Email marketing: how to successfully land your emails in inboxes

Email is an essential channel for all marketers. Its use cannot be avoided, but with GDPR and the ever-changing policies of corporate security systems and anti-spam software, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get emails into recipients’ inboxes.

Every email redirected to spam is wasted expenditure, and potentially one less opportunity to convert a prospect. How then, can you stack the odds in your favor so that your emails do not end up in spam or junk folders?

Before examining content, it’s advisable to follow a number of rules and best practices to ensure your message actually reaches inboxes. ^

Tips to improve your next emailing campaign

The following is a compilation of tips for improving your next email campaign based on our experience in this area:

Email contacts database

This database must be clean and regularly updated. The more contacts that mark your emails as “spam”, and the more bouncing email addresses your database contains, the greater your risk of being labeled a spammer. Although most email software performs these tasks automatically, it can be helpful to housekeep your database manually, especially if it has been in use for a long time.

Authentication

Check your email software’s SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication settings. These three protocols must be implemented to help email clients verify the authenticity of the message sender. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email validation system that prevents spammers from sending emails that appear to come from your domain. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an authentication method that enhances email security by allowing the server to verify the authenticity of the sender’s domain. DMARC (Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is a protocol that builds on SPF and DKIM to prevent identity theft and effectively combat phishing.

The sender

Avoid using just a company name as the sender; try to personalize it. If you would rather not use a full name (first name and surname), then at the very least, “Estelle from Magnetic Way” is preferable to just “Magnetic Way”. 

Sender’s address 

Refrain from sending emails from “no-reply” addresses. Generic addresses such as “marketing@”, “communication@”, and “info@” are not ideal either, and could over time become identified as spam. If your deliverability or metrics deteriorate when using these kinds of sender addresses, try switching to a more individualized address.

Email subject line

The subject line shouldn’t be too long – the recommendation is not to exceed 60 characters. Be careful to avoid too many upper case/capital letters, exclamation marks, words categorized as “spam words” (a detailed list is available to our customers), and spelling errors that spam filters can detect.

Pre-header

If you find that 60 characters are not enough for your email’s subject line, a pre-header can be used as an addition. This element, often overlooked or forgotten, can nonetheless be very useful, both for encouraging recipients to open and interact with your emails, and for getting past spam filters.

Size

The maximum width is 800 px, but it is strongly recommended to use a size close to 600 pixels to ensure compatibility and readability on both desktop and mobile devices. Be careful using images. They should not predominate, especially as the default setting for some email clients is not to display images. The recommended ratio is 60% text to 40% image.

Font selection 

Ideally, choose a “universal” font that is used across all platforms. If you use a more “exotic” font, it might not be recognized, and the email system might take the liberty of replacing it with a conventional font, which could compromise the layout and readability of your email.

HTML code 

HTML should be clean and lightweight, including the CSS. Try to keep the size of HTML content to a minimum by avoiding JavaScript, calling too many images, using multiple colors, and so on. Restraint is always preferable.

Email text version 

Adding the email in plain text format can be a plus. Most email software allows you to create a text version from your HMTL version in just a few clicks.

Links 

Reduce the number of hyperlinks in your email to the absolute minimum. Check that you have not included any dead or incorrect links, or links leading to websites that could be flagged as spam. Don’t forget an “unsubscribe” link, which is mandatory.

Signature 

Adding a signature with a physical address is a plus. Doing so is almost mandatory in some countries, and it ensures the sender exists and can be identified.

Attachments 

Attachments are to be avoided.^

Testing the quality of your email marketing campaign

If you have lingering doubts about the quality of these technical aspects of your email, this link is to a free utility for testing your messages.  Simply send your email to the address generated, and click the button to see your result.