| In 2006, 40% of all email sent throughout the | | | | - Send your email as plain text. Avoid HTML |
| world was considered SPAM. This begs the | | | | emails as those tend to get picked up by the |
| question, "Will my email get to my | | | | filters a lot more than plain text. |
| subscribers?" | | | | |
| | | | - Avoid using high threat keywords such as |
| Every day it gets harder to determine if an | | | | 'Free', 'Discount', 'Offer', and 'Money' in |
| email is legitimate; users find it difficult | | | | your subject line as well as the email body. |
| to distinguish between legitimate emails and | | | | Most spammers these days are smart enough not |
| spam. Spammers continue to find clever ways | | | | to use these, but filters will still pick up |
| to bypass email filters and as a result the | | | | on them and consider your email suspicious. |
| filters increasingly block valid emails in a | | | | If you need to use these types of keywords, |
| desperate attempt to keep up. Many marketers | | | | you can space them out like 'F r e e', or |
| find filters frequently catch their | | | | include separating characters like |
| commercial emails. | | | | 'O-f-f-e-r'. |
| | | | |
| The sheer volume of spam people receive has | | | | Will people abandon email for another |
| also created other problems. People will | | | | electronic medium? |
| often mistake valid commercial emails, from | | | | |
| mailing lists they've subscribed to, as spam | | | | It's difficult to tell where email marketing |
| and thus the email never gets opened. As | | | | will be a year from now. In 2004, Bill Gates |
| this trend continues, some experts predict | | | | predicted there would be an end to all spam |
| email will no longer be a useful marketing | | | | by 2006. Well, I don't need to tell you that |
| tool. | | | | the exact opposite has occurred - there is |
| | | | more spam today than ever before, and there |
| What can you do to avoid being marked as | | | | is no sign it will be letting up any time |
| spam? | | | | soon. It will only continue to get harder to |
| | | | find ways around the problem. |
| The best thing you can do is limit as many | | | | |
| factors that may cause your email to be | | | | The good news is email marketing has already |
| flagged as spam as possible: | | | | stood its ground. When blogs and podcasts |
| | | | emerged, many believed they would replace |
| - If you're not doing so already, use a | | | | email as the dominant marketing media, but it |
| double opt-in mailing list. This will ensure | | | | did not happen. Yes, people embraced blogs |
| they do in fact want to receive emails from | | | | and podcasts, but they still subscribed to |
| you, plus they will recognize your name, | | | | mailing lists as they had before, despite the |
| which prevents any emails you send from being | | | | spam. |
| mistaken as spam. | | | | |
| | | | Email is still a strong marketing media and |
| - Once a subscriber has signed up to the | | | | every indication shows that it will remain |
| mailing list, display a message on the | | | | useful in the years to come. Unless everyone |
| website that tells them to add your email | | | | in the world suddenly decides to stop using |
| address to their white list to prevent it | | | | email, there will always be a way to reach |
| from being flagged as spam. | | | | subscribers on the web this way. |
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