Take a Stroll Through My Junk Folder

I thought it might be fun to peruse my junk folder and point out why some of the emails wind up there...ready? Let's begin!

From: Neiman Marcus
Subject: FREE SHIPPING + What's the hottest CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN style for fall?

Problems: I know I always bust on Neiman, but it's pretty easy.
FREE SHIPPING - Avoid this and please not in all caps, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN is all in caps too. They use a + and a ? which by themselves might not be bad but coupled with everything else wrong...why not add in a few !!!! while you're at it? The content was made up of only images without names.

From: Brookstone
Subject: Stop Snoring! Clinically Tested Sona Anti-Snore Pillow!

Problems: Did they learn nothing when they used to be a VR Customer;-)
They use two exclamation points and their email is only images.

From: eMarketer
Subject: eMarketer Daily - Prescribing Online Pharma Marketing

Problems: I usually get this amazing email in my inbox but this one went directly into Junk, why? My guess is that the subject has "Prescribing Online Pharma", it's too much like selling drugs online like many spammers do.
One more thing - We don't recommend repeating your "from" in the subject line, it cuts off what you really want your readers to see.

From: Monsoon Email
Subject: Re: Mortgage Brokers - #1 mortgage broker marketing tool end of summer promotion

Problems: My guess as to why it landing in my junk folder is that a) I never signed up for this b) never but a Re: when it's really not a reply, c) stay away from using Mortgage, let alone twice in the subject line. Also an image heavy email. And I'm not just picking on the competition who spammed me ;-)

From: The Westin Copely Place, Boston
Subject: Limited Time Offer: Summer Sale

Problems: Seems simple but "offer" and "sale" are probably not great to have in the subject line together. The good thing they do? They mix up their creative with some text so I do get an idea about the content of the email. The bad thing? I can't "click to view in a browser".

I will end this post by saying that just because you use an Email Service Provider, even VerticalResponse, there is no guarantee you'll get into the inbox without a bit of work on your part creatively. We can get you through the gates of the ISP but we need a bit of help from you when you create your email to get that into the inbox, and the retail season is upon us and it's more important than ever for many of you to increase your sales.

Here are a few posts that might help.

Email Deliverability and You - A Handy Guide
Stop Looking to the Big Boys for Creative Ideas
A List of Subject Lines and Offers for the Holidays
5 Quick Ways to Improve Delivery Rates

Hope this helps!

Comments

[Richard Huffaker]

Elmyr - Just as a general rule of thumb, I'd define an image heavy email as one in which more than half of the design is image based. I consider a ratio of 70% Text / HTML to 30% Images to be ideal.

Cristine - I think everything Janine has referenced here could also apply to an event email. Stick with a subject line that clearly and briefly describes the event ("Big Shindig on Oct. 15th in your town"), make sure your content isn't too image heavy, avoid excessive punctuation and capitalization in your subject... it's hard to get too specific without seeing the email you want to send out. Please feel free to contact me at delivery@verticalresponse.com and I'll be happy to look things over.

[Joshua Feinberg]

Hi Darren,

I provided some comments to Adriano's post below and it sounds like you are both looking for the same type of pre-launch tool, one that is a bit more dynamic than the current "Spam Check" feature with our app. I'd love to hear any additional feedback you'd like to share on this topic, in terms of the types of functionality you'd like to see within VR (i.e. what we can do to win you back). Feel free to reach me at "josh at verticalresponse.com."

Joshua Feinberg
VP, Product Management
VerticalResponse, Inc.

[Joshua Feinberg]

Hi Adriano,

Thanks for your feedback! So at this time we do offer a pre-launch "Spam Check" screen which can be run after you've designed your campaign. This tool will catch words, phrases, etc that are likely to trigger a spam filter and will allow you to edit/update your message before sending.

That said, this is a feature that we're looking to upgrade towards the beginning of next year to provide a more complete and dynamic pre-launch spam score. More details to follow on this topic, stay tuned.

[Darren Barkett]

Great post. Honestly, the one factor that gets me to use one of your competitors' services is that they do provide a spam meter for every email I write. This helps me craft appropriate emails that get into the inbox. If VR instituted this, it would position them for future services and needs.

[Colton]

Err.. I'm pretty certain any one who has had an email address in the past decade pretty much dismisses any email with FREE,FREE SHIPPING, or the like and doesn't pay it a second thought. I myself generally get annoyed when one DOES manage to slip through the spam filter. I have found actually telling people what you are marketing works well, they know what your all about right from the get go and if they are interested they open. Be original, get Crazy, get funny, after all your marketing- let the management be the stuffy predictable ones. Let the spammers have their FREE's and ROCK BOTTOM PRICE's, real marketing doesn't need such words. (IMHO) Good post BTW

[eric wong]

One's ham is the other's spam. The 10% filtered legitimate email still impose the spam-effect. That is why users need a friendly spam filter with Personalized flavor to define their own grids.

[Kirsten]

This was a great post! I have made many of these mistakes in the past. My stats show that when I do all caps, exclamation points, repeat words, etc., that the percentage of emails opened is lower than usual. I just thought it was a busy week for people, but now I think it must have never gotten to them at all.

[Robert Howard]

Thanks .. I was just working on a campaign when I got this. I totally makes sense and it worked as soon as I took this basic advice.

[Coenraad de Beer]

I know spam is a thorn in the flesh for e-mail marketing, but I think people should think twice before lashing out against the tools that keep our mailboxes clean and our computers safe.

It is not the spam filters that are in conflict with good marketing, it is the spammers and the lousy laws that's hurting the industry.

[Adriano]

Good article.
I have one sugestion: why don´t VR places a feature in your service for us to check our email before publishing it? (I don´t know if you already have such). This check coult "try" to see if the email we are going to send is too much like a spam, or how much (%) it looks like a spam comparing to other spams, or if it would pass or not on an ISP gate. This check should find caracteristics, like these you mentioned in this article, to help your customer to avoid sending spam.

[Daniel Dunleavy]

Great article Janine. Unfortunately, I've made these mistakes in the past but now I know at least some of things to avoid!

[Elmyr de Hory]

What constitutes an "image heavy" email? Is there a specific ratio of text-to-image which is ideal?

[Cristine]

What if you want to drive attendance to an event or webinar? Any tips on how to avoid the Junk Mail folder?

[Lydia]

Spam filters are in conflict with good marketing: the word FREE is an attention-grabber, and FREE SHIPPING even more so. I wish there was a way to utilize this term's ability to grab customers' eyes without sending your message straight to the Junk folder. Then it's just lost amongst the "enhancement" emails!