Rather watch a video? In this video we explain how you can avoid the spam box. Dutch spoken, English subtitles:
Spam filters are getting stricter. Unfortunately, whether someone's spam filter is tuned high or low you don't know. Always be on the safe side. We would like to give you some reasons and tips on how to avoid being flagged by spam.
Reason 1. Your subjects are misleading or contain spam words
A common mistake we see is that subject lines, pre-header or sender name are misleading or contain certain spam words. A spam filter checks every e-mail for different words or combinations of words. Below we list absolute no-go's:
Beware of too many exclamation points, question marks or other strange characters. This can cause an e-mail client to see you as spam, which will land you in the spam box. And no one wants that!
DON'T USE CAPITAL LETTERS. Just don't. This comes across as very garish and may actually deter customers from opening your e-mail.
Do not use asterisks ( *** ).
Do not use the word "sex" or "sexy" in your subject line. These are spam-sensitive words
Trigger words like "offer" or "guaranteed" can also cause you to end up in the spam box a lot
Words like "free" "Lowest price" also trigger spam filters
Multiple exclamation points or dollar signs
Words with unnecessary spaces or punctuation marks
Some examples:
!!!
#)(@#$
ONLY TODAY sale up to 20%
Sexy thongs on sale
Hot deals
Extra.punctuation.in.your.email.header
E x t r a s p a t i o n s t u s e s a n d l e t t e r s
Reason 2. You're sending an internal email
Are you sending messages to the same domain the message originated from? For example, from [email protected] to [email protected]. If so, these internal messages often end up in spam. This is because your mailbox sees that it is receiving a message from itself, but it knows it did not send the message (Reloadify did). This causes your mailbox to think it is being spoofed, and it sends the message to spam.
If you are only sending internal email to test your messages, we may recommend that you do this on a different email address than where the email came from, such as a Gmail.
Reason 3. You have a lot of inactive customers in your mailing list
Spam filters also look at the ratio of active to inactive email account in your mailing list. An inactive email account is an account that is almost not used for an extended period of time. So that's where the emails are (almost) not opened. When you have many inactive email accounts in your mailing list, this is reflected by a low open rate. It is ultimately a red flag for spam filters when you mail a lot of inactive email addresses. You can easily remove inactive customers from your list yourself.
Reason 4. Your CNAMES are not validated
Without a CNAME validation, you will be marked as spam immediately. You can see directly in your Reloadify account if your CNAMES are validated or not.
Reason 5. You do not give your images ALT text
In Reloadify it is possible to give your image an ALT text. This is an alternative text that customers see when the image does not load properly. It also gives spam filters a clearer picture of what the image means, considering they can read text but not an image.
Reason 6. You don't refer properly in your emails
Spam filters check what Web sites you link to in your e-mail. Is this your own, trusted website? If so, there's nothing to worry about. Also, avoid using shortened links, such as a bit.ly link. Finally, it is advisable not to include the full URL such as www.reloadify.com in your e-mail, but incorporate it into your text: 'check out the blog here'. This is an important point for spam filters, considering many spammers don't bother to include the link in a text this way.
Reason 7. Your contact information is missing from your emails
Spam filters not only look at a domain or sender, they also look at a physical address listed in your e-mail. We recommend ending with a footer containing your address information.
Reason 8. People report that you are spam
A spam notification means that a profile has clicked "mark as spam." In Gmail, for example, this is the exclamation point on an email. You very much want to prevent your customers from marking you as spam. Therefore, don't send too many emails to your customer. More than one newsletter per day can be considered annoying.
Do you see that, despite these reasons, you still end up in the spam box a lot? Send us a message and we'll take a look. Good luck!