Email Marketing Knowledge Base: Four Ways to Beat Spam Filters

Email marketing is a very effective way to reach out to new customers, across the world. It is also very cheap as compared to the conventional means of promotion. Most email services are free; however, this is also the reason for an increase in spamming. Even legitimate marketing emails have to face the same consequences as spam mails, at the hands of spam filters. Even customers find it very hard to differentiate between genuine marketing and spam emails. As a result, they usually delete all promotional emails, without even opening them once. Most companies worry about how to improve deliverability of emails. Take a look at the following tips for the same.

Format the email properly

The format of your email should be simple and professional. Excess use of different colors, fonts, font sizes, images or any other graphical content will surely trigger off spam filters. Keep the overall look of your email clean and simple. Don't use more than 2-3 font types and sizes. Use one font type and size for the content; something different and bolder for the heads and sub-heads. The colors of the content and the background should be contrasting. Use a lighter shade for the font, if your background is darker or vice-versa. Images and other graphical content should be used sparingly. It also keeps the length of the email shorter.

Include contact details and unsubscribe link

Each email you send should contain an unsubscribe link so that uninterested users can opt-out. You are also bound by the law to do the same. This boosts your credibility in the eyes of your readers. Your campaign is likely to get labeled as spam, if there is no unsubscribe link. Place the link at the top of the email. Apart from this, include your contact details. You may give your postal address, a functioning email address, a phone number and a website address. This will make your clients believe that you are an honest campaigner.

Test your campaign thoroughly

Testing is the most effective way to avoid spam filters. Send the campaign to one or two email addresses. You'll come to know that changes are required, if they reach the junk or spam folder. You can identify words associated with spam. For instance, avoid the usage of terms like free, million dollars, offer, and discount and so on in the subject line of the mail. You should also avoid the use of exclamation marks, currency logos and other characters that are most likely to trigger of spam filters.

Do not send emails using BCC

Email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook, have the BCC facility. You may send personal emails using BCC. However, do not send email campaigns with this facility because it will surely trigger off spam filters. Alternatively, send an email to one user through the mail client. It's not a good idea to send emails to 200 subscribers using the BCC field.

Sending legitimate marketing emails and avoiding spam filters can be a tedious task. It requires a lot of patience and hard work. Visit an email marketing knowledge base and read through some email marketing tips.

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Karrie Beth
Karrie Beth is a best practices activist and advocate for Benchmark Email ( http://www.benchmarkemail.com ), a leading Web and permission-based email marketing service.
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About the Author:
Karrie Beth is a best practices activist and advocate for Benchmark Email ( http://www.benchmarkemail.com ), a leading Web and permission-based email marketing service.

Author: Karrie Beth