No-one thinks of themselves as a spammer: “Of course people will want to know about this,” they tell themselves. Most companies send out sales emails to people who have not requested them – and that is the definition of spam.

Retailers are common culprits. You sign up for a receipt, but before you know it you’re getting a daily email that you can’t seem to turn off. A few unscrupulous companies ruin this cost-effective marketing channel for us all. Don’t be one of them.

Your mailing list is the most valuable marketing tool you have. Free tools like MailChimp will help you manage your newsletter campaign and list, and build referrals. Their online list manager prevents duplicates, creates nice looking emails and allows people to subscribe and unsubscribe easily. It also offers great reporting to see what works.

Mailchimp offers a huge range of services beyond email – it’s worth looking further at their other tools.

10 Tips to grow your email subscriptions

1. Offer value : Spell out the value visitors will get from your newsletter if they sign up.
2. Every email you send is a chance to grow your list. Add a subscribe link to email signatures company wide.
3. Include an “email a friend” button on your emails. This is a good way to reach a wider audience.
4. Create a how-to guide or eBook for download, in return for marketing consent.
5. Make sure people know they can unsubscribe at any time, and that you have a strict privacy policy and don’t sell their email address on to other companies.
6. Create an product line or benefit (like free shipping) for email subscribers to give an incentive to sign up.
7. Hosting in-store events after hours is an awesome way to grow your email list. Offering free tickets in return for marketing consent is a no-brainer.
8. Keep your email sign-up form simple. If you ask too many personal questions, you’ll put them off subscribing.
9. Use your sign-up form to identify your audience interests. That way you can tailor your news and offers to make them more relevant.
10. It almost goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: if your email content is outstanding, people will share it.

What if your newsletter ends up in spam?

My clients often ask me why their newsletters end up in the spam or junk mail folder.

Email servers have spam filters – software programs that scan incoming emails classify them as either spam or legitimate on a scale of 1 to 10.  On the average server, a score of 6+ gets the email deleted. Between 4-6, gets it marked as spam. Under 4, it gets into the inbox.

Spam filters use various criteria to determine whether an email is spam.

• the sender’s reputation (authentication)
• the email wording
• the number and type of attachments and images
• the email’s format including fonts and colours

1. AUTHENTICATION

This is technical. You need to have the right authentication for the email domain you’re sending from.

Tell your domain host to check your Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).

If you host with me,  I will have already done this.  Some email service providers like MailChimp and Office 365, have additional verification levels to help with this.

2. DESIGN AND LANGUAGE

However 90% of spam is identified by the server based on simple rules.

❌ Problem: Your emails have capital letters and exclamation marks.

✔ Solution: Write like you’re talking to a friend, don’t use flashy ad words.

❌Problem: Your email “domain” (the place your email comes from) has a bad reputation.

✔ Solution: Don’t get yourself on blacklists to begin with. Send emails people want, so you never get reported as junk mail.

❌Problem: Your email uses images, tables, fonts and font colours, so it’s flagged as “promotional” material.

✔ Solution: Make your emails look business-y. Have a safe signature with typed out contact details, using only default fonts and bold. If you can avoid a picture logo, do so.

❌Problem: Sending emails over and over to people who didn’t ask for them.

✔ Solution: Only send emails to people who said it’s okay, and include an unsubscribe link. If they unsubscribe, don’t try to sneak them onto a new list.

❌Problem: Emotive subject lines that don’t match words in the email. Never use spammy words like free, sale, $$$, guarantee, act now, limited offer, win, congratulations, cash or discount. Don’t capitalize words in the subject line unless they are proper nouns.

✔ Solution: Make your subject line match what’s inside your email. No tricks, just honesty.