Hiring the Internet

Email is still one of the best ways to reach and maintain relationships with customers.

Let’s say, though, that after growing a big enough mailing list, you’re noticing a lower open rate. What if your emails were being sent to the spam bin? Egads, are you considered a spammer?!

In some cases, you’re stuck with a lazy person who labels your email as spam, instead of taking the trouble to unsubscribing. You can’t stop that from happening.

However, sometimes the addressee mistakenly marks an email as spam, and there are a few small things you can do to lower the chances of that happening:

1. Let’s start from the beginning: NO PURCHASING OR RENTING OF MAILING LISTS.

Don’t want to be labeled as a spammer? Then don’t be one. Services that sell or lend mailing lists for marketing purposes usually collect addresses that were used for sign-ups or were posted publicly on websites such as forums. They haven’t solicited your marketing campaigns.

Also, consider that online users are more savvy than ever. Some use disposable email addresses. Many users have multiple email addresses, some of which are for public spaces and sign-ups. These addresses are used as collectors of spam, where the user simply logs in from time to time to clean out the inbox without looking at any of the messages. Their primary addresses, on the other hand, are used for personal correspondence and are fiercely protected.

2. Protect those addresses.

Once you’ve earned sign-ups for your mailing list, be careful not to post or distribute them elsewhere.

3. Don’t use generic subject headings.

In the daily blur of constant email messages, a user may accidentally mark your email as spam when they see a generic subject heading. Titles like “July Newsletter” or “Get a Discount” are unlikely to encourage opens.

4. Remind the addressee with a postscript.

Web users are used to scrolling to the bottom of a marketing message or newsletter for a postscript. Here, remind the user that they signed up for the mailing list. Also take advantage of this space by advising the user to add you to their address list or safelist.

5. Provide a visible unsubscribe link.

It sounds like a contradiction, but laying out an unsubscribe link in the postscript helps your cause. Without it, you don’t appear to be transparent and trustworthy. You also want to populate your mailing list with customers who are capable of being interested in your promotions. It’s better to filter out disinterested parties, as opposed to allowing your email campaign getting marked as spam.

6. Comply with the Safe Harbor Privacy policies and with U.S. law.

Read through this checklist to make sure that you are abiding by policies set down by the European Commission. This proves to be helpful when you have international addresses on your mailing list. While you’re at it, make sure you know about the U.S. laws regarding spam.

7. Don’t just send one huge HTML image.

Email clients are more likely to block large HTML images. Clients like Gmail and Outlook block images by default, so a number of your recipients will only see a broken up message initially. Take care to include text apart from the image so that readers will get an idea of who you are and what you are conveying.

8. Personalize.

When you ask people to sign up for your mailing list, ask for a first name at least. This way, you can automate your message to include the recipient’s name in the greeting line. “Merry Christmas David!” is an example of how to alert a reader to the fact that he signed up for the email.

9. Perfect the timing and frequency of your emails.

Sending an email too often or too seldom can get you blacklisted. Although a monthly newsletter seems standard, you should attune the timing and frequency of your promotional emails based on the needs of your subscribers and the relevancy of your promotion.

» Next Post: How Google's Ad Planner May Affect User Privacy

« Previous Post: How Phone Companies Are Affecting Mobile Web Developments