Are Your Messages In the INbox?

With 70% of “this is spam” complaints being made up of marketing emails, it’s no surprise that marketers face a few challenges in the medium — the biggest of which is reaching the inbox.

Some marketing experts pointed out that content relevance can make all the difference in avoiding ISP filters and having your message delivered. Now, we’re taking a look at the other edge of the sword: compliance.

Email marketing compliance and best practices often require very minor adjustments to your message but can have a huge impact on its deliverability. To keep your list operating at its best, stick to three basic rules:

Give users clear, prominent access to subscription and account details.

Maintaining transparency in how you intend to use your subscribers’ data builds trust with your brand and newsletter. Your subscribers are less likely to be surprised by the content you send them which means they’re also less likely to report it as spam. Mutual satisfaction with the relevance and purpose of your messaging with strengthen your relationship with subscribers and increase the value of your list.

Keep data up to date.

Ask your subscribers to update and verify their information. Seriously, it’s ok to ask. Many may not follow through, but you’ll have high-quality information on file for the ones that do — and that’s more valuable than any number of inactive addresses. Speaking of those — clean inactive addresses from your list regularly. As noted in the infographic below, removing subscribers who have not engaged in over a year instantly increases your deliverability rate by 3 to 5%.

Carefully record opt-ins.

This point plays nicely with being transparent and building trust. Make sure that it’s your subscribers’ choice to receive the content you’re sending. Add unchecked opt-in checkboxes to the forms on your site and allow users to choose to join your list instead of making it the default. Also, confirm subscriptions with double opt-ins to avoid unintentional sign-ups.

If you haven’t chosen to make compliance a priority in your email strategy, you might think again. Email marketing statistics across the web clearly reveal the challenges faced by marketers.