{"id":4169,"date":"2019-02-15T10:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T09:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salutonagency.prd.bootbase.be\/?p=4169"},"modified":"2022-03-08T12:31:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T11:31:43","slug":"how-to-avoid-the-spam-folder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salutonagency.com\/fr\/how-to-avoid-the-spam-folder\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid the spam folder when sending emails"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What is one of the worst things that can happen to your emails? Right, that they end up in the spam folder.<\/p>

You put so much work in crafting a beautiful email full of relevant content and eye catching images. But somehow you barely get any opens or clicks. And then you realize your email got stuck in your readers\u2019 spam.<\/p>

Email deliverability is a tough cookie to break<\/b>. The complexity (and intelligence) of spam filters grows each day so there are dozens of factors that influence your deliverability.<\/p>

The most important factors are your list quality, the authentication status and reputation of your sending domain, your email content and subscriber expectations.<\/p>

In this article we share\u00a016 pieces of advice to help you avoid the spam filters and get your emails delivered in the inbox<\/b>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Maintaining a high quality email list: this is how you do it<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Use a double opt-in system<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The best way to guarantee the quality of new subscribers is to use a double opt-in system.<\/b><\/p>

When you’re using a double opt-in system, a confirmation email is sent immediately after a subscriber signs up, asking them to confirm their email address. Only after the email address has been verified by the subscriber, they are added to the mailing list.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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PremiumBeat asks their subscribers to confirm their email address. This way they are 100% sure that they actually want to receive emails from them. <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Source: reallygoodemails.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Never use purchased, rented or scraped email lists<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The whole point of email marketing is sending emails to people who WANT to hear from you. Don\u2019t just assume you can send emails because you have email addresses.<\/p>

Unsolicited emails are spam.<\/strong> It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>

Nobody on purchased, rented or scraped email lists have told you that they want to hear from you. And when you send emails to people who don\u2019t want to hear from you, they will slam that spam button fast and hard. Not to mention\u00a0the huge damage you’re doing to your business’ reputation<\/a>.<\/p>

So please, don\u2019t spend your money on this. Ever.<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Have processes in place to clean your email list<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A clean email list with subscribers who confirmed their subscription yields better results than an email list containing many inactive or incorrect email addresses. So it\u2019s important to regularly identify and get rid of \u201cpolluting\u201d email addresses<\/strong>.<\/p>

The good news is that you can easily automate this process<\/b>.<\/p>

In the first place, your email platform takes care of email bounces and unsubscriptions automatically.\u00a0<\/p>

Secondly, you can set up a\u00a0reactivation campaign or a \u201cwin-back\u201d campaign<\/b> to give non-active readers a chance to express their interest. If they don\u2019t take any action, you can then remove them from your email list.<\/p>

An additional advantage is that you can save money with a clean list<\/b>. Many email platforms charge a cost per email address. If you can make sure that you have fewer (but more qualitative) email addresses in your mailing list, then you\u2019ll pay less than for a large but polluted mailing list.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Make unsubscribing really easy<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Not only is an unsubscribe link obligated by law<\/b>, it\u2019s also the least harmful option for an uninterested subscriber.<\/p>

Consider this: if you can\u2019t find a way to unsubscribe easily. What do you do? That\u2019s right, you get frustrated and click the \u2018Report spam\u2019 button.<\/p>

Unsubscriptions are still seen as something bad. But honestly, it\u2019s not bad at all. It\u2019s always better to have a small list of engaged people than a large list of uninterested subscribers<\/b> that report your emails as spam.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Use a preference center<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Life changes. Sometimes a subscriber loses interest or develops different needs.<\/p>

A preference center empowers subscribers to customize their email preferences<\/b>. They can choose how frequently they want to receive your emails or which type of content they would like to receive.<\/p>

It is a smart idea to put them in control<\/b> and give them more options than Unsubscribe<\/i> or Report as spam<\/i>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Groupon lets their subscribers choose which type of emails they receive and which topics they want to see.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Old Navy allows their readers to choose a different sending frequency as an alternative to unsubscribing.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSource: delivra.com<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Domain authentication and reputation: the technical side of email deliverability<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Authenticate your sending domain name<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Authenticating your sending domain name makes sure that you are verified as a legitimate sender. And if there is one thing that email providers like Google, Yahoo or Outlook love, it\u2019s trusted senders<\/strong>. When you\u2019re a trusted sender, your email messages are more likely to reach the inbox rather than the spam folder.<\/p>

There are two things you need to do to become a trusted sender:<\/p>

1\/ Create your own mailbox for sending out email campaigns<\/b>
With your own mailbox, we don\u2019t mean a generic gmail.com, outlook.com or yahoo.com email address. Instead, create a mailbox that is linked to your own domain name.<\/p>

How to set up your own inbox? Go to the administration panel of your domain name and create a specific email address which you can use to send your emails out (for example, hello@yourdomainname.com or info@yourdomainname.com). This way, you immediately have a place where all answers (and out-of-offices) end up. Do not forget to regularly check and reply to your messages.<\/p>

2\/ Add SPF and DKIM records to your domain name<\/b>
Ok, let\u2019s get a little bit more technical here. SPF and DKIM authentication records are small pieces of text which are usually given to you by your email platform and should be inserted in your domain settings.<\/p>

SPF authentication<\/strong><\/em> helps you prevent that spammers use your domain name to send out their spam emails. It ensures that you are who you say you are by checking the sender\u2019s IP address to a list of IP addresses authorized to send emails from that domain.<\/p>

DKIM authentication<\/strong><\/em> checks that no one messes around with your message while it\u2019s being transmitted.<\/p>

If by any chance, you\u2019re using Mailchimp<\/strong> as your email platform, check out this guide<\/a> on how to set up these authentication methods.<\/p>

If this is getting too complicated and you need help to set things up correctly to send emails worry-and-spam-free, get in touch with us<\/a>. We\u2019ve done this before so we can definitely help you out.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Test your deliverability and avoid getting blacklisted<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Each email domain has a certain online reputation<\/strong>. And if this reputation isn\u2019t good, your emails are likely to end up in the spam folder. Unfortunately, even the most honest and well-intentioned senders can end up on a blacklist. For example, by sending an email to a spam trap email address.<\/p>

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Keep track of your deliverability rate. If you notice a sudden drop it\u2019s time to analyze what\u2019s going on.<\/p>

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Here are some tips to avoid getting on a blacklist<\/b>:<\/p>