The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing

Maximizing Delivery: Nontechnical Issues

Making sure your emails are delivered at the highest rate possible is a matter of paying attention to your email content, the relationship between you and your recipient, and the technology you’re using to send your email. There are several ways to maximize delivery using nontechnical techniques, discussed in the next sections. I discuss the technical techniques a little later on.

AVOID SPAM-SPEAK

To minimize the possibility that your emails will be filtered out as spam, avoid placing content in your emails that might look like spam to a filter. You’ll find spam-like content in the emails in your own junk folder. Check out the spammers to see what they’re including in their emails and don’t copy their techniques. Here are some of the content elements that are likely to keep your email out of the inbox.

1. Spam Words: free, guarantee, spam, viagra, sex, etc.

2. Spam Phrases: “be amazed,” “your income,” “subject to credit approval,” “earn $$$,” “check or money order”

3. Writing in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS (uppercase)

4. Excessive punctuation !!!, ???

5. Excessive use of “click here”

6. $$, **, and other symbols

Figure 11.2 Content-scanning tools help you to spot spam-like content.

SCANNING YOUR EMAILS BEFORE SENDING

Some Email Service Providers allow you to pre-scan your emails before sending so you can determine whether the content ...