What’s the worst thing that could happen after you plan and run an email marketing campaign? The answer for most marketers is “My messages end up in the spam folder.”

If your emails are marked as “spam” instead of going to your subscribers’ inboxes, they will never be seen or read. That’s a waste of time, money, brain power, and other resources. So, how do you make sure that people see your email marketing messages? How do you keep them from going to spam hell?

There are many things you can do to stop it from happening. If you know what they are, your emails will have a much better chance of getting people to click on them and sign up.

Use these strategies, tips, and techniques to stay out of the spam folder.

1. Only email people who have asked to receive them.

One of the most important things you need to do to make sure your emails don’t get marked as spam is to only send them to people who have signed up for them. Not-so-good ways to build a list are to buy email addresses or send emails to people who haven’t asked for them. Since they are against the law, you could get fined a lot of money if you did them. If someone hasn’t given you “express permission” to send them your marketing emails, which is what the CAN-SPAM Act calls, don’t send them anything.

2. Don’t use words that cause spam in subject lines

Did you know that email filters look for certain words in the subject lines to tell if a message is spam or not? Yes, there is a dictionary of words that sound like spam. It turns out that spammers use the same kinds of words to trick people into buying things. Small Business Trends and HubSpot say that the following words and phrases should be avoided in emails:

• Clearance
• Buy direct
• As seen on
• Additional income
• Work for yourself.
• Earn $
• Extra income
• While you sleep
• Money making
• Possible profits
• Bonus money
• Quick money
• Increase sales
• Save up to
• A lot of money
• Why spend more?
• Not again in a lifetime
• Web traffic
• Consultation is free.
• There are no ties.
• What’s holding you back?
• Dial now.
• Sign up today for free.
• online business chance

3. Keep an eye on your sender’s score and reputation

Email providers look at a lot of things, like your sender reputation, to decide if your email will show up in the inboxes of the people you send it to. This is your sender IP address, which is also called your IP reputation, sender score, or IP score. Your score and reputation are based on things like the quality of the email content you send, how many people respond to it, and the quality of your email contacts. If you have a low sender reputation score, an email provider might put your messages in the spam folder. Watch your score to make sure this doesn’t change how far your marketing reaches. Most of the time, third parties like Sender Score by ReturnPath and Talos Intelligence by Cisco make sender scores.

4. Don’t send a lot of emails…

While you’re at it, make sure you don’t do anything that looks like spam. Sending too many marketing emails to people who have signed up for them is a big no-no. For example, it’s easy to be marked as spam if you send out a lot of emails every day.

5. But do send emails consistently

On the other hand, if you send marketing emails randomly or not very often, you’re more likely to end up in spam. Instead, send your messages at the same time every day or week. A good best practice is to do it once or twice a week on the same day.

6. Make sure the content you send is relevant and aimed at the right people.

One of the best ways to keep your emails out of the spam folder is to make sure they are about things that are important to your readers. After all, if they like getting your emails, they will be less likely to mark them as spam. Here are some ways to stay up-to-date:

Know who your readers are. Figure out what they like.

Using segmentation, you can divide your audience into smaller groups and talk to each one of them in a different way. This makes sure that the emails you send are very useful.

Always try to add something useful to the lives of the people who read your emails. If they won’t get anything out of it, don’t send it.

Take a look at this email from Barnes & Noble, for example. It’s written to “Dear Reader,” so it’s clear that it’s for adult readers who like modern fiction.

7. Make sure all of your email marketing messages have your physical address.

The CAN-SPAM Act also says that you must include your address in every email marketing message you send. In general, this just shows that your business is real and has a real location. Most businesses put their address at the bottom of their emails, like this:

Wrap up

If your marketing emails are going straight to spam, time, money, and other resources are being wasted. To make sure your messages get to your subscribers, you must:

Follow the best methods.

Follow the rules set out in the CAN-SPAM Act and other laws.

Use targeted, relevant email content to make your readers’ lives better.

Use these tips and tricks to reach more email inboxes, and your email marketing campaigns will work better. Best wishes!