Steps to Help Keep Your Emails out of SPAM

Here are a few tips and tricks to make sure your emails stay out of spam and go to the intended recipients!

What is SPAM?

Spam does not actually stand for anything! A British comedy act called Monty Python released a sketch (on an eclectic show called Monty Python's Flying Circus) called "spam, spam, spam". No matter what the couple in the skit orders, it always come back to being spam. They didn't ask for it, they didn't want it. Even the meals they ordered were disguised spam! Hence the name, SPAM!!!

Spam is also commonly referred to as "junk mail." This is unsolicited email messages, usually sent in bulk to a large list of recipients through any electronic means. You may not even think you are spamming people, but checking out the best practices below will help you try keeping your email out of spam filters and off spam blacklists.

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Bulk Email Best Practices

• DO NOT USE your browser version of email, or Gmail or Outlook or MacMail or whatever application you use to send bulk email.

• ONLY USE an app or software made to bulk email.

• You MUST have permission to email the recipients. You cannot send bulk email to people who have never signed up for your emails. Do not pluck emails off the interwebs and start emailing people.

• Subject lines cannot be misleading. Message subjects should be relevant and not misleading. It has to be relevant to content. Click here for a list of Huspot's spammiest words!

• Keep the word count in the body of the email to 500 words or less!

• Got a lot to say? Push the email recipient to a website with more info or a contact you page to discuss.

• Do not embed flash or videos. Instead, point recipients to a hyperlink where they can view the video.

• Avoid attachments!

• Keep your lists clean. According to the website Campaign Monitor, "The benchmark for bounces is less than 2%. Anything above a 2% bounce rate for your email campaign is worthy of your attention."

• For most industries, a bounce rate over 5% may cause you issues with spam filtering.

• Remove email that are incorrect or get corrected info from your clients.

• Easy on the images in the body of the email. Using one HUGE image as your entire email, or too many images in general, tends to end up in recipients' spam. If you plan on using an image, make sure the file size is a small as possible.

• Add your email addresses that you use, to your Contact Record that you share with your clients and ask them to save your information in their email address book.

• You must include a clear unsubscribe link and a physical mailing address in your email footer. (PSST, Command does this for you, KW Agents!!!!)

• When in doubt, refer back to the CAN-SPAM Act. "The CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations." #BrookeTheNerd #DontBeSpammy