HOW TO STOP YOUR EMAILS GOING TO JUNK

It's extremely important to make sure your emails go to your reader’s inbox. If your reader can’t SEE the email, they won’t open the email nor will they see your offer. This could have detrimental effects on your business.

Here are a couple of do’s and don’ts to optimise your email deliverability.

================= DO =================

1) Do Give Valuable Information

>>> Keep things relevant to your niche. If people sign up to your list to learn about marketing, then keep your content relevant to marketing.

>>> Share blog posts, tips and promotional offers.

>>> Build trust and relationship by sharing personal stories while keeping everything relevant.

>>> Be interesting. Write about controversial topics, high-profile figures and other potentially “viral” topics.

2) Do Set Clear Expectations

>>> Introduce yourself and mention what content you plan to share in your first email.

>>> Request your subscribers to add you as a contact in order to continue receiving quality emails.

>>> Let subscribers know how many emails to expect from you. Consider letting your subscribers choose the email frequency from daily emails to weekly digests.

3) Do Go for Quality Over Quantity

>>> Have a small email list of subscribers who read and engage with your emails. That’s better than having an unresponsive long email list with a low conversion rate.

>>> Start a re-engagement campaign. Every year, ask your subscribers a question which requires a response. For example, “Would you still like to receive emails from me?” Keep those who respond and delete the rest.

>>> Provide a clear “unsubscribe” link. This stops subscribers from marking you as spam.

>>> Segment your List. Group your subscribers according to their user interests, such as demographic and web traffic sources, and create content they will enjoy reading. This will also reduce the spam complaints received at one time.

>>> Monitor your Stats. Look at your open rates, link clicks, bounces and unsubscribes to judge how well your email campaigns are doing.

4) Do Start with the Right Foot

>>> Choose a good email marketing service who has a positive track record. Avoid going for the cheap spammy ones.

>>> Certify your IP to get on the good side of the email providers.

================ DON’T ================

1) Don’t Look Spammy

>>> Avoid using bad HTML codes. If you really have to, go for the templates already provided by your email service provider as they know how to make it appear great in inboxes.

>>> Don’t add big images. Spam filters dislike images which weigh a lot or have words that cannot be read.

>>> Don’t use more than two links.

2) Don’t Sound Spammy

>>> Avoid using salesy words like: free, guaranteed, bargain, price, cash, credit, discount, earn, buy, clearance, order etc.

>>> Don’t use too many question marks, exclamation marks and dollar signs in a row.

>>> Don’t write in all capital letters and don’t use lots of coloured fonts.

3) Don’t Be Spammy

>>> Never buy email lists. Simply said, subscribers do not know, like and trust you enough to buy from you. Plus, you risk being blacklisted and kicked off your email service providers if you do so.

>>> Keep your subject lines congruent to your email content.

>>> Give a proper reply-to email address.

And lastly, test your email by sending a copy to yourself first to see where it ends up, in your inbox or in your junk.

Because the criteria of spam filters changes so often, even if you apply all these tips and tricks there still is a chance that your emails might end up in junk. We should still do our best over the things that we do have control over and hope for the best.

Nabila S Ahmed 
#entrepreneurialmuslim