Despite your best email marketing efforts, not everything is always in your control.

With the increasing prevalence of spam filters, there is often no guarantee that the email your company sends to prospects and customers will reach the intended inbox.

Spam filters are rules used by most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email software programs to reject and remove unwanted email messages. Since spam email messages can be difficult for spam filters to distinguish from other messages, they sometimes block legitimate emails sent by your company.

Often, the more aggressive or sophisticated a spam filter is, the less likely it is to deliver legitimate messages that don't comply with best practices:

• Avoid complaints -- Make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. The most common reason a company's email messages get filtered or blacklisted is because the intended recipient complains to the ISP. When recipients contact their ISP, your domain is likely to be blacklisted or added to the ISP's spam filter to avoid future complaints.
• Avoid using "cc" and "bcc" for email campaigns -- Outgoing messages should be addressed individually "to" each recipient. Use a bulk email program or service that can send individual, personalized messages.
• Have valid DNS entries for your domain -- Ensure your ISP had proper DNS entries, SPF records, and Sender ID records for your domain. ISPs receiving your mail often check your DNS record to ensure that your DNS entry is configured properly and isn't identified as a known spammer.
• Send blasts in batches -- When ISPs identify a large volume of incoming/outgoing messages from the same sender, it looks like spam. Contact your ISP before sending emails in large batches to ensure they will be supported. Otherwise, your messages may be rejected or flagged as spam.
• Write a meaningful subject line -- The subject line of outgoing messages is important. Subject lines that are missing; use all capital letters; include too many numbers, question marks or exclamation points; or include common spam phrases are likely to trigger spam filters.
• Avoid common spam phrases -- Spam filters examine incoming email messages to determine the likelihood of spam. Messages that include common spam phrases are often rejected or deleted. Here are some terms to avoid:

Avoiding spam filters ensures that your email messages are delivered. Thereafter, the challenge is to ensure that your email messages will be read.

PeerSpheres

View newsletter archive here »

• Home
• About WBS
• Press
• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Site Map

© 2010 Winmark Corporation website by Treefort