How to not be SPAMMY in your email marketing

Email marketing is probably the most used and most valuable marketing channel to engage and nurture potential buyers. Email allows you to share marketing messages that are specifically targeted at your key personas at each stage of the buying journey. Email marketing can be personalized, and delivered at just the right time. Marketing automation programs have made it easier than ever to send, track and report on the performance of your email campaigns. But many companies are still getting email marketing very, very wrong.

Many struggle to get emails opened and or delivered. Some marketers get marked as SPAM or worst of all — get blacklisted by the email cops. Don’t be scared. Here are a few tips to keep your email marketing program SPAM-free.

Don’t write SPAMMY emails

Does your subject line or the content of your email scream SPAM? Is your email copy tackier than a Vegas wedding? Do you frequently abuse the word “free”? Use a tool like Mail Tester to see how SPAMMY you are.

Email sending domain setup

Your emails should be coming from your domain, not some random one your email provider is using. If you are using HubSpot you can check out their How-To here, or if you need an expert to get your system fully set up, give us a call.

Remove hard bounce emails

Keeping your database clean is important for both marketing and sales. The last thing sales wants is for marketing to provide a list of “qualified leads” where 10% or more are bad contacts. Marketing, don’t be that guy– sales is counting on you.

Don’t get caught in a SPAM Trap

There are two types of SPAM Traps: Pristine and Recycled.

Pristine Traps are email addresses that are shared in locations that would be scrubbed –but then sold as part of a purchased list. This is why we always tell our clients not to buy lists — they’re probably filled with a few SPAM trap emails.

Recycled traps are really tricky. They can trip you up even when you’re following Inbound best practices. Recycled traps are abandoned emails that are taken over by the inbox provider specifically to act as a SPAM trap. Remember how we told you to remove hard bounces from your database? Well, that one that you didn’t remove, could magically start receiving emails again, and it could be a SPAM trap. For more great info on SPAM Traps check out this post A Guide To SPAM Traps and How to Avoid them.

Sending too few emails

List decay occurs at about 22.5% per year. So if you send out one email a year you can count on about 22.5% of your contacts to be bad. If you send more emails consistently you can stay ahead of list decay. You should also find out if a key prospect on your list has changed their email address before you lose them.

Email marketing should be one of the foundations to any inbound marketing strategy. Making sure you do it right will help you see better results and keep you out of trouble. If you use HubSpot and need an expert to take a look at how you’re doing, connect with us. Or, if you’re looking to integrate or improve your email marketing as part of your inbound marketing and sales reach out as well. Heck- you can even send us an email.