Your messages went to the spam folder? Don’t panic. We will show you how to cure your domain and restore the stream of leads. We ask you only for one thing – be patient. It’s a long-term process, but the advantages will be noticeable.
The signs that you are in the spam folder:
- Your open rate drastically decreases during the campaign (e.g. from 70% to 30%);
- People wrote to you that they found your message in spam folder;
- Your email provider blocks your account;
- You received bounced messages with information that your mail couldn’t be delivered because of spam reasons, e.g:
If any of those occurs, stop your current campaigns and use our checklist to find the issue.
1.Check your current technical situation:
- Do you have an SPF record and DKIM? (you can check it here: mxtoolbox.com)
- Is your domain listed on the blacklist? (also mxtoolbox.com)
2.Check your last campaign configuration:
- How many emails have you sent per hour (it shouldn’t be higher than 12)?
- Is your subject line worded correctly and not misleading?
- Do you add any files attached to the messages in campaigns?
- Do you use tracking links?
- Does your footer consist of many graphics or texts?
- Do you use words encouraging directly to buy something (like “low price”, “reduce costs”, “buy now” etc.)?
- Do you receive lots of automatic messages that you tried to reach the email address which doesn’t exist?
3.Check your deliverability via mailtester, which analyzes lots of various aspects of your messaging.
When your checklist is ready, you will know what you should focus on.
SPF record and DKIM
Check if your SPF record and DKIM are configured correctly. One of the easiest tools which delivers you live results is MX toolbox (you don’t need any special preparation – you will be asked only for your domain address). You will receive the information if everything works correctly. If you notice that you have a problem with configuration ask your IT tech to solve this before restarting the campaign.
Blacklist
There are lots of various blacklists on which you can be listed. Sometimes, the only thing you have to do is to write to the blacklist provider and ask to remove your domain or email address. Some blacklist providers want some money from you for removing, but there is an option that if you wait some time, they remove you automatically. When you see that you are listed, just go the blacklist provider website and check what you should do. If there isn’t enough information, just google it. Many people have the similar problem, so the probability that you’ll receive a useful answer is really high.
Outreach limits
In the typical campaign, we recommend sending about 12 emails/ hour. Nevertheless, your situation isn’t typical, so start (after solving technical issues) from a really small amount of emails. The good practice is to stop your outreach for 1 week and then start sending 1-2 messages/ hour. If everything is ok, after 2-3 days you can systematically increase this number.
Email subject
Be straight, short and use personalization. Don’t use a catchy subject which isn’t connected with the body of your messages. Try A/ B tests to choose the best subject line and remember to change it from time to time (a good practice is changing after sending 500 messages).
Attachments and graphics
Don’t attach anything to the cold-email. Remember that this person doesn’t know you personally and might just worry if it’s not a virus. Avoid the pictures as it’s not a newsletter.
Tracking links
It’s a good practice to avoid any tracking system. Notice that the outreach tools add tracking pixel or something similar to your emails, so you are covered when it comes to tracking campaigns effectiveness
Footer
Forget about long footer containing the logo, your photo, and your full address – all in the same time. Try to avoid unnecessary information. Your photo is ok. Your address like: the street, city, and country is ok, but is it really necessary to add your zip code? We also recommend including a footer only in the first message.
Copy
Avoid obvious selling baits. Remember that you want to solve prospect’s problem/ help him save the time/ help to earn more money etc. The best cold email is the invitation to the further conversation.
Quality of the database
Never buy a ready list of prospects. Prepare your list or work with the company like RightHello. It’s the only way to make sure about the quality of the database. You will be under the microscope if the great number of email addresses that you tried to reach out don’t exist. The safe limit of the invalid emails should be below 10%.
