Getting Email Past the Spam Filter
Nothing is more frustrating than finding out most of your sent emails are not actually making it to your target – instead being gobbled up by your recipient’s spam filter. You put a lot of effort into building your email lists, crafting your emails, and coming up with the catchiest text to lure your prospects to your service. Seems like such a wasted effort and bad use of time, doesn’t it?
Wouldn’t it amaze you that much of the reason your emails are not being delivered is that you are being creative and catchy to a fault? Yes, it is possible to go overboard and start triggering spam filters as your email makes it through the web. We hear it all the time on the support line – “It took me hours to create this awesome email, but my leads are not receiving it, what gives?”.
There are many best practice rules when it comes to creating deliverable emails, below you will find which get broken the most by our users. Review them and take an honest look at your email templates in Mojo – are you breaking the rules?
1. Don’t be too ‘spammy’
Spammy emails are a big no-no. Keep your emails short and to the point. What is your message? Most likely, you are not trying to sell anything via email. You are likely trying to set up the next step or introduce yourself to a prospective client. Don’t ruin it by making your email sound like an As Seen on TV commercial spot! Keep the language simple and don’t use a lot of sales terms (click here, discount, etc.)
2. Keep it short and sweet
Back to trying to sell over email. Many of our customers end a book to their leads. Let’s face it, you probably just had a 5-minute conversation with the lead. Do you think you’ve built enough rapport in those 5 minutes to warrant them reading a 10 paragraph email? Probably not. Spam filters see a long drawn out email as a potential attempt at ‘selling’ someone, so they often flag them. Keep your emails to the point, and back to point 1 above, don’t include spammy content.
3. Keep it black
Who doesn’t enjoy creating big, bold, and colorful emails? Sure, they look good to the eye and they stand out, but that’s the problem. Colorful emails with lots of bolding etc. stand out not only to us but to the trusty spam filter. As much as you want to be unique, keep your emails simple. Use a standard font and keep it black!
4. What the !$*#
Oh, the love we all have for punctuation!! <- Bad. Getting our message across in print/electronic email can be trickier than with verbal communication, a lot trickier. One way we make up for this is with the use of punctuation – lot’s of it. We use ! or !!!, we use $$, heck, we even use ** to put emphasis on the topic. Again, using lots of unnecessary punctuation is going to put a lot of emphasis on your email by spam filters so STOP!! doing it and make MORE $$!!
5. Capitalize on NOT capitalizing
Along the same lines as using lots of spammy punctuation, capitalizing all letters in a word is seen by spam filters as a classless attempt at throwing a Hail Mary sales pass through email. Don’t do it, you will get caught.
6. Re: or Fwd:
This is just slimy! Do NOT use Re: or Fwd: in your subject line to fool someone into thinking they are already on the email chain or part of an email circle with them… Wrong, just wrong. Spam filters know if you’ve already got some connection with them, if you don’t and you include these in your email subject, they know you’re a dead beat.
7. Be careful with attachments
Attachments without text in the body of the email, are often blocked by the spam goalkeeper. This happens often. Let’s say you’ve been asked to send a CMA over to a prospective client. You oblige and send it as an attachment with the copy, “Here you go Bill, let me know what you think”. If you don’t have a relationship with this person, you will likely get trapped in the spam box. For these types of emails, create a simple template with enough text to make several sentences and use opening and closing salutations.
8. Watch the videos
Video emails are a big thing right now, rightfully so. The problem is unless you are using a purpose-built video email platform, including videos in your email will likely lead to the spam box. Instead, use a link in the email to your video, you’ll have a higher delivery rate.
There are TONS of tips for getting your emails delivered, this is just a sampling of those we see our users breaking. Of course, there is an entire topic on creating opt-in email marketing lists that we didn’t touch on here, but it is worth it for everyone who is relying on email for marketing, to research it and learn best practices.
We hope you learned at least one tip that will help you get your emails delivered to the right folder:)
ProspectBoss Team
We cater to Real Estate & Insurance agents but love seeing clients from all industries using our solution successfully. From lead generation and tracking, to CRM and data resources, we’ve got the solution for all your dialing needs. Call our Sales team at 800-662-4009 or send us an email to sales@prospectboss.com We look forward to hearing from you!