📈 #026 | Keeping your emails out of the spam folder...

Welcome to the twenty-sixth edition of 'Making Money with Email.'

After firing off this morning's newsletter, I'll be heading to Philadelphia for a surprise 30th birthday party. If you have any recommendations for dinner in the area (I'm sure I'll sample several Philly cheesesteaks throughout the day too), feel free to let me know!

Now, onto today's content...

This Week's Strategy

Estimated read time: 2.5 minutes

I have a bad habit of checking emails from my phone as soon as I wake up in the morning.

One morning, I distinctly remember receiving an email from a panicked client.

His email open rates plummeted drastically and he suspected his emails were getting caught up in the spam folders of his subscribers.

He was losing out on sales each day and needed to fix things ASAP!!

I ran a few deliverability tests on his recent emails and noticed an increase in spam complaints coming from his list. After reviewing his content, I saw the content was different and his business model changed completely.

This particular client was a landscaping company that was using his email list to promote weekly lawn cutting and maintenance. He wanted to move upmarket and focus on larger projects, so he began offering installations of in-ground pools and now promoted this in his emails.

But that's a BIG difference in cost and a very specific need that caters to a very specific audience.

You see... because his company decided to pivot their business model and never let their audience know, it led to a bunch of spam complaints and unengaged readers.

These are big negative signals when it comes to email deliverability and exactly what you want to avoid.

Want to know what other negative signals you should be avoiding in your email program to keep you out of the spam folder?

Let's break it down in today's email...

Inbox vs. spam folder placement

Each mailbox provider (MBP) has their own proprietary algorithm to decide what is considered a "spam" email and what's not. When you hit send on your email campaign, MBPs track dozens of positive and negative 'signals' to decide where your email should land.

I talked about the positive signals to boost your deliverability in last week's newsletter (if you missed it, you can find it here). This week, we're going to focus on the negative signals.

What are the negative signals?

Some examples of negative signals are:

low number of opens
low number of clicks
low read times
someone marking the email as "spam"
high amount of emails getting sent to non-engaged subscribers
someone dragging the email from their inbox to the spam folder

Have too many of the above negative things happening and you can kiss your inbox placement goodbye!

Limiting the negative 'signals'

The more negative signals your emails receive, the more likely your mail will end up in the spam folders of your subscribers.

Here are a few pointers on how to create LESS negative signals:

A/B test subject lines to see what resonates with your audience. For this newsletter, I've found direct subject lines performed better than subject lines that are cheeky and use humor. Every audience is different. The goal is to keep open rates high (above 20%-30%).
Try and tell stories in your emails. Stories keep readers engaged and wanting more. This leads to longer read times on your emails. And longer read times are exactly what you're looking for.
Make sure your unsubscribe link is clear. Don't bury it in a wall of text, using a super tiny font size and a color you can't read. And don't fear people clicking the unsub link! You won't be penalized for this by mailbox providers. But you WILL be penalized if someone clicks the 'spam' button instead because they couldn't easily unsubscribe.
Make sure your content remains relevant to your audience. If you're making a pivot in your business (like the landscaping client above), be sure your audience is aware of the potential content changes and give them the option to unsubscribe.

That's it for this week! If you enjoyed learning deliverability strategies like this, let me know by clicking here. This will let me know that you're interested in learning more about this type of content in the future.

And know that I'm always here for ya if you have any questions on applying this strategy in your own business. Just reply to this email or DM me on Twitter!

Links Worth a Click

Chris Orzechowski gave us his top 24 copywriting tips learned during his time working with over 200 brands.

Speaking of Chris Orzechowski, I highly suggest joining his newsletter. He's one of my favorite copywriters & email marketers in the space and I'm constantly learning new tips being on his list. Check it out for free by joining here.

Dylan Bridger shared 5 quick client-getting tips he's learned during his time as a 10-year marketer.

Neal O'Grady showed 10 tips to improve your copywriting to get more sales, followers, and leads.

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