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Spam Folder Rescue: Part One

How much time have you spent wondering and trying to figure out WHY you’re emails are ending up in the SPAM folder?

Well, my virtual friend, wonder no more.

I’m guiding you through the steps you need to know in order to get your emails OUT of the SPAM folder and into the inbox.

Your subscribers SUBSCRIBED to your emails for a reason. Make sure they’re getting your offers and juicy content so that they will become your biggest fans.

So where do we start with getting your emails out of the SPAM folder?

The why. It always starts with the why.

Why are your emails ending up in the SPAM folder to begin with?

There are A LOT of reasons. But before we get into what those reasons are and how they might affect you, let’s walk through a bit of vocab.

⓵

Email Deliverability

This term sums up what we’re talking about, which is how your emails are getting delivered to the inbox.

Email Deliverability is concerned with the question: How many of your emails are making it to the inbox instead of the SPAM folder?

There are people in email marketing who ONLY specialize in deliverability. Their job is to monitor your email program and see if there are any red flags and then dig deep to figure those out.

Those experts are EXPENSIVE because it is such an in-depth field and requires a lot of technical and strategic know-how.

Don’t worry. I’m breaking down this know-how into bite-sized pieces that you’ll be able to implement on your own.

⓶

Opt-In

This term refers to permission-based marketing.

Otherwise known as: did your email subscriber ASK to receive the promotional emails you are sending to them?

And not like a winky, “Hey we met at a thing” or “I bought something from you” or “I listed my email address on my LinkedIn profile” so that means “I want to receive sales and promotional emails from you.”

Opting In means explicit consent. (Because we all know consent is sexy).

It means that someone checked a box or filled out a form that says something to the effect of “Yes, send more promotional information about your brand.”

Why does this matter?

Because if people didn’t explicitly SAY they want to receive promotional emails from you, then why would they want to GET promotional emails from you?

How many times have you gotten a promotional/sales email from someone who you didn’t give permission to send you those types of emails?

What was your reaction? Delight? Joy? Relief?

I’m gonna guess no.

It was probably more like, “Seriously!?”

If there was an unsubscribe at the bottom of that email, you probably hit it. If not, you probably hit the SPAM button.

How spot-on am I here? Are you getting spooked out? I thought so.

The bottom line here: Send emails to people who actually let you know they WANT them.

⓷

Sender Reputation

Everything online is tracked. Surprised? I thought not.

What does that mean for you?

The IP address you are sending your emails from is tracked. Email clients like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook look at your IP’s sender reputation when they are decided where to deliver the emails you are sending out.

Remember that last bit about people opting in? When people get annoyed with you and mark your emails as SPAM, that is tracked.

It all gets tied back to the IP address your emails are being sent from.

If your IP address has a bad reputation, guess what happens? Your emails can get blocked or delivered to the SPAM folder.

Hence, Sender Reputation.

Now that we’re on the same page with terms, next week we’re going to talk about the WHY’s of how your emails end up in the SPAM folder.

Read PART TWO NOW

3 Holiday Email Campaign Ideas

It’s here! It’s here! It’s here!

The holidays are on us and you and your inbox are about to get STUFFED. (Get it!? Like a turkey!) Sometimes I don’t know what to do with myself.

Instead of begging the Google gods for inspiration, I thought I’d throw you some ideas on how to celebrate the season in your customers’ inbox.

I’ve seen RESULTS with these campaigns during the email cluttered season of SHOPPING, EATING and GIVING.

You’ve already designed, written and schedule all your holiday campaigns, right!?

HAHAHAHA

If you’re like most lean companies, you probably have a rough outline but haven’t quite gotten to building those emails.

Don’t worry about it. You have PLENTY of time.

And with these ideas, you’ll have a fresh new twist to add to your copy or design.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Holiday Email Campaign Idea 1:

Show Some Gratitude on Thanksgiving

What are people doing on Thanksgiving day outside of the 30 minutes they spend at the dinner table mashing green bean casserole into their faces while trying to ignore Uncle Mike’s one billionth rant about KIDS THESE DAYS?

(Also, let’s face it. The sides of any Thanksgiving meal are usually the best. Give me green bean casserole, stuffing and mashed potatoes any day over turkey. CONTROVERSIAL!)

As maddening as it is, you are gonna be on your phone trying to avoid eye contact with Aunt Cheryl who’s already had one too many glasses of wine and LOVES to ask you questions about what it is you actually do while pretending to know what digital marketing means.

You are not alone.

It’s AWKWARD. And people will be doing everything they can to alleviate that stress.

What are they going to be doing on their phones?

Checking the social media and guess what else? THEIR EMAILS!

You are GOING to have their attention on Thanksgiving.

Use this time to show your email subscribers some gratitude.

  • Tell them what their support has meant for your business this year or the people/customers you serve.
  • Tell a story about something that was a big win for a customer or client of yours.
  • Tell them a story about a big win for your business this year.
  • Tell them that THEY are part of your success.
  • Tell them why they should care about your business.

Don’t expect them to remember every detail of your brand story. Give them a reason to remember you. Make sure they know how important they are to your business.

Holiday Email Campaign Idea 2:

Make Black Friday/Cyber Monday Your Own

Every offer over the weekend after Thanksgiving is going to be about Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Do you know what OTHER BUSINESSES are going to be emailing about?

BLACK FRIDAY!

CYBER MONDAY!

DEALS! DEALS! DEALS!

They’re doing it because people are looking for deals. But when you start using the same language as everyone else, they’re going to start comparing your deal or offer to everyone else’s.

How do you make it different?

Brand it or Skip it.

Tell people why you’re skipping out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday if you’re not doing anything around it.

OR

Name it your own thing.

How can you riff on it?

Any fun puns that go along with your brand?

Is there another color that aligns with your brand other than black? Or is black a core brand identity for you?

Play with it. People will see you stand out among EVERY subject line that will read “Black Friday”.

Holiday Email Campaign Idea 3:

Giving Tuesday

The nonprofit world lives off of Giving Tuesday. (The day after Cyber Monday).

It’s a day that nonprofits can make an explicit call for donations.

Does a part of your annual sales go to giving back to your community or a cause your business supports?

Shout it out!

Is Giving Tuesday an opportunity to donate a percentage of your sales from THAT DAY ONLY to a cause that aligns with your brand and customers?

Use it as an opportunity to boost brand loyalty by showing that you care about something beautiful in this world.

Best Alternatives to Mailchimp

It’s not secret that I dislike Mailchimp. Talk to me for 5 minutes and I’ll tell you why.

We don’t have five minutes, so I’ll go ahead and jump right in.

1. The templates ARE NOT flexible.

You are at the mercy of their templates every time you design an email.

Want to have a row of 3 images instead of 2? Oh, no big deal, then you’re gonna need to redesign that email in a totally different template.

Yes, seriously.

I have been here and HATED it.

 

2. The automations aren’t super great either.

Want an email automation that actually DOES what you want it to? Prepare yourself for hours of hacking your way through alternative routes to get it done.

(and don’t get me started on their segments)

 

3. Only ONE form per list.

If you have multiple forms that you want to custom tag your audience so that they all go on the same list, forget about it. You only get one FORM.

Many other email service providers provide you with limitless forms that all can go to one list.

BEST ALTERNATIVES TO MAILCHIMP:

TOP RECOMMENDATION: ActiveCampaign

Plain and simple, ActiveCampaign will get you the biggest bang for your buck.

You can segment your audience very easily.
The automations are in an actual visual map instead of a confusing list (*cough* Mailchimp *cough*).

Their email template builder is SUPER flexible.

AND you can track website behavior of your contacts to see what they’re browsing before they buy.

They do not have a free version, but if you’re serious about email marketing for your business, I HIGHLY recommend investing in a tool like ActiveCampaign.

I use it for my own business and have migrated several clients over to it who also love it.

BONUS: They have a tiered package that offers a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) that can help you keep track of your sales pipeline if you’re a service-based business.

Check it out

BEST FREE VERSION: Mailerlite

Mailerlite offers visual automation flows and beautiful, flexible templates.

Their segmentation is robust enough to create personalized experiences for your email subscribers.

AND their automation is a beautiful visual flow that is incredibly user-friendly and gives you options for creating truly optimized automation strategies.

Check it out

BEST FOR E-COMMERCE: Klaviyo

If you’re selling products online, Klaviyo is incredible!

I’ve worked in top dollar Email Service Providers that can’t do what Klaviyo does.

It harvests your customers’ purchasing data and can predict when they will order next. It’s so cool!

It integrates with most retail and e-commerce platforms.

For real, if you’re planning to sell products online (or at a brick-and-mortar store) check it out.

Check it out

***full disclosure: I am an affiliate for all of these services. I receive a small commission for anyone who signs up for these services through the links above.

Something is better than nothing

Last week, I was on a call for with the Beta group of my course Email Marketing Like a Boss. We were talking about that week’s lesson on planning content.

As we were chatting about a very common and natural fear of putting content and creative work out into the digital world, I remembered the advice I give everyone when they go through a workshop with me.

Something is better than nothing.

Let me say that again.

Something is better than nothing.

For all of my perfectionist friends, this might resonate with you more than anything.

When you’re paralyzed with sheer overwhelm of all of the possibilities of offers and programs and content you’re putting out there.

When you’re trying to find the exact right word for the feeling you want to convey or the pain point your customer is experience.

When you’re making yet another tweak to that design or photo filter.

When you’re about to hit the send button on that email but your finger pauses over your mouse or just above your smartphone screen.

It’s doubt creeping in.

Fear that no one will respond to your offer or content.

Fear that someone will catch you playing the expert.

Fear that someone will read your words and wonder how you’ve managed to get this far in the world.

Fear that someone will see your design and wrinkle their nose at the imperfect alignment of your fonts.

I hear you.

I see you.

I am you.

That’s why I repeat it over and over again.

Something is better than nothing.

When you get trapped into that perfectionist loop, you get paralyzed.

And what inevitably happens? You close your eyes and click send (and the world doesn’t crumble) OR you frantically hit the backspace key to delete every word you just poured over.

When you give in to that fear. You don’t even try.

You don’t even try to fail.

And the failure is the good stuff. Those are the tough lessons that teach us what to try next or what to tweak.

And with everything you send or schedule, you get a little bit more confident. You get a little bit more sure of what you’re doing. You find one more thing to improve on the next time.

Your first try is not going to be as pretty as you’d like it to be.

You gotta let that go.

Just do something. Anything. Let yourself fail and try again.

That’s how you put creative work (like emails) out into the world and connect and get better.

If you need someone to cheer you on, I’m here.

Emily

How to get your emails out of the SPAM folder

This is the question I get most often. How do you make sure your emails don’t end up in the SPAM folder?
I answer it often enough that I made a video for you!
Check it out. It’s only 4 minutes long with this mug talkin all of the good info at you.