The absolute worst thing that can happen to your emails is to have them marked as spam. This tiny button can tank your email deliverability and your sender’s credibility, which will route all further emails straight to the junk folder if not blocked altogether by the recipient’s ISP. But why do your contacts do this? Why would they mark you as spam when you are just trying to send them some useful information? Further still, why wouldn’t they just unsubscribe from your mailing list? There are several reasons, let’s talk about why.
Why Emails Get Marked As Spam
Spam emails are defined as unsolicited commercial email messages. Recipients are wary because spam emails usually contain a range of undesirable content. From the simply useless information to the potentially dangerous that contain scams and even malware.
Unsolicited Messages
When you are sending an email first ensure that everyone on your email list has signed up to be there. Don’t send to people who have not expressed an interest in your content and are not expecting to hear from you. For instance, if you buy a list of emails and send messages to them, the recipients have no idea where your messages are coming from and furthermore, they have no idea how you got their emails.
The risk of those recipients marking you as spam is much higher. Therefore, it’s best practice to only contact those who have either signed up for your emails or have done business with your company before.
Email Design
Believe it or not, the way your email looks matters a lot to email recipients. If your email APPEARS as though it may be coming from a spammer, they will mark it as spam. Spammers in this day and age are getting much craftier. Have you ever received one of those emails that look like they are coming from your cell phone provider or your cable provider or maybe even from your bank but they don’t look quite right? It’s because it is a spam email pretending to be a legitimate company.
That’s why it’s so important that your emails are properly branded for your company. Have your brand be solid and recognizable so that your contact knows without a doubt that the email is coming from you. Another telltale mark of a spammer is using cutesy spellings that include alternating big and small characters, numbers as letters as well as characters as letters. So, avoid doing that in your own emails.
Structure
Beyond the way your email looks, the way your emails are structured is very important as well. Now when we get into the mechanics of your emails we are entering the territory of the internet service provider (ISP)and email filters. Both are set up to protect the email recipient and once your emails have been rejected by them, it is hard to recover.
Spammers like to hide invisible components in the HTML of their emails like bots and malware. So, you need to avoid doing the same, whether it is some text or an email tracker that you are hiding in the HTML, don’t do it! ISPs will view you as spam and reject your emails. Similarly, watch how you send your emails out. Spammers like to use stealth mailers if you use the same the ISPs will again suspect your emails are spam and reject them.
Similarly, make sure that your email code is in proper order. Ensure that your message IDs, dates, headers, and subject line are all filled in. Spam messages often are missing these elements.
Create & Compile Emails
Go with care and honesty, both when you create your emails and compile emails for your mailing list. Use trusted email software to create and send your emails, this will ensure that your emails will be coded properly and aren’t missing any elements. Take care when wording and designing your emails and don’t try to hide any of your content in the code.
Lastly, when compiling your email list, don’t just collect emails through a sign-up form, and through business interactions, while you are at it get the contact’s consent to send them promotional emails. With these simple rules in mind, you will maintain good email deliverability.
