After carefully researching and crafting email marketing messages, nobody wants them to land in the spam folder.
However, nearly twenty percent of all email messages wind up in the spam folder. So how can you stay out of spam and get more eyes on your messages?
Fortunately, strategies exist to avoid no man’s land and resonate with your readers. So the first question to ask is whether you’re harnessing the power of your CRM software.
As SharpSpring Certified Partners, the pros at Cultivize know how to use your CRM – and other creative methods – to make your email marketing messages hit home.
Are you ready for greater lead conversion rates? Discover how to stay out of the spam folder and connect with your target audience.
Two Types of Spam
It is crucial to understand the two basic types of spam to stay out of this dreaded zone. The first is flagged by an email provider’s spam filter based on the email address, content quality, and consumer engagement.
Want to avoid flagging? Use a recognizable business email address rather than a free or personal one. Also, provide useful content with a meaningful subject line instead of something aggressively promotional with no other value.
The second type of spam is marked as spam by the recipient. Once a recipient designates a sender as spam, usually, the email provider flags future messages as spam.
Consumer engagement is crucial to ensure recipients continue to receive your messages – and open them. Researching your target audience and providing helpful information with enticing signature lines encourages more people to open your emails – and take action.
Use tools to determine where your emails land – such as the spam folder. Before sending marketing emails, consider:
Glock Apps lets you send a free test email to determine whether it finds its way to the inbox or spam folder.
MX Toolbox offers an email header analyzer to ensure readability and detect spam words and phrases.
Blacklist checking is also available at MX Toolbox to find out if your email server is blacklisted, causing messages to get sent to spam.
Eye on Technology
Technology factors also impact whether messages get to the recipient – or are whisked away to no man’s land.
Keep an eye on technicalities, such as a reliable email service provider and updated third-party security certificates. Plus, the devil is in the details, such as maintaining proper spelling and grammar.
Maintain list hygiene by deleting inactive subscribers and segmenting your subscriber list. Also, use a tool such as BriteVerify to test emails before sending them to verify everything works smoothly.
Harnessing technology also helps marketers define – and redefine – email marketing strategies. Discover how to put your CRM to work so people see – and read – your messages.
Subject Lines Make or Break Your Message
Consider 69 percent of email recipients report email messages as spam based on the subject line. Thus, subject lines make or break your email marketing messages.
Trigger words cause spam filters to flag messages because they appear promotional. Avoid statements about sales, earnings, income, freebies, cash, and other marketing cliches.
Dare to be different in crafting emails. For example, avoid tired terminology that makes recipients mark an email as spam.
Perform keyword research and explore trends to determine what your target audience wants.
Also, check out the competition to stay ahead of the curve and create unique emails people can’t wait to read.
How to Craft an Effective Email Message
Crafting a compelling email message is crucial to get noticed – and stay out of the spam folder. Your message competes with many other emails, so it has to reach out quickly to grab the recipient’s attention.
Know your company’s voice and what your target audience wants to hear. Be consistent in your messaging, so they start to recognize your messages. Also, have a specific goal in mind and address it in your email – along with a call to action, so readers know what to do after reading it.
Introductory and informative email messages are typically longer than follow-up messages, which should be brief and punchy. Varying the length and content of your messages helps keep you out of the spam folder.
Finally, be aware of factors such as image size and excessive linking that can land you in spam land. For example, emails with larger images and less text are more likely to be marked as spam.
Be in the Know About the Spam Folder
Create an opt-in email list to reach out to a target audience that wants what you offer. Otherwise, emails obtained from marketing lists could get your messages flagged as spam.
Then make sure to exceed your audience’s expectations. Finally, be aware of spam regulations that could also keep your messages from being read with that in mind.
The CAN-SPAM Act sets laws for all commercial email messages – and establishes costly penalties for violations. That’s even worse than landing in the spam folder!
Ensure compliance with efficient follow-ups, such as honoring opt-out requests promptly. Plus, you cannot use deception subject lines; you must identify messages as ads and let recipients know your location.
Why is this important to know? Even messages with specific updates wanted by long-term customers can be considered spam – and cost your business and brand reputation a hit.
Reach Out to Your Target Audience
The most effective way to stay out of bad territory is to resonate with your target audience. The goal is to get them to open and read your messages – and take action.
A well-crafted email marketing message keeps filtering and regulations in mind while delivering exactly what customers want.
Understanding what works and doesn’t help marketers determine which messages convert and those that land in spam folders.
Gauging marketing campaigns is the only way to make timely changes to reach your target audience – and keep them from surfing away.
Put Your CRM to Work and Make Email Marketing Hit Home
So how can you put your CRM to work to make email marketing messages stellar and stand out from the crowd? SharpSpring helps with critical strategies such as:
Segmentation to reach your target consumer and improve conversion rates
Personalization to get more recipients to open your email marketing messages
Scheduling for predictability, so recipients know when to expect updates
Engagement metrics to gauge factors such as open rate, delivery rate, click rate, and unsubscribe or opt-out rate to determine which campaigns work and which don’t
Most CRM automation users only use a fraction of the software’s capabilities, so you’re not alone if you didn’t realize this. Ready to learn more?
It’s time to make your email marketing realize a measurable ROI! Reach out to the professional team at Cultivize to learn more about using your CRM to get out of the spam folder.
