Landing in Junk Folders and Spam Complaints: The Real Costs to Your Business
Not even the biggest email marketers’ messages are immune to landing in junk folders and receiving spam complaints. It’s a serious problem affecting every email marketer. And while you try to do your best to ensure you’re following best practices, the junk folder and spam-button-smashers are an ever-present threat to your business. A threat even if you’re sending to double-opt in subscribers.
If you’re getting too many spam complaints and your email sends are ending up in junk folders, you’re 100% certain to lose revenue, waste money on new lead-generation and, importantly, you could be looking at big fines if you don’t address those complaints.
In fact, according to the FTC, each separate email in violation of the (CAN-SPAM) law is subject to penalties of up to $43,792. One spam complaint could, in theory, put you out of business.
However, with a few simple tools from EmailOversight, you can almost guarantee your emails will get in-boxed and your spam complaints will drop. We’ll get to the technical solution in a moment, but first, here’s a few quick tips you can implement to quickly to drop your complaint rate and help you stay out of junk folders.
1) Never send actual spam. Only send email campaigns to subscribers that actually want your messages.
2) Make your “remove from list” button clear, bold and easy to use. This is your first line of defense against spam-button-smashers. And when a subscriber requests removal, REMOVE them.
3) Never mail to subscribers who have already hit the spam button. Never. This act can get you into the category with the FTC where the penalties begin piling up. Get them off your list. They’re radioactive.
4) Make sure your subject lines and content are in line to what your subscribers signed-up for. If they opted into a hunting and fishing list, don’t send content or marketing materials that disparage hunting and fishing. You’re inviting your subs to hit spam.
These four tips are easy to implement. However, there are some technical things that need to be done to help ensure deliverability and help reduce spam complaints.
Did you know that there’s an entire universe of email addresses that belong to people who regularly hit the spam button? Even if they’ve double-opted-in to your list?
It’s true. These people have a nasty habit of hitting spam for almost any reason. Instead of requesting list removal, they enjoy complaining. And you won’t even know who they are until it’s too late.
But…
EmailOversight knows who they are!
We keep a global database of known complainers, and we update this list regularly. When you use our Email Validation tool, these complainers are automatically removed from your lists, before they hit spam. Better yet, with our Validation API, we can eliminate known complainers before they ever make it into your lists.
That’s right! As your lead-gen campaigns are ongoing, we can screen-out these sadists and prevent them from ever opting-in to your list, hitting the spam button and filing complaints with the FTC.
EmailOversight not only removes these complainers, but we eliminate spam-traps, bots, invalid email addresses and more. All of which contribute to poor sender reputations. Which, in turn, mean your emails end up in junk folders.
Landing in junk folders and getting spam complaints have two main costs to your business.
First, if subscribers never see your messages (stuck in junk) you’re losing revenue on the backend. And when you are building lists, you’re wasting money on the front end, as those new subscribers will never see your messages.
Secondly, spam complaints can lead to massive fines. Fines big enough to put most email marketers out of business.
By following the above 4 tips and using EmailOversight’s Validation and Verification tools, you can ensure your messages get to where they belong. In your subscribers’ inbox, generating revenue.
