Working on an online marketing strategy requires companies to work with a slew of communication methods. There are plenty available in the market today, with the likes of chatbots, influencer marketing, social media, and more. The right mix is crucial to capture leads effectively online and find the right customers.
Email marketing, however, is still one of the most effective ways to gain the trust of customers and increase your ROI. For $1 spent, emails can generate a revenue of $38! That’s a fantastic ROI of 3,800%, going to show how much an email can bring into your revenue! It doesn’t matter if you’re a B2C or a B2B company; email marketing has indeed paved the way forward for companies to succeed digitally.
There have been special budgets allocated towards email marketing alone, and they are getting bigger and better. If you’re planning on beginning your digital marketing campaign, including emails, it is a safe and secure bet that will pay off for years to come.
However, it is essential to understand the downside of emails as well, and they come in the form of spam. Close to 14.5 billion emails get marked as spam…in one day! That’s a 45% rate on an everyday basis.
Spam is unwanted mail in the inbox, and it’s time to understand how they work to ensure your emails don’t end up there. There are a few necessary steps that need to be taken –
What is Email Spam?
Email spam is generally an email that is deemed unwanted in a customer’s inbox. They are unnecessary or irrelevant and get sent to the spam folder. The action is done either by the individual or by the spam filters installed in this email software. Companies invest a lot of money to create effective email campaigns, and it is tough to get back into the customer’s inbox once they do mark you as spam.
A loss of public confidence is just some of the repercussions that come with having spam emails. Companies are actively looking to minimize the occurrence of spam, with 52% of companies claiming that this is one of their top priorities in the digital marketing sphere this year.
What Are the Risks Involved With Email Spam?
Email spam can bring plenty of risks to the person’s inbox. The degrading value that spam brings has been identified, and people take steps to block them entirely from their inboxes. Most popular email service providers come with anti-spam filters that can identify spam and not allow them to enter the inbox.
A research firm in Palo Alto said that close to $20.5 billion in decreased productivity and technical expenses for companies annually is caused by email spam. Also, the average loss per employee is at least $1934.
There are a few reasons that email gets sent to spam. We’ve highlighted a few of them and given solutions to avoid this from happening:
Reasons Why Emails Go to Spam?
There are a few different situations when emails get sent to spam. After you identify them, you can take active steps to ensure they don’t happen again:
- Buying an email list –
One of the most important aspects of email marketing is consent. If the customer doesn’t wish to receive emails from your company, you need to respect the same and work on the other leads that have been generated. Purchasing a list is a sure way of finding yourself in the spam folder. It is unethical, ineffective, and will land you in the spam folder, without a doubt.
How to fix this – You need to build an email list organically to allow customers to accept your emails in their inboxes. You can offer effective discounts and use other targeting techniques to get them to join your email list.
- Not having a physical address –
Not having a physical address of any sort can be another reason many emails get sent to spam. There has to be accountability and traceability when you create emails, and businesses need to have a physical address according to the rules by the Federal Trade Commission.
How to fix this – If you don’t have a postal address, you can go ahead, and your official registered address. The entire process doesn’t take more than a few days or weeks, and once registered, customers become more responsive to your emails.
Generally, smaller businesses fall prey to this mistake as they don’t want to be visible to the mass audience. Still, it is a necessary step to grow your business via email.
- Using the wrong “Trigger” words –
Email spam filters generally have an in-built feature that can identify “trigger” words and eliminate those emails from the regular ones. Phrases such as “You’re a winner” or “Double your income” have false connotations, and they will gain unwanted attention from your audience and send the email straight to the spam folder.
How to fix this – Identifying which words can be misconstrued as trigger words help in this process over the long term. Once you create a subject line, work around the same using smarter and more organic words with a lesser chance of being sent to spam.
When you create your subject line, ensure your workaround by using smarter words. The trigger words can be googled and avoided when you create.
- Writing weak headlines –
Headlines are the first thing a customer notices when they get an email, and more than 69% of emails are marked as spam based purely on the subject line.
Finding the right headline and using it can make a world of difference, both to you and the customer, so make an effort to make it happen.
How to fix this – Try to research headlines that generally work on people who receive emails. If you’re a customer, would you like it if a particular email with a headline you’ve chosen enters your inbox? Answer the questions, and you’ll find the right way to tackle this.
To Wrap Up:
These are a few of the reasons that emails get sent to spam. There are plenty of others as well, and you’ll learn them as you keep experimenting. There are many smaller reasons for emails going to spam, do check them out, and you’ll be able to derive some great techniques to prevent your mails from going to spam.
SendX is one option you could consider if you’re looking to start your email marketing journey. With time, you’ll notice customers eagerly awaiting your emails, and you’ll be able to make the best out of the different techniques available. Also, check out this comparison between Aweber and MailChimp to get an idea of different email marketing software.
