How to Make Sure Your Emails Get Read

Here is a simplified version of the process that an email goes through - this was provided by Oprius, which is my autoresponder.

First of all, let's define "email deliverability" as the probability of an email that you send arriving in another person's inbox.

Good email deliverability means that your email will land in your desired recipient's inbox.

Bad Email deliverability means that your email either ends up in your recipient's spam folder or is blocked completely from their inbox.

WHAT IS SPAM REALLY?

According to Spamhaus, spam is any unsolicited AND bulk email.

Why is it important to play by the rules of Spamhaus? Because this company holds the largest "blacklist" (see further details below about blacklists below) in the world and therefore has the greatest influence over which emails arrive and which emails don't. Follow Spamhaus's rules so you don't end up on their blacklist!

So, as stated above spam is defined as any unsolicited AND bulk email.

The "AND" in that sentence is very important. If you send an unsolicited email to one person, that is not spam. If you send many emails out to people who have requested the information in the emails, these also are not spam. But if your emails are both unsolicited and sent to many people, then they are considered spam.

AND, this might surprise some of you. . .an email that contains the exact same content as another email is considered bulk, even if you send each email out individually, one by one. So, if your recipient hasn't asked for an email that you send to them and 50 other people, even if you took the time to send these emails one by one, it is considered spam.

And what about this. . . . .

Say that a person fills out a form so that they can receive more information about home-based businesses for example.

This form does not belong to you but the person's contact details are forwarded to you so that you can follow up with their request.

You send a good email containing information about home-based businesses that the person requests.

Is this considered spam?

Yes! Because this person hasn't asked YOU specifically for this information.

If you do send an email that bounces back and is marked as spam, this affects the deliverability of the rest of your emails, even if you don't send them to the same person who marked them as spam.

But not only YOUR emails are affected. The reputation of your autoresponder is also affected, leading to a greater chance of being blacklisted.

THE PROCESS THAT YOUR EMAILS UNDERGO

Every time you send an email to someone, it must pass through 2 separate filters before it arrives in your desired recipient's inbox:

1) First, it passes through a content-based email filter which looks for things that are typical in spam, like lots of formatting, colors, exclamation points, overuse of links and pictures, etc.

2) The second filter emails go through is the Blacklist filter. Blacklists include email addresses that have been reported as spam or bounce backs. As I mentioned previously, Spamhouse holds the largest blacklist. But if your email is found in ANY blacklist, it will be marked as spam or blocked completely.

Oprius lists 5 ways to insure that your email lands where you want it to:

1. The dreaded double opt-in

The best way to insure that you emails arrive unscathed into your recipients inboxes is to use a double-opt in Autoresponder email service. This is a bit of a controversial subject since it's a known fact that you will lose some potential customers by asking them to opt in 2 times.

The other side of the argument is that if you do not make the effort to verify that your lead really wants your email, you could be considered a spammer. Employing the double opt-in is also a good way to insure that your potential customer is really interested in what you have to tell them. You also end up with much more refined and targeted list and this choice shows integrity on your part.

2. Avoid excessive formatting which can be detected in the first spam filter.

3. Send only the content that was requested by the recipient.

If your message differs too much from what was requested, it will be detected in the content filter.

4. Ask your recipient to whitelist your email address first before you start sending multiple emails.

5. Maintain your contact list.

Try to keep up with your email lists' address changes, unsubscribes, etc. so that you are not sending emails to addresses that no longer exist or people who no longer want them.

If you want to make sure to stay clear of spam, I highly recommend the Opriusas not just an email service autoresponder but an autoresponder, planner, calendar, and lead capture creator all in one.

This company's email training is excellent and Oprius boasts almost 100% deliverability of their emails.

One reason for this is that the Oprius system actually scans emails before they go out so if you are send something that would be considered spam, you would be notified so that you could make the necessary changes and write good emails. This insures that the reputation of both you and Oprius as your autoresponder remains intact.

Now that you understand how to make sure that your emails get where you want them to, let's take a deeper look at how to make sure your customer or prospect is reading them!

In order to be a successful Marketer, you cannot allow your email to remain unopened or deleted.

Ann Sieg, author of The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing, The Renegade Network Marketer and the recently released Attraction Marketer's Manifesto claims,

"This violates what I believe to be the most
important commandment of email marketing...

THOU SHALT GET THY EMAIL OPENED!"

Here's are some simple steps that you can implement right now to make sure that you are reaching your audience:

1. Avoid using hype, exclamation marks or anything that screams at your prospect - this puts you in the spam category. Not only does this decrease the chance that your email is read, it might even provoke the recipient (prospect) to want off your mailing list.

2. Be personable

Use emails that you've received from personal friends as references. Put this friendly tone in your subject lines. If you can change from a business-like attitude to a personal one, more of your emails will get opened.

3. Use the Zeigarnik Effect to keep them hanging

The Zeigarnik effect is the placement of suspence to keep people interested. It's like when a friend starts to tell you a really juicy secret and then she has another phone call and she'll have to call you later. . .You are dying to know what it is!

When people are online, their attention is being pulled in hundreds of different directions.

Make it your top priority to cut through all this clutter and make your prospects pay attention
to YOU. First YOUR message. Then YOUR website. Then YOUR offer.

One of the best ways to do this is to insert the Zeigarnik Effect in your subject lines and emails.

Here's an example:

Subject line: Are you making these major mistakes in your business?

Email: Even seasoned MLMers make these biggies. Whether experienced or just starting out, you cannot afford to make these mistakes. Check out what they are and how to avoid them at www.yourwebsite.com.

If you can find a way to inject The Zeigarnik Effect into your subject lines and emails while using a friendly and personal touch, your prospects will respond at a much higher rate.

Did you know that the the most effective follow-up method for ANY business is sending personalized greeting cards and postcards?

Why do you think this is?

1. Cards and postcards almost always get delivered and read because most of us get excited when we receive one in the mail - it makes us feel good!

2. This type of communication is perceived as something more valuable than sending an email. It builds trust and good will.

3. People hold on to their cards so they don't forget about you - it's very hard to maintain that position in an email inbox!

So it just makes sense that if you send out cards to your email list, then they will also read your emails. You are not just one of the million people clamoring for their attention. Instead you have invested in them and they in turn will invest in you.

And remember, your cards should be personalized, handwritten and personally signed for you to get the best results.

If you're thinking that you don't have time to do this, think again!

I use a fantastic extremely easy-to-use system that allows you to choose from over 12,000 professionally designed and written cards. And you can customize your cards with your own handwriting, signature and photos all at the click of a button, from your own computer. You don't even have to worry about licking stamps - your cards are sent out directly from the system!

Take the time to build trust with your customers and you'll notice that they will be reading more of your emails.

Take a free test-run of this Personalized Card System here.