3 ways to make sure your e-mails avoid the SPAM box

By Meg Kramig, Copywriter and Advertising Associate

E-mail marketing is a great way to generate immediate actions, personalize, track data and build relationships…if they get the e-mail.

Yep. We said it. And it could happen to you. You pay hard-earned money for e-mail campaign services, support and design, only to have your e-mails end up in the (dun, dun, dun…) spam box of almost every recipient. (We think this deserves a very sarcastic ‘Awesome.’)

So how do you lower your spam score and ensure that your e-mail blasts get to recipients? As an advertising agency, we’ve had a lot of practice.

1. Watch your language.
Trigger words such as ‘cash,’ ‘mortgage’ and ‘free’ make your spam score go berserk, especially if you use them in the subject line. Think of trigger words as fine wine. Don’t drink before you get inside (aka avoid the subject line) and while a little bit is great, a few too many glasses get you kicked out of the restaurant. >>Click here for the self-proclaimed ‘Ultimate List of E-mail SPAM Trigger Words.

2. Get on the invitation list.
In other words, get recipients to add your from address to their e-mail address book or trusted sender list. This is very important, because by doing this, every e-mail from you will automatically get accepted into their inbox, overriding every other setting, regardless of content. It’s like their e-mail saying, “Hey, we know these guys. They’re cool, let them on in.”

3. Don’t let an overabundance of color and font styles outshine your message.
We all know some odd little old lady who fills up her yard completely full of an overwhelming amount of colorful knick-knacks. She might be really nice, but all you really remember every time you see her house is all that stuff. We hate to tell you this, but if you send out over the top e-mails with a rainbow of colors and fonts, you are that lady. Most people won’t even know what you are trying to tell them, because they have to work so hard at getting over the excess of color and style. Our best tip? Simplicity always wins.
>>Here are some tips on staying stylish without losing your message.

Need help with your e-mail marketing?
Sign on with Graves Advertising Plus. Our targeted email marketing campaigns include strategy, segmentation, personalization, focused messages, mobile programming and CAN-SPAM Compliance.

Call us at (714) 879-1993 today to get started!