Thread by @mywifequit

MEGATHREAD.

20 strategies I use to avoid the spam folder and get more opens, clicks and sales by email:

A brief stat break before we dive in:
- 53.95% of all email traffic is spam
- 1 in 6 emails get flagged as spam
- 20% is the average open rate for emails

CRUCIAL for you

1. Avoid Using Spam Trigger Words

Be careful about the words you use in your email content.

Spam filters see certain words as red flags.

E.g.

Winner
Amazing
For only ($)
Great offer
This is not spam
Dear friend
Risk-free
Click here
Free
Prize
Bonus

Avoid at all costs!

2. Setup DKIM, SPF And DMARC

SPF, DKIM and DMARC are records that you add to your server to authenticate your emails. It shows that you are the real sender and that your identity has not been compromised.

All 3 work together to increase deliverability and prevent spam.

3. Avoid Emailing A Large Number Of Inactive Emails

Spam filtering algorithms look at the ratio of active to inactive email addresses on your list.

To avoid getting flagged, regularly clean your email list by deleting subs who haven’t interacted with your campaigns in a while.

4. Email Subscribers With High Open Rates More Often

Emailing active subscribers most often will increase your open rate ratio.

Bonus open rate tips:

- Write clickable subject lines
- Send emails at the right time
- Segment your email list based on interests and activity.

5. Email Your Subscribers Regularly

Most people email as little as possible to avoid unsubscribes but that’s wrong.

If you email infrequently, subscribers forget about you. And then they're likely to delete your email or report it as spam.

Email at least once per week.

6. Make your emails recognizable

You should keep your spam complaint rate below 0.1%.

To avoid the dreaded spam button:
- Match your email branding to your website
- Match images and writing voice
- Use a recognizable name in the "from" line.

This will reduce spam complaints

7. Get People To Reply To Emails

More engaged subscribers are more likely to receive your emails. As a result, if you can get a subscriber to reply to you, they are pretty much guaranteed to receive future emails.

All you have to do is ask a question!

8. Consider Getting A Dedicated IP

Most providers lump your account with other senders using the same IP address. If they spam, filters can flag your emails too.

ALWAYS use a reputable provider like Drip or Klaviyo.

And if you send 200k+ emails/mo - consider a dedicated IP.

9. Avoid Misleading Subject Lines

It’s illegal to use misleading email subject lines to get someone to open a message.

E.g. writing “Re: This is what we discussed the other day” to pretend that we already had a conversation.

Dirty tricks aren't worth it!

10. Tell Subscribers To Whitelist Your Emails

Tell new subscribers to add your “from” address to their address book.

This simple step guarantees that your emails pass the spam filters and get into their inbox. This also boosts your sender rating and overall delivery rates.

11. Tell Gmail Users To “Drag” Emails From Other Tabs To Their Primary Inbox

Gmail also filters emails into Social or Promotion tabs that nobody ever checks.

Remember to tell Gmail subscribers to drag emails into their Primary Inbox!

12. Use Your Name In Your “From” Information

ESPs evaluate the credibility of your “From” email address.

Best practice:
- Avoid obscure addresses like “noreply@”
- Avoid generic names such as “contact@”
- Use a simple, trustworthy “From” field name
- Avoid changing it too often

13. Never Email Purchased Lists

You should NEVER buy an email list, or you expose yours to dead email addresses and spam traps.

Sending unsolicited emails will almost always end up in spam, and earn you a bad rep as a spammer.

ALWAYS get permission before sending emails.

14. Consider Getting Certified

If you are on a dedicated IP address, you can get a certification offered by Return Path (Now Validity) to improve deliverability.

It’s expensive but will guarantee inbox placement at most major ISPs.

Worth it if you send millions of emails/mo.

15. Monitor Deliverability And Adjust

The easiest way to monitor deliverability is to use a free service like GlockApps.

- They create a list of email addresses.
- You broadcast to this list
- GlockApps tells if you your email was delivered

Then you can fix it if not!

16. Don’t Hide Your Unsubscribe Link

If people can’t find your unsubscribe link, they’ll simply hit the spam button.

As a result, you should always make the unsubscribe button obvious in your emails. And make it easy and quick to opt out.

17. Include Your Physical Address

Some ISPs look for a physical address on broadcast emails because the law requires you to include a valid, physical address in your email.

If you’re a small business owner, you can get a P.O. box so you don’t have to broadcast your home address

18. Follow HTML Email Best Practices:

- Set maximum width to 600-800 pixels.
- Use classic fonts like Arial and Verdana.
- Maintain a low Image-to-Text Ratio
- Keep code clean and simple.
- Compress images to optimize them for email.
- Optimize email for mobile.

19. Use Email Spam Filter Tools

If you are serious about email marketing you need a tool like GlockApps:

- Spam score and improvements
- Test against major spam filters
- Check blacklisting
- Verify authentication

These tools are invaluable.

20. Conclusion

There’s work involved in maintaining your sender reputation.

This thread has many tactics but don't forget the most important:

Send engaging emails!

By getting people to open and click your emails, your deliverability rating will naturally go up over time.

I hope you found this megathread useful. If you did, retweet the first tweet and follow me for more ecom and email marketing threads like this one.