How do you design email content to avoid spam filters?

One of the easiest ways to build a reputation is by focusing on being friendly and acquainted with the largest ISPs. Google Postmaster Tools and Outlook SNDS is a great places to start. They get to know who you are as a sender and recognize your domain and IP addresses.

If you are in the newsletter business, You must focus on building and maintaining your Sender Reputation. Sender Reputation is like a credit history in the eyes of ESPs (Gmail, Outlook..) Sender reputation signifies the credibility and trustworthiness of a sender's email domain or IP address. Using Business Domains: Your Email ID Upgrade Having an email like [email protected] looks professional and trustworthy. Email services like it, making your email more likely to be seen. Example: Change '[email protected]' to '[email protected]' It’s more trustworthy!

Ensuring a reputable sender identity in your emails is vital to foster trust and boost engagement with your audience. When recipients see a recognizable and trustworthy sender, they are more inclined to open the email, knowing it comes from a legitimate source. By establishing this trust, you create a positive association with your brand, encouraging recipients to engage with your content and take desired actions. (Side note: This is why large companies name their Chat AIs - to build that trust & emotional connection.)

With updated Gmail and Yahoo requirements coming in 2024… this is essential. Make sure you’re sending from your domain, not from a personal gmail or outlook account Ensure that you have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up. Check to make sure that you’re using a dedicated sending domain, not a shared domain through your esp. Make sure your from name matches your sending domain. It’s getting harder to hit the inbox next year. Make sure you’ve got everything buttoned up.

It is sometimes difficult to come up with a catchy and original subject line. I now use AI tools to help craft engaging subject lines. These tools will give you ideas that you can then tweak or alter to better suit your intent and brand persona.

Craft concise, compelling subject lines. Example: "Unlock 20% Off Today!" Use 30-50 characters and avoid spam triggers like excessive punctuation, all caps, red fonts.

Following these rules to optimize your content and format. Balance Text and Images: Maintain a 60-40 text-to-image ratio to avoid spam filters. Font Size Consistency: Opt for a readable font size (14-16 pixels) throughout your newsletter. Color Scheme Cohesion: Stick to a consistent color scheme aligned with your brand. Avoid excessive colors or styles that may distract recipients or trigger spam filters. Concise Language and CTAs: Craft clear, concise language with compelling calls to action. Accessibility Considerations: Prioritize accessibility with alt text for images. Readability Overload: Avoid extremes in font size—neither too large nor too small. Relevance and Value: Focus on delivering relevant and valuable content.

The best type of email to land in the inbox? Plain text. If you’re going to send designed emails or emails with images, make sure that you… Have at least 40% text. Better to have closer to 60%. Make sure you have descriptive alt text for each image. Check the plain text version of your email

4 tips to ensure your content avoids spam filters: 1?? Allow Unsubscribes and make it easy Make it easy to unsubscribe. If you don't, it's easy to generate spam complaints. 2?? Provide a Physical Address Including a physical address is a requirement under CAN-SPAM - if you don't include, you're violating CAN-SPAM and will likely end up in spam folders. 3?? Avoid specific language There's all sorts of words you shouldn't use in your emails. ??Free ??Guarantee ??Act Now ??Urgent Run your email through spam-checkers in your ESP before you press send. 4?? Regularly Clean Your Email List: Remove invalid, inactive, or unengaged email addresses from your list. High bounce rates and low engagement can trigger spam filters.

Segmentation is so important in email sends! While segmenting with specifics may decrease a particular email's send size, it will reach more qualified users with a higher clickthrough rate and a lower unsubscribe rate. Always ask yourself, "is this email relevant to everyone on the distribution list?"

Simple segmentation is all you need. Make sure you’re segmenting out your unengaged subscribers and that you’re sending 95% of your emails to your engaged segment.

I have been using email segmentation for 5 years because of the age demographic of my lists. This approach has given me a decent opening rate. I think it is due to making those on my lists feel as if they're not being spammed but receiving information from someone who has taken time to reachout and engage with them. Another thing is I don't over send emails. As a marketer I had to get into the habits of my demographic.

Here are a few methods to segmentize and personalize your email list: Enhanced Personalization: Segment your email list based on user behavior and demographics for targeted content. Improved Engagement Rates: Personalized emails based on segmentation result in higher open and click-through rates. Reduced Unsubscribes: Avoid overwhelming subscribers with irrelevant content. Data-Driven Decision Making: Analyze segmentation data to gain insights into customer behavior. Effective A/B Testing: Segmenting allows for precise A/B testing. Test variations within specific segments to understand what resonates best. Targeted Product Recommendations: Leverage segmentation to provide targeted product recommendations.

Your Email Reputation (It's a Big Deal) and it impacts your email deliverability. Your email reputation is like a credit score for your emails. It's a mix of your email open rate, and emails that went to the spam folders or bounced back. How can you check your score? Go to senderscore.org or sitelookup.mcafee.com. How can you improve your score? Start sending to those who usually open your emails, expand slowly. Ask your audience to reply to your emails. This simple engagement can work wonders.

The best way to avoid spam is simple. Only email people who have signed up for your list and who are still engaged with your emails. Send relevant and valuable content that your list reads and clicks on. Make sure all your technicals are set up correctly.