Omni-channel Monday: Tips for Keeping Your Emails Out of Spam and Boosting Engagement

Email marketing remains one of the most effective channels for engaging customers. However, the challenge is ensuring that your emails don’t get flagged as spam or blocked entirely. Poor delivery rates not only damage engagement but can harm your sender's reputation over time. Here are some key strategies to keep your emails out of spam folders and boost engagement.

1. Focus on Authenticity

The easiest way to avoid the spam folder is to send authentic, relevant emails. Personalize your content to speak directly to your audience’s needs and interests. Avoid using spammy language like “Buy now” or “Guaranteed results,” as spam filters are trained to recognize these patterns. Instead, craft genuine messages that reflect your brand's voice and offer clear value to the recipient.

Pro Tip: Incorporate storytelling into your email strategy. People engage more when they can connect emotionally with your brand.

2. Craft Clear and Compelling Subject Lines

Subject lines can make or break your email’s success. They are your first impression, and a poor one can either result in your email being marked as spam or completely ignored. Avoid all caps, excessive punctuation (e.g., “!!!”), and misleading claims. These are all red flags for spam filters. Instead, opt for clear, concise subject lines that offer a hint of what the recipient can expect inside the email.

Example: Instead of “AMAZING OFFER INSIDE!!!”, try “Unlock 20% Off Your Next Purchase – Limited Time!”

Pro Tip: Personalize your subject lines with the recipient’s name, or test using emojis to stand out in cluttered inboxes.

3. Leverage AI to Improve Your Email Performance

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a game-changer in improving both delivery rates and engagement. One highly effective way to use AI is by running your email through AI-powered grading tools that provide feedback on how well it’s likely to perform. These tools evaluate various factors—like subject line quality, spammy language, personalization, and CTA effectiveness—and assign a grade or score to your email.

AI can highlight where your email may trigger spam filters and suggest improvements that can help you achieve high marks before you even hit "send."

Example: Use AI to analyze the text, images, and links in your email to optimize for better delivery and engagement scores. AI can help refine your content to meet high standards and boost open and click-through rates.

4. Test Before You Send

Before sending a mass email to your entire list, it's crucial to test for potential issues. Send test emails to yourself and your colleagues to check for any deliverability issues, rendering problems, or broken links. Test on various platforms (desktop, mobile, different email providers) to ensure that your email looks good and functions properly for all recipients.

Pro Tip: Use A/B testing on subject lines, email content, and design. Analyze the results to continuously optimize your emails for better engagement.

5. Maintain a Healthy Email List

One of the most effective ways to keep your emails out of the spam folder is by maintaining a healthy and engaged email list. Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers and anyone who hasn’t engaged in a long time. You can even send a re-engagement email to dormant subscribers, asking if they still want to receive your emails. This will improve your open rates and ensure you're sending to those who actually want to hear from you.

Pro Tip: Segment your audience based on behavior or interest to send more targeted, relevant emails that improve engagement.

6. Optimize for Engagement and Deliverability

Engagement is a key factor that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) use to determine whether your emails get delivered or marked as spam. You can encourage interactions by including clear CTAs (call-to-actions) and offering something of value, such as helpful tips, exclusive offers, or insightful information.

You can also improve deliverability by ensuring your email follows technical best practices, such as including a plain text version, authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and keeping your HTML code clean and simple.

Pro Tip: Ask for feedback or responses to your emails. This can help increase engagement metrics like replies and clicks, signaling to ISPs that your emails are wanted and trustworthy.

7. Stay Compliant with Email Regulations

Finally, ensure your emails comply with regulations like GDPR or CAN-SPAM. Always include an easy-to-find unsubscribe link and honor requests promptly. This ensures recipients feel in control and keeps your email practices transparent.

Conclusion

Keeping your emails out of the spam folder is essential for successful email marketing. By focusing on authenticity, crafting clear subject lines, leveraging AI (including AI grading tools), testing thoroughly, and maintaining a clean list, you’ll improve both your delivery and engagement rates. Optimize each email for high marks, and you’ll see consistent success in your campaigns.