13 Proven Tips to Stop Emails Turning into Spam

Email Marketing is one of the most preferred mediums amongst B2B marketers to promote their products and services. It promises alluring returns and huge business benefits. But one thing that HAUNTS most of the email marketers is the fact of turning emails into spam. If your emails are going into a junk box or recipients marking it as spam then it signifies something is missing in your email marketing strategy as a whole. Spamming impacts the performance of email campaigns and also incurs losses.

Therefore, you need to analyze, optimize, and implement innovative email marketing ideas to stop emails from turning into spam. In this blog, you will understand how to stop emails from going to spam? Read these 13 proven tips and implement them to make the best from your email marketing campaigns.

Before launching any major email marketing campaign, always run a short campaign amongst people who are highly likely to open your emails. The high delivery rate and open rate create more trust points with the internet service provider (ISP), which is an important precursor to avoid email turning into spam. It makes you look genuine and ensures that audiences like to hear from you. Once a good reputation with ISP is established, the chances of emails going to spam folders plummet sharply.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is basically an email verification technique that helps detect ISP to know whether a sender is truly who he claims to be. If he is then your mail will be treated as genuine and if not then it sends emails into spam folders. Therefore, creating an SPF record is necessary. It contains code with a list of all IP addresses that are allowed to send emails. By merging your SPF record with the DNS system, you enable the server to identify you as the real owner and bypass spam filters. If your IP address is not marked in that list then whenever you run email campaigns, ISP will treat your emails as spam.

Below mentioned authentication protocols also prove beneficial for running successful email services:

• Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
• Domain-Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC)
• Brand Indicator for Message Identification (BIMI)

People should get an option to choose whether they want to continue the subscription with your email services or not. It is completely ok and desirable to stop email spamming. Unable to provide them an unsubscription option at the end of the emailer might invite the wrath of recipients and force them to lodge spam complaints. If your spam rate is greater than the threshold spam rate (0.08%) then your account can be suspended. In extreme cases, it might be terminated as well. Therefore, adding the ‘Unsubscription’ option is always seen as good practice.

According to a study conducted by LinkedIn, if you send emails to only those people who have opened at least one of your emails in the last six months, it helps you prevent emails from going to spam. Moreover, filtering out incorrect/outdated email IDs and verifying the authenticity of each mail address before executing an email campaign also reduces the chances of emails moving to spam folders.

While following compliance forces you to implement rigorous protocols and limit your deliveries but it helps you to bypass various ISP roadblocks. The biggest benefit of following compliances is that it enables you to stop turning your mail into junk mail.

The most important legislations that B2B marketers must follow are:

• CAN-SPAM
• The Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL)
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA)

These are famous laws that govern the working ecosystem of all commercial emails. Therefore, understand the nitty-gritty of all these laws in great detail before executing your next email marketing campaign. Try to follow as much compliance as possible. It helps.

Aimlessly sending anything to your recipients can make your campaign lose its shine in the middle. The content in emails should resonate with what your recipients want to hear from you, else your campaign risks getting ignored, or worse gets treated as junk mail. Therefore, keep the below points in mind before crafting your next emailer campaign:

• Am I sharing new, relevant, updated, and trending content?
• Is it the right time & correct frequency to send an emailer? Too many emails frequently also degrade campaign effectiveness.
• Do all my subscribers need to know about this update?
• Do I need to segment the list for this campaign based on the type of content?
• Is it really beneficial for my client base? Think from a recipient’s point of view.

Feel free to experiment with your content. In the B2B world, people like to hear innovative ideas in the most fascinating ways possible.

Your email contact list must be genuine, robust, and updated. Without having proper data, your email services will not bear any fruit instead mark your mails as spam. As unwanted recipients may feel enraged and can raise the red flag. Therefore, always avoid:

• Using stale or incorrect data
• Purchasing an unreliable email list from a third party
• Sharing an email list with other business partners
• Collecting emails using bots can put your emails into spam folders. Don’t do it.

Personalization minimizes the chances of spam. Study shows that even a simple addition of name in the mail or subject line increases trustworthiness by 26%. This increased trust factor creates a positive appeal and reduces the chances of mails turning into spam.

Whether it’s the subject line, main email body content, or CTAs, try to implement personalization as much as possible.

Did you know that 69% of users report emails to spam just by reading the subject lines? Therefore, never use phrases like “You Are a Winner”, “Free Prize”, “Make Cash”, etc. These are all outdated terms that do more harm than good. Use a catchy, creative, relevant, and promising subject line instead.

Sometimes, sending emails at the wrong time also disturbs users and makes them to mark your email as spam. Choose time-based on the type of audience, location, and other important business stats.

Analyze Spam Complaints, Open Rates, Click Through Rates, Delivery Rates, etc. to understand how your ISP is treating your campaigns.

There are many tools available in the market that help you know how your email will perform in a real scenario. Whether it will be dropped in the inbox or into the spam folder. Analyzing it can give you vital insights to rework on shortfalls.

If people have subscribed for a blog/newsletter then using their data for promotional campaigns might turn your mail into spam. Avoid this. Always keep informative and promotional datasets different.

The world of marketing constantly evolves. So thus the universe of email marketing. What is considered best for today may become obsolete tomorrow. These tips will help you to stop emails turning into spam but keep a close watch on the email marketing world, especially on the compliance part. It keeps changing. Embrace a practice of including best techniques applied on prevailing times, while crafting email strategies. This is the only mantra for uninterrupted and assured success.