your emails as spam – this hurts your email deliverability even more.
So, it’s definitely necessary to pay attention to email spam scores and deliverability. Click here for a master list of all email spam trigger words.
Step #2 – Make It Easy To Unsubscribe
The next thing that hurts your email deliverability is not having an unsubscribe button, or making it unnecessarily hard to unsubscribe.
Your subscribers must be able to easily opt-out anytime they want. Some business owners avoid this because they are afraid to lose subscribers. But there are two reasons why you want to offer opt-out anyways:
First, people who don’t want to be on your email list won’t buy from you or even open your emails. So, it’s better for your email list hygiene if they unsubscribe.
Secondly, if your opt-out process is too confusing, angry readers will just flag your messages as spam instead. That hurts your spam score and deliverability big time.
As you can see, having an easy way for readers to unsubscribe is the best solution.
Step #3 – Avoid Free Domain Email Addresses
Email addresses from free domains, like MailChimp for example, get flagged as spam more often and they also end up in the promotion tabs more often. The algorithms simply don’t trust free domains as much as paid domains.
If you can’t switch to a paid domain, you can work your way around it by asking your subscribers to add you to their contacts or simply drag your email to the primary tabs folder.
Not all subscribers will do this but your most loyal buyers will. Still, having a paid domain email address will give you a better ROI.
Step #4 – Avoid Single Opt-in
Single opt-in means that a person gives you their email address and they are automatically subscribed. The other option is double opt-in, where the person gives you their email and then they have to approve that they want to subscribe.
The advantage of a single opt-in is that you can grow your list faster. But double opt-in improves the quality of your list.
So, if you want to increase email deliverability and decrease email spam scores, switching to double opt-in is a great idea. (Also note that in some countries single opt-in is forbidden.)
Step #5 – Ask Readers For A Reply
If a subscriber replies to an email the algorithm understands that your readers love your emails and want to hear more from you. It’s a signal that your emails are important and should get delivered.
This is the best-case scenario, as algorithms now trust you. Once you have great deliverability because many people reply to your emails you can get away with using spam trigger words once in a while. (No need to overdo it though).
But how do you get your subscribers to reply to your email? Quite simple, ask them! Ask for their opinion on something and tell them to reply.
Bonus: Track Your Spam Score With Instant Scripts™
It’s hard to keep track of all email spam trigger words, especially because email algorithms are getting smarter and smarter.
To help business owners and copywriters to create spam-free emails, Instant Scripts™ includes an automatic spam tracker.
If you want to write emails faster than ever, follow proven email principles and track your spam score, then get Instant Scripts™ today.
