You’re considering an email marketing campaign, so you’ve probably already realized how cheap, easy, and effective one can be. But you don’t want to just throw something together and hope it hits your target demographic. Yes, you’ll want to consider design, language, and timing, but none of it will mean anything if you never hit your demographics’ inboxes.
A whopping 70 percent of spam complaints originate with commercial mailings, and in 2011, marketing email “inbox placement” (a term referring to how many intended messages were successfully delivered) was a lowly 82 percent. Avoid the trap that other 18 percent falls into—use the following tips to maximize your inbox placement.
- Segment your list, and possibly whittle it down. While it may seem counterintuitive to send fewer emails, historically, a more targeted email campaign list will lead to a higher ultimate response rate.
- Always use a reputable domain for your links. Don’t bog your email down with untrusted links from services like Bit.ly or TinyURL—these are often flagged as spam by email filters. Instead, use trusted link sources to generate links in the body of your email.
- Encourage engagement. Make your recipients happy to be receiving the email by prompting them to engage more fully with the content—the same old “SALE” message in the subject line is going to get tiring after a while.
- Clean your lists. After a while, you’re bound to build up an increasing list of addresses that go to unresponsive or nonexistent inboxes. This is a sign of a “dirty” email list, and will bring the credibility of your email marketing down. Clean your lists regularly.
- Write cleaner content. Don’t write an extended sales pitch—people don’t want to hear it. Instead, take a more humanized approach. An effective writing style will help your customers stay more engaged, more informed, and will eventually improve your overall inbox placement.
Ensuring a high level of inbox placement isn’t a complex science; with a handful of best practices, you can take your email campaign from “good” to “spectacular.”
