Email Tips to Avoid Spam Filters and 9 Top Email Marketing Tools

Article written by Justin Borja.

Email marketing is vital to lead generation, but one-sixth of emails end up in spam folders. It’s important to pay close attention to your emails to ensure they’re not marked as spam. The best way to do this is by using a reputable email marketing service provider. This will boost your delivery rates by maintaining good relationships with the main ISPs.

First, here are six terms you need to know:

• Email blocking - When an email is bounced back by the email client
• Spam filters - Filters that check email content to identify spam
• Blacklist - IPs and domains that are regarded as spammers
• Whitelist - Approved IPs, domains and ESPs
• False positive - An email incorrectly labelled as spam

Internet service providers (ISPs) filter spam by first checking the sender, subject and email body for spam trigger words. While also monitoring frequency and volume of emails, anytime these cross a threshold they will automatically be labelled as spam.

Here are some things to keep in mind when emailing:

Do Not:

• Use spam trigger words.
• Use garish colours.
• Excessively use capital letters, symbols, exclamation marks, or other punctuation marks.
• Use poor HTML coding, which can happen when you convert from Microsoft Word.
• Use “Re,” “Fwd,” or misleading subject lines to trick recipients.
• Embed text in images to deceive filters.
• Use purchased contact lists.
• Attach large files or executable files ( .zip, .exe etc.).

Do:

• Include a sender address, but not one with random characters or “noreply”.
• Include a physical address and phone number.
• Include only essential text and images (under 30kb).
• Give the opportunity to unsubscribe.
• Derive your emailing list from permission marketing or the double opt-in method (signing up on website followed by email confirmation).
• Use email templates tailored to your brand.

Now let’s take a look at some email marketing service providers, in no particular order, these are the ones you should consider using:

Top 9 Email Marketing Tools

1. Mad Mimi

• Free plan offering 2,500 contacts and 12,500 emails each month with live tracking and feedback.
• Provides simple and customisable templates.
• Lets you manage multiple lists with automatic bounce and unsubscribe suppression.
• Latest authentication tools and a strong relationship with ISPs.

2. MailChimp

• Forever free plan for 2,000 contacts and 12,000 emails each month.
• Integrated social media.
• Delivery Doctor, their in-house spam checker.
• Regular progress reports and tips on where to improve.

3. Cakemail

• Simple template creation.
• 30-day free trial with 500 free emails.
• Automatically generated bespoke templates.
• Contact Manager that tells you who: is a VIP, needs more attention, and has consented.

4. Sendy

• One time purchase allowing 10,000 emails each day.
• Send trackable emails using Amazon SES.
• Reports on all your campaigns and autoresponders.
• Third party integration with Wordpress, Magento and many more!

5. iContact

• Mobile compatible.
• Integrated social media.
• Easily create unique templates.
• Split testing to ensure your campaign is optimised.

6. Benchmark

• Integrated social media.
• Signup forms and autoresponders to attract clients.
• Free plan for 2000 contacts.
• Real-time reports.

7. Constant Contact

• Free coaching service.
• Free trial with full access.
• Integrated social media.
• 400 easy to edit templates.

8. Pinpointe

• Integrated Google Analytics.
• Split testing.
• 15 day free trial.
• Live support and training.

9. GetResponse

• App integration.
• 30 day free trial.
• Marketing automation based on customer data and behaviour.
• Helps generate high-converting landing pages.

So, now that you know the best ways to avoid sending spam, do a quick SEO audit to make sure your website is as good as your email marketing!