Damn Spam: What you need to know about avoiding spam filters

Editor's Notes

• #13: Talk about: When designing your email When writing your email When sending your email
• #14: First of all, I want to take it back to basics and explain exactly what spam is. Spam often seen in the eye of the beholder BUT Email marketing = intention to send valid marketing emails to a prospect or customer Spam = hack a database and send to millions of random email addresses
• #15: It should feel like a 1-2-1 conversation This is what email marketing was originally intended for The personalisation makes it feel less like a mass marketed email
• #16: Hubspot surveys from 2014 & 2015 show that people SAY they want pretty HTML emails, but plain text emails perform higher.​ What we've found at CommuniGator:​ Plain text emails work better for engaged audiences as they feel like they are exchanging personal emails with someone in your business.​ More links = more engagement rates too. HTML emails with large call to action buttons work better for non-engaged customers who will rely on visuals to determine their actions. HTML emails have been associated with spam more often and therefore have decreased open rates. ​ The more HTML in the email, the lower the open rate.​ HTML emails that include a plain text version maintain the same open rate as plain text emails. ​ HTML (on average) reduces click-through rates because the design is clearly mass-marketed and not an individual targeted email.
• #18: So this compares Google research in 2005 compared to 2014. You can see an obvious F on the left and an L on the right. So why are we talking about the F in email? Because we still read left to right. In both cases we seem to scroll down and read less and less so your link needs to be in the first two lines. This also stops you from dropping “below the fold” Bullet points can help grab attention Short call to actions will work better. For HTML emails, your call to action needs to be loud and bright and in the bottom left hand corner.  ​ ​
• #19: Important links on the left hand side and in the first two lines, remember the F in email Multiple one liners are acceptable in email due to the time constraints reading. Bullet points etc all work. Just keep it short. Hyperlinks should be in blue and underlined (conditioned to think its genuinely from Google)
• #20: Talk about: When designing your email When writing your email When sending your email
• #21: Urgency, personalization, relevance, Speak to them
• #26: Talk about: When designing your email When writing your email When sending your email
• #29: It should feel like a 1-2-1 conversation This is what email marketing was originally intended for The personalisation makes it feel less like a mass marketed email
• #30: Urgency, personalization, relevance, Speak to them
• #37: Even the daily mail is now reporting email marketing – never happened a few years ago
• #44: Although these are niche, it doesn’t take long for the big players to take notice
• #47: What’s missing??? The clicks!
• #63: Blacklists are exactly as they sound, a bleak, dark place for any email marketer to find themselves. With over 300 public blacklists, as well as independent blacklists, it’s important to make sure you follow the best practices given in this guide in order to never find yourself on a blacklist. It’s worth noting that companies and filtering systems often use a mix of public and private blacklists. There are two types of public blacklists you should be aware of.
• #80: Undertook the largest marketing and advertising campaign in history
• #85: Undertook the largest marketing and advertising campaign in history
• #111: What they do for the next send I do not know!