Seven Top Tips To Help Ensure Your Emails Avoid Spam Filter

When we write an email we want it to get seen. We want people to see it, open it, read it and take action on it if appropriate.

The very last place we want our words of wisdom to go is into someone’s spam or junk folder but sadly this happens from time to time because spam filters can sometimes catch some good emails as they try and filter out the bad.

Here at RocketResponder we want to ensure your emails get seen by the people who signed up to your list so here are our seven top tips to ensure that you avoid spam filter and ensure your message gets across to the people on our list:

1. Stop using aster*sks in your emails. The only possible reason you might have to use asterisks in your emails is to try and trick the spam filters. Just write your content for the people you are aiming for and don’t try to beat the system. Normal people never spell ‘free’ as ‘fr*e’ – I know this, you know this and the people who came up with the spam filters know this. Spam filters flag your email harshly if there are asterisks within words. Saying ‘fr*e’ is far worse than saying ‘free.


2. Understand email has changed. All the major providers understand that most emails come from the top 10 providers. They don’t base delivery on the provider. They now base delivery on the individual sender. This is why some emails will go to the inbox and others to spam when the email is sent on the same provider. So the major thing to take back from this is you need to have a good personal reputation.


3. Don’t send from a yahoo address. Yahoo made a change to their email policies which tells every receiver that if Yahoo didn’t send it to mark it as spam. For best results you should use your own email address on your own domain. So far Gmail isn’t bad, but they could make the change too. Nothing beats your own email address from your own domain.


4. Encourage people to interact with your emails. If users don’t open your emails, email providers know it and you are more likely to have your emails flagged as spam. Ideally you want to write content that ensures that people are opening your emails and clicking on links. If you can actually encourage people to reply to your emails then that is even better again – replying to emails is a sure sign that the emails are not unwanted spam.


5. Always use a valid email address. This may seem obvious to most but many people still send email from fake email addresses such as noreply@mysite.com. Guess what, when receivers get your email they check if the email address is real before accepting it. Use a fake email and you might not even make it to the spam bin, as it is quite likely that it will just be deleted on the spot.


6. Be original in your content. Don’t copy and paste emails. The number of people following some old school ebooks or PLR email series is crazy. The problem is email providers are smart. They know that same copy was used before and wasn’t wanted. So when you send it, they’ll know it wasn’t wanted again. Always create value and original high quality content is king. And finally…


7. Stop telling people you are not a spammer.  Many spammers use this ‘trick’ in the hope that they get past the spam filters or convince recipients that they are not spammers. So even if you are not sending spam, the mere fact that you even mention it means you are in danger of being classed as spam. The bottom line is that if you talk like a spammer, you’ll get filtered like a spammer. If you have to convince someone it’s not spam, you’re not sending emails people want. Stop and rethink your email strategy before sending any more.

We hope those tips will be useful to you. Here at RocketResponder we are passionate about getting your message out to the people who want to hear it. We make sending emails and communicating with the people on your list simple and efficient. Use these tips and your messages will be seen time and time again.

Seven Top Tips To Help Ensure Your Emails Avoid Spam Filter

Always Ask For Permission...And Then Ask Again

Email marketing techniques: A week ago we discussed the issue of spam emails and asked the question “What was spam?”

The key element was that it was an email sent out to those people who did give you their permission to send them emails in the first place.

An example I gave was receiving permission for sending blog updates to your subscribers but then bombarding them with marketing emails instead.

Here is what I would suggest in such a situation.

• Firstly never bombard anyone with marketing emails. This overkill approach is nothing short of email bullying and should be avoided at all costs.


• When someone signs up for any of your lists (remember you can have lots of different lists with RocketResponder) ensure that you are always upfront and honest with them about what they are signing up to.


• The best way to avoid misunderstandings is to make clear exactly what sort of email communications they will receive in the “welcome email” you send to all new subscribers.


• In this email really draw attention to the fact that people can unsubscribe from your list at any time – including right now. For example they might have signed up in error or after reading your welcome email decided that they do not want to hear from you after all.

It is also a good idea to contact your list – say every six months – to ask them if they are happy to continue receiving emails from you. This serves to remind them of who you are and what you do and serves as an opportunity for you to “take the temperature” of your list. By this I mean you get to see if the people on your list are still interested in hearing from you.

Don’t worry if people unsubscribe – if they don’t want to hear from  you then there really is no point in sending them emails in the first place. And the people who do like you will like you even more for having taken the time to send them an email asking how they were.

 

 

Always Ask For Permission...And Then Ask Again

The Long And The Short Of Writing Emails

Generally when writing emails for your RocketResponder subscribers you will want to keep them short and to the point.

Give people small bite-sized chunks of information a piece at a time rather than the whole lot at once.

The advantage of this is that your entire message is more likely to be read and understood and you can send the information out as a series of emails on the same subject or theme.

People generally look forward to a series and will eagerly await the next installment when the subject matter is of interest to them.

So an email series of short emails is a great way of capturing people’s attention ahead of a product launch or building up to announcing a new product for example.

It is also good as a training or information series in its own right – remember the purpose of sending emails is more than just to gain sales.

Part of the purpose of sending out emails is to build up a rapport with your subscribes, establish yourself as the authority figure or expert and generally get them to like you.

So every now and again take the time to mix things up a bit and send out a longer email. Make it personal, about you.

You could share some of the things you like and dislike, talk about the highs and lows you have recently experienced or include some pictures of you on holiday or having fun.

Remember that you are more than just an expert in your given niche. You are also an individual and a human being so don’t be afraid to let people see the personal side of you, the real you.

Take time to talk about yourself and you will come across as a more rounded person and someone people will really want to get to know more.

Don’t overdo it though – if you are always talking about yourself then you will come across as self-centered and arrogant and you want to avoid that at all costs.

The Long And The Short Of Writing Emails

Help Yourself Avoid The Email Spam Trap

Email spam tips: Last time we looked at what email spam actually is but today it is time to look at how you can help yourself unwittingly be labeled as a potential spammer.

You may get this unwanted tag if you decide to include information at the end of your emails about why your email is NOT spam.

There is no reason in the world to do this because it only serves to make you look like a spammer.

RocketResponder’s Tim Linden wrote about this on his own blog recently and this is what he had to say…

One of our customers is having problems with deliverability and so I was looking through his account for reasons for this.

His from email address was a custom domain, valid email address, even had SPF records to allow RocketResponder to send from that address (which isn’t necessary the way we send them, but the fact he did it was above most normal customers).

I was really puzzled because the emails he was sending looked more “newslettery” than “spammy” too. Until I got to the bottom of the email.

Every email had at the bottom one of those really long 3 paragraph warnings that most spammers use, where they say they aren’t spamming they have the right to spam, etc. But on top of this one it said it was against the law to report him as spam. Seriously?

Now I don’t know about you but most of the spam I get has one of these warning books at the bottom. So it became very clear he was getting himself filtered for looking like a spammer. But on top of that I know many people would see that “law” as an invitation to prove him wrong.

When it comes to email make it very easy to unsubscribe, and don’t talk about it. That’s it. I don’t see any big time companies putting huge things in there, no they want you focused on the content. So quit reminding them about unsubscribing. Make it easy so if they want to they can, but don’t make them want to more!

 

Help Yourself Avoid The Email Spam Trap

So What Exactly Is Email Spam?

Anyone who sends email for business should want to avoid spam at all costs so what exactly is email spam?

It is perhaps the one thing about business to business emails that annoys people more than anything else.

But just what is email spam and how can you avoid sending it out by mistake?

Spam can actually mean different things to different people.

For example this is how Wikipedia defines email spam:

Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email, is a subset of electronic spam involving nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Clicking on links in spam email may send users to phishing web sites or sites that are hosting malware.”

That is not necessarily true, or more accurately, not always true in every instance.

For example if you have a list of people then is is perfectly acceptable to send the entire list an identical  message with only perhaps the greeting changed.

The key point from the above definition is the word “unsolicited” and it makes all the difference.

If someone signs up to your list then they want to (or at least accept that they will) receive emails from you so that is not spam.

But sending out exactly the same email to a group of people who never agreed to receive email from you is spam. This could happen, for example, if you bought a list of email addresses.

Also don’t be fooled into thinking that just because someone is on your list that you are free to email them about anything you choose.

Say you have a blog and you got people to sign up for “regular updates” but they end up getting ten marketing emails for each blog update then that would almost certainly be considered by many to be spam.

Some other examples of spam could include:

• A newsletter sent out to a list of people whose details you obtained from attending a conference 18 months ago.


• A promotional offer you are sending out to a list of email addresses you bought from someone else. Clearly you don’t know who these people are, they have no relationship with you and might reasonably be expected not to want to receive marketing emails from you.


• Marketing emails you send to people whose emails you obtained in the normal course of doing business with you but who were never asked whether they wanted to receive such emails from you in the first place.

 

 

So What Exactly Is Email Spam?

Why Your Emails Keep Going To Spam Part Three

Today RocketResponder’s Tim Linden concludes his three part look at the issue of spam. Let’s take a look at why your emails keep going to spam.

In the previous two posts he explained why emails you want to see in your inbox might go to spam and what practical steps you can take to avoid that happening.

In today’s concluding post Tim explains just some of the things that RocketResponder do to ensure that your emails get into the inboxes of those who have subscribed to your list…

So I’m sure you’re wondering what we do at RocketResponder to ensure your emails aren’t being filtered because of other users.

Well we do a few things:

• We send the emails from your email address.


• We use a different sub domain for every member for all links in the emails themselves.


• We monitor engagement and group similar senders into different sending IP groups.


• We monitor all our IPs against blacklists and feedback loops and get notified every few hours of changes.

If you aren’t using RocketResponder then you should give it a try, we give you 30 days to try it out without paying or entering credit card info or even creating a Paypal subscription.

You’ll also save some money too, we charge $20 per 10,000 subscribers which is a huge bargain. Most other guys charge in 1000 subscriber increments, and they charge for unsubscribed users!

Via: TimLinden.com

Why Your Emails Keep Going To Spam Part Three

Why Your Emails Keep Going To Spam Part Two

There is no doubt understanding why your emails keep going to spam is one of the major headaches of email…both for senders and recipients alike.

Here RocketResponder’s Tim Linden continues his look at the issue of spam and gives come practical examples of how to avoid genuine emails getting wrongly filtered as spam.

Open your emails

One way of helping ensure that emails you want in your inbox don’t get marked as spam is to actually…open your emails! This one is less known, but Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc monitor which emails you open.

They care less about the content and more about engagement. If you want marketing type emails and are opening them, they want to put them in your inbox. The best way to help show your emails are wanted, is to actually open them yourself. Every email you don’t open is just re-confirming that you don’t really care if you get the email or not.

Click links to avoid spam

Click links in your emails! Similar to opening, they actually track if you are clicking links or not. Hotmail will go as far as to warn you if you click a link in an email that looks spammy and ask if you’re sure.

Click yes you’re sure, it’s your email and it confirms that it’s legit.

Writing good emails

Send emails people want! Obvious? yes but still people have this concept that if you “blast” enough emails you’ll get enough clicks to warrant the time sending the email. If this is your view, you’re going to get your emails filtered.

What people don’t seem to understand is that most email providers use reputation systems. For instance the from email address you are sending from. Or the links in your emails. I’ll bet they even track the address line that’s required by CAN SPAM. It’s no longer solely the responsibility of the ESP to get the email to the inbox which is why so many sketchy senders are finding their emails not going as far.

Next time: What RocketResponder does to help ensure your emails get delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes.

Via: TimLinden.com

 

Why Your Emails Keep Going To Spam Part Two

Why Your Emails Keep Going To Spam Part One

I’m not sure if this is a rant or not, but this keeps on happening with customers at RocketResponder. I’m here to answer why your emails keep going to spam.

Almost every day we’ll get customers asking about emails being marked as spam. It’s true, if we have bad reputation your emails won’t get delivered. But for the most part it’s up to you.

Don’t send spam! It sounds simple enough, but if you are sending spammy content of course it will get filtered. Every person who has asked why their emails ended up in spam is sending emails that I would consider spam if I got one.

Obviously their list subscribed so hey they want the emails, but the primary filters are looking at overall email quality, if they see you look like spam, they’ll think it’s spam.

Click Not Spam!! This again sounds simple, but the people asking say they always go to spam. Especially with Gmail, secondary filters learn what the end user sees as spam or not spam. So if you see an email is in spam, and aren’t clicking not spam, it thinks it was right that the email was spam. Its the same reason if you don’t mark an email as spam you’ll start to get more spam going to your inbox. It’s also the same reason that when I subscribe to these user’s lists, I get it to inbox while they still get it to spam!

Watch out for Part Two of this blog post next time where we continue our look at how you can avoid genuine emails getting marked as spam.

Via: TimLinden.com

 

Why Your Emails Keep Going To Spam Part One

Add The Fun Factor To Your Emails To Boost Open Rates

Most email these days tends to be rather boring, well at least the contents of my inbox is rather dull. We want to add the fun factor to your emails to boost open rates.

This is because a lot of business users – such as those who use RocketResponder – want to get a message across and do nothing more or less than that.

It is a perfectly acceptable approach to sending email but it is not the only method.

Another approach you could try is to make your emails fun and entertaining.

Don’t be afraid to inject a bit or humor into your email marketing efforts.

Perhaps you recently heard a joke you would like to share with your subscribers (but you might want to keep the really rude ones to yourself at the risk of offending people.)?

If you do videos in your marketing and have made a mistake, including an outtake video of how you messed up can be interesting, it also serves to reinforce the fact that you are just human too and make the same mistakes as the people on your list.

You could tell a funny story about something which happened to you and also don’t be afraid to ask your subscribers to tell you stories of their own.

Adding humor and encouraging interaction with your list should boost your open rates. Give it a go and see what happens…oh and let us know how you get on.

 

Add The Fun Factor To Your Emails To Boost Open Rates

Keep Your Emails Short And To The Point

Email writing tips from RocketResponder

Think of the emails you get every day.

If you are like me, something like this will probably happen…

• A percentage (perhaps a large percentage) will be immediately deleted without ever being opened


• Others will get kept in your inbox to be read but will still end up being deleted because you decide you don’t have the time or the inclination to read them after all


• Some (perhaps a small percentage) will actually get opened.

Let’s concentrate on the ones you actually open. Again, if you are like me, if the email looks overly long and complicated then you might read a sentence or two and then give up.

So to get the best chance of getting your message read keep it short and to the point.

Say what you have to say and nothing more.

Try and give the reader just one thing to think about and take action on and you will have the best chance of getting your message read and understood.

If you have lots of different points to make then it might be better to make a short mini-series with each point made in a separate email.

If you do this then you can refer to the next email in the last line of the one before. Say something like: “So now that I have introduced our exciting new product to you, tomorrow I will tell you three ways it will change your life for the better.”

Now go ahead and use your RocketResponder account to use these techniques for yourself.

Keep Your Emails Short And To The Point

Scrapple is just as bad as Spam!

Spam email concerns: When you talk about email marketing everyone knows the difference between Ham (good) and Spam (bad). But seldom do we talk about Scrapple.

Yum. We all know what scrapple is. That really tasty awesome meat you can’t wait to have right? Not really. But it’s also not the worst thing in the world either, people eat it afterall.

In email terms, scrapple is email that’s not good email but it’s also not spam. It’s the mediocre email that gets sent out all the time. Email people subscribed to but really have no desire to even open and read because it’s that bad.

The problem with scrapple is it’s harder to detect if you’re sending it. Sure, spam we have feedback loops, spam checkers, bounce logs, everything makes it easy to block spam. But scrapple? You have no idea if your readers think your email is lame.

So when you send email your best bet is to always send email you would open and you would read, from your first email in your series all the way to the end. You want your readers to open every email and get excited when they see the next one!

Article courtesy of Tim Linden Blog

Scrapple is just as bad as Spam!