Like most people, I receive dozens of emails every day. In fact, Gmail has “learned” to filter out some common types—one of those is spam.
But what does it mean for an email to be spammy?
An email must have a few characteristics to be spammy: It must be unsolicited, shill-like, and impersonal.
An email is unsolicited when it is sent without the recipient’s consent. Spam emails are also often shill-like, meaning they have a sales pitch or other promotional content. Finally, spam emails are impersonal: They don’t consider who the recipient is and what they might want to read or buy.
7 Best Practices that can help you engage readers and stay out of the spam folder.
1. Always give value.
Do you want to avoid ending up in spam?
Writing valuable content is the key.
You must always give value to your readers. This can be done by sharing helpful information, tips, or engaging content. You have to give them something that makes them want to keep reading your email content and come back for more.
A good example is when you’re sending promotional emails for a specific product or service. If your company is offering a great deal on that product, let people know about it! Include some details about what they are getting at such a discounted price and include testimonials from customers who were able to take advantage of this offer.
This way, you are showing the reader how much value there is in what you’re selling while also providing them with more reasons why they should buy right now rather than later when they may not be able to get such a deal anymore.
2. Personalize your emails.
Personalize your emails. In order to keep your company’s brand consistent, try personalizing emails by including the recipient’s first name in the subject line and body of the email. You can also use their name in the email footer. A simple greeting like “Hi there!” or “Hello!” is also a good way to show that you are a real person reaching out, not some generic automated system.
You can also hyper-personalize emails with the help of several email marketing tools like BayEngage, Hubspot, etc. These email marketing platforms will easily help you segment your email list. People usually prefer using Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Omnisend, etc. But there are several other Mailchimp alternatives with advanced features in segmentation. Segmentation tools can help you create different lists to send highly relatable email campaigns to your customers.
Moreover, If you can relate to your reader on a personal level, they’ll be more likely to stick around and keep reading what you have to say! Maybe they went through the same thing as you, or maybe they’re just curious about what kind of stuff someone like them would be interested in reading about. Either way, if you can make them feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves—something that has meaning for both of them personally—then there’s a good chance they’ll stay subscribed for longer than just one clickthrough!
3. Be transparent.
It’s okay to be transparent with your readers. You’re not trying to trick them into buying something, so don’t try to hide your intentions. Be honest about what you want to achieve and what the reader should do in response.
This doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process or an extensive list of instructions; just being upfront about what they can expect from you will help build trust—and trust is key when it comes down to making sales!
You might want to avoid spammy emails, but it’s important to be transparent in your communication. Here are some tips for keeping your emails clear and legal:
- Only use some uppercase letters. It looks like you’re screaming at people, making it hard to read what you’re saying.
- Make sure there’s a short and precise title for each email you send out so people know what they’re getting into before they open it.
- Use punctuation in your subject lines! It makes them easier to read and keep track of while scanning through their inboxes.
4. Check your tone of voice.
The tone of voice you use in emails and other communication forms is also important to consider. While you want to avoid being too formal, if you’re too casual or colloquial, it will come off as unprofessional.
Make sure your tone is friendly and professional at the same time. Avoid the following mistakes while writing the body of an email:
- Maintain the tense throughout your email
- Try to use the first person to add a personal touch to your readers
- Write your sentences in active voice
- Use emojis and witty lines to engage the reader (Make sure it’s not offensive to anyone)
5. Avoid salesy language and buzzwords.
Salesy language is when you use words that are intended to close a sale, like “buy” and “sale.” Using these words in your email will make it feel like you’re trying too hard to sell something rather than providing helpful information. Here are some examples of salesy language:
- “Buy now!”
- “Sale ends soon!”
- “Limited time offer” (or anything with “limited time”).
So, avoid salesy language or hyperbole when writing email content—like saying things like “this is a must-have” or “this is such a good deal.” Your audience isn’t dumb; they don’t need to be convinced of how great something is just because it’s something you recommend to them to buy from you!
6. Clean up your list regularly.
If you’re sending out emails to your subscribers, it’s important to make sure they actually want to receive them. You can do this by regularly cleaning up your list and removing people who do not open or click on your emails.
To remove someone from your email list, simply:
- Go into the email account for which you’re sending your newsletters (for example, Gmail).
- Open the “Subscriptions” menu in that account.
- Find the name of the person you’d like to unsubscribe from all future emails from your business and select “Remove Subscription.”
Have a check on your email list then and there. This can avoid bothering your customers in the future.
7. Write in the active voice.
You can make your writing more interesting and engaging by using an active voice.
Write in the active voice. Active voice helps keep your emails concise, clear, and easy to read, and it’s also what most readers prefer to see. To write in active voice, use pronouns like “I” or “we” instead of passive constructions like “it was done by.”
For example: “We’ve been working hard on XYZ” vs. “XYZ was worked on.”
Use language your readers will understand. Be sure to use words that people actually speak (not ones you think they should speak). That means avoiding industry jargon and buzzwords as best you can, and if you do use them, explain them clearly so everyone knows what they mean!
8. Format your Emails
Writing email content is simple: just send out a bunch of information, right? Well… not quite. You must be careful about how you word things and format them.
When it comes to formatting, one of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that all text needs to be short and sweet. This isn’t true! You can actually use longer sentences if they’re well-written or formatted so that it doesn’t seem like a wall of text (which will get your email flagged as spam).
Another thing people do wrong is using too many links—don’t just link everything! Make sure each link has a purpose for being there because otherwise, it could look like spammy marketing material rather than an actual email. For example, if you send a Shopify abandoned cart email to your customers, then link the correct CTA of their favorite product’s page alone. Don’t add unnecessary links to your emails.
Finally, don’t forget the importance of punctuation! A lack of commas or periods can make your emails feel rushed or rushed through, which can also cause them to get flagged as spam by some companies’ filters.
Wrapping it!
We hope that you’ve found these tips helpful! If you want more ideas for keeping your email campaigns from sounding like spam, take a look at our other articles on this subject. The more you know about what makes good (and bad) email content, the better chance you have of avoiding the spam folder trap in the future.
Author Bio
Jerusha Carolin is a Content Marketer at TargetBay, an eCommerce Marketing Cloud used by thousands of online stores across the globe. She loves content research and enjoys writing content on anything related to email marketing. She is a lisztomanic who loves to listen to music to keep herself lively and optimistic about life. LinkedIn
