Email marketers understand the importance of email campaigns in their entire marketing strategy. However, although many people are focused on building their email list, they aren’t working on boosting their total engagement.

So, what exactly is email marketing engagement? It is the act of persuading the reader to open your email, click on a link, or perform a particular CTA. Increasing your overall involvement requires planning.

We went down with Gmail’s anti-spam team to acquire a better understanding of this problem, and here is what they had to say.

We interviewed Gmail’s anti-spam staff in 2014, and this is what they had to say

Most ISPs are considered as “black boxes” when it comes to why campaigns are flagged as spam. However, Gmail’s Anti-Spam Team has defied that trend by demystifying much of what they do behind the scenes. I’ve outlined the essential topics from our conversation to assist emailers enhance their chances of inbox placement while also learning how spam filtering works.

Given that ISPs seldom share how they function, being asked to speak with Sri Somanchi on Gmail’s Anti-Spam Team on behalf of the ESPC, an organization comprising of several of the most prominent email service providers, was an honor. While Sri was understandably tight-lipped about many of Gmail’s technical elements, he did offer some excellent suggestions on how to keep our campaigns out of the Spam folder. To begin, we posed the following question:

Why are emails sent to the Spam folder?

So you’ve just finished an email campaign and are ready to relax with your favorite beverage when you get a message from a subscriber. Notifying you that your campaign has been sent to Gmail’s Spam bin. Whether you have 5 or 5,000 users that use this webmail client, such an incident might be bewildering.

How does the Gmail spam filter function?

Sri demonstrated that Gmail uses hundreds of signals to determine whether an email should be sent to the Inbox or the Spam bin. The significance of each given signal changes dynamically and is decided by complicated algorithms. In essence, it indicates that no one issue is likely to derail a whole campaign, therefore there is little value in stressing over any one aspect. “Think on how you may make the user enjoy your mails rather than how to land in the Inbox,” Sri’s fundamental counsel on the issue said, implying that if the user loves your message, the spam filter should not prevent it from reaching the Inbox.

The message here is that when campaigns fail, we shouldn’t just blame a handful of lines of text; instead, we should take a more holistic approach to improving our email programs. It is thus preferable to concentrate on why a user may have designated an email as spam rather than why the spam filter did not place you in the Inbox.

Sri pointed out two aspects in particular that might make or break your campaign sends.

What can I do to enhance the location of my inbox?

We didn’t want to leave anybody hanging, so we spoke about the most critical items that senders should concentrate on to avoid spam. Sri discovered that Gmail places a high value on email interaction. While Sri would not go into specifics about how Gmail classifies a message, it’s clear that he and the Gmail Anti-Spam team want to see proof that your receivers adore or, at the very least, want your messages to reach the inbox in order for them to be sent.

How can I boost Gmail engagement?

We look at KPIs like openings, reopens, responses, forwards, and other good interactions as marketers. These interactions often indicate that the receiver is pleased with the content, which minimizes the likelihood of your communication being labelled as spam. Sri did warn that if consumers don’t label anything as spam, filters have no cause to alert subsequent emails. Furthermore, assuring high levels of interaction will result in consumers returning mistakenly misclassified emails by Gmail to their Inbox, allowing their algorithms to learn and fix themselves.

The conclusion for senders like us is that we must concentrate on creating campaigns that recipients like and interact with. You might include powerful CTAs or invite subscribers to respond immediately if they want to get in contact with you.

The second piece of advise was fairly unique: although a regular sending pattern may be acceptable at first, receivers would soon tire of it.

Based on Sri’s experience, we discovered that sending frequency is often the most significant cause for people abandoning your email application. If you do not use engagement-based sending, a frequent sending pattern may be accepted at first, but receivers may soon tire of it and label your email as spam.

Why email engagement is important for marketers

Email marketing is more than just building the largest possible list of subscribers. It’s more than just sending out that lovely email or well produced campaign.

All of it is meaningless if your readers aren’t responding to your emails. Sri has previously covered what the Google team has to say about the matter, and it is now time to speak about execution.

So, how can you encourage your clients to read your mails more frequently? You should concentrate on the following email components:

• CTAs
• Copy and message
• Preheader and subject text

Preheader and subject text

The title and preheader content are the first elements of your email that readers will see, and this is the make or break moment. If the subject line isn’t compelling enough to get readers to click on it and learn more, the email will end up in the trash or, worse, the spam folder.

Consider the following WordPress example:

Their email is titled “How to Create Shareable Content for Your Website.” The reader is immediately drawn in since the subject line addresses a widespread complaint among website owners. The preheader line “What form of content receives the most shares?” is the clincher that will entice the reader to open the email to find out.

Copy and message

You’ve gotten the reader to open the email, but the interaction should not end there. You should now supply them with useful and relevant copy. Make sure you address the items included in the subject line and preheader text.

CTA

The text should be written in such a manner that it directs the reader to a particular call to action. What exactly do you want them to do? Are you even steering them to something they want to do? Will it help them? It’s best to keep the engagement process continuing.

Wrap up

Thank you so much to Sri and the Gmail Anti-Spam Team for being so upfront about Gmail’s strategy to preventing spam and abuse, as well as how genuine senders may avoid getting flagged.