Imagine spending hours crafting the perfect email only to find out it landed in your audience’s spam or promotions folder. Disheartening, right? Let’s uncover how to ensure your emails land right where they should be – the primary inbox.

Understanding the Spam and Promotion Filters

Before we dive into solutions, it’s crucial to understand why emails end up in spam or promotions folders. Email providers use sophisticated algorithms to filter out unwanted or suspicious content. Common triggers include:

• Misleading Subject Lines: Promising something unrealistic or using excessive punctuation and capitalization.
• Spammy Content: Words like “free,” “winner,” or “urgent” can raise red flags.
• Poor Email List Hygiene: Sending emails to inactive or unverified addresses.
• Lack of Personalization: Generic emails are more likely to be filtered out.

Best Practices to Avoid Spam and Promotions Folders

1. Maintain a Clean Email List

Regularly update and clean your email list. Remove inactive subscribers and ensure all email addresses are verified. Using tools like segmentation inside of your email program is essential in weeding out those colder-than-cold contacts.

How aggressive you want to get in your segmentation can vary. Still, as a general rule of thumb, you want to limit your sending to subscribers who are new to your brand, opened emails recently, placed an order recently, were active on-site in the last few days, and any other qualifier you have for your brand to say “This subscriber is still alive and kicking!”

In the inverse, you can also create a cold email segment. I typically focus that one on email opens; for example, if I’ve sent them more than 10 emails over time, and they’ve opened zero – they do NOT need to receive any one-off campaigns from your brand.

But hey, they aren’t completely gone, yet! Let your automations do the work of emailing them if they come back on-site down the road or finally place an order with you. Once they interact with those emails, the segment will update and return them to your regular sending.

2. Craft Personalized Content

Personalized emails perform better. Use your subscribers’ names and tailor content to their preferences. Programs like Klaviyo offer powerful segmentation tools to help you create personalized and relevant content for your audience.

For example, if your subscriber is one who exclusively purchases a specific type of product, you can include a ‘You May Also Like’ section at the bottom that can help to cross-sell them into product that perfectly match their go-to selections.

3. Use a Recognizable Sender Name

Your sender name should be easily recognizable. Use your brand name or a familiar name to increase trust. Avoid using no-reply email addresses, as they can seem impersonal and untrustworthy. Your sender name and domain need to be established, especially with the recent update to domain authentication.

If you are confused about the setup process for authenticating your domain, check out this article from Klaviyo on the steps you can take.

4. Optimize Subject Lines and Preheaders

Your subject line and preheader text are the first things recipients see. Be sure to make them engaging and relevant without sounding too spammy.

Avoid excessive punctuation and capitalization, and trigger words like “free” or “urgent.”

5. Ensure Mobile Optimization

A significant portion of email recipients open emails on mobile devices. Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly with a responsive design and easily readable text.

Spam Inbox FAQs

Q: How often should I clean my email list?

A: Regularly, at least every three months. Removing inactive subscribers can improve your deliverability rates.

Q: What should I avoid in my subject lines?

A: Avoid excessive punctuation, capitalization, and spammy words like “free,” “urgent,” or “winner.”

Q: How can I personalize my emails?

A: Use your subscribers’ names, tailor content based on their preferences and past behavior. Klaviyo’s segmentation tools can help you achieve this.

Q: Why are my emails still going to the promotions folder?

A: It could be due to the content type or structure of your email. Ensure your emails are not too sales-focused and add value to the reader.

Q: Can Klaviyo help with email deliverability?

A: Yes, Klaviyo offers tools and insights to help improve your email deliverability, from segmentation to monitoring engagement metrics.

Wrapping Up

Keeping your emails out of spam and promotions folders requires a mix of best practices and leveraging the right tools. By maintaining a clean email list, personalizing content, and utilizing Klaviyo’s features, you can significantly improve your email deliverability and ensure your messages reach your audience’s primary inbox. Happy emailing!