1. Writing Good Emails
An email can end up in the spam folder even with a good sender reputation and a quality list. The main reason is that the email content resembles spam.
ISPs analyze the words in emails to detect spam. Certain words and phrases will trigger spam filters, especially in the subject line. Your email may end up in spam if it uses these words.
2. Improve Email Readability
To make your emails easier to read and less likely to look like spam, try:
3. Use Your Brand in Your Sender Name
Your sender name should help recipients quickly identify the source of the email. ISPs use this information to decide whether to send the email to the inbox or to spam.
A good practice is to use a “Name from Company” format, such as “David from Allplrs.” This format makes the email recognizable and professional.
4. Use Your Brand in Your Sender Name
The sender’s email address affects open rates and trust scores from ISPs. ISPs evaluate both the username and domain part of the email address. Use personalized addresses like “david@allplrs.com” and avoid generic addresses like “donotreply@domain.com”.
5. Optimize Email for Mobile
With 50% of emails opened on mobile devices, you need to:
- Create a plain text version alongside HTML.
- Make sure your email looks good and is responsive on mobile.
- Optimize image sizes, increase CTA button size for easy clicking.
Every second of delay reduces conversions by 7%. Many users turn off images to save data. Emails that are not mobile optimized are 68% more likely to be deleted immediately according to HubSpot.
6. Optimize Images
Compress and optimize images to make emails load quickly on all devices. Load time is important for both desktop and mobile, especially on mobile where every millisecond counts.
Large images can exceed the size limits of some mailboxes. ISPs check both links and images for trustworthiness, so it is important to host images on a reputable platform.
7. Unsubscribe Button in Email
Providing a clear unsubscribe button and processing unsubscribe requests quickly has many benefits:
- Increasing reader trust
- Reducing the likelihood of being marked as spam
- Improving sender scores with ISPs
- Complying with laws in multiple countries
It is possible to place an unsubscribe button at both the top and bottom of an email, especially if you are experiencing high spam marking rates.
8. Test
And finally, test – use a tool like Inbox mail-tester.com to identify potential issues before you send.
9. Things to Avoid
ISPs should be wary of common spam email traits:
For appearance:
- Limit the use of red (usually used for warnings)
- Avoid overuse of symbols and capital letters
- Don’t use too many punctuation marks
For links:
- Limit the number of links
- Don’t use shortened URLs
- Avoid typing URLs directly when using tracking tools
For content:
- Don’t send a single large image
- Don’t base64 encode content
These are all common spammers’ tactics, so avoid them to avoid being misjudged by your ISP.