Why is Permission Email Marketing not the Same Thing as Spam?

Who hasn’t heard of Spam? Everyone has! We all get it and we all delete it. It may be upsetting, but the plain truth is that it does work. The more emails that are sent the better the response. But, for us average marketers permission based emailing can produce better results because it can generate leads that are much more responsive.

The average person gets over 300 email a week, and about 60 percent of them are spam! So if you are an email marketer what can you do? One solution is through permission based email marketing.

What does effective permission email marketing involve? First you must get the permission of the customer. You can do this by using a double opt in technique which requires them to click on a link in an email which is sent to them right after they complete a registration form. This means that the recipient has expressed an interest in receiving emails from you, the sender. Of course the subscriber is also given the opportunity to unsubscribe at anytime.

The goal of email marketing should be to attract interest and build a desire for your product or services. It is still one of the most cost effective ways to contact current customers and to convince prospects to become customers. When done honestly, permission email marketing can be one of the most productive, free advertising resources available.

TIP: Provide value and your prospects will be more likely to check out a few of your advertisements.

So, what is the difference between spam and permission based emails?

Permission email marketing involves only sending emails to people who have requested to receive them. Implementing a successful permission email marketing campaign should not be difficult, but what may not be easy is consistently doing what needs to be done every day!

Spam is never helpful and rarely has any value. Sending spam will never have any positive impact on any legitimate business. But, permission email marketing is all about turning those we do not know into friends and then those friends into customers. By focusing on prospects who are really interested in your offer you have a much better chance of turning them into customers.

TIP: Your prospects may respond to your emails if your message relates to their interests.

What might compel a reader to open your email?

1. The from field. Make sure your company name is clearly visible in the from field, and you should not use it for anything else.

2. The subject line. The most compelling subject lines contain discount offers, interesting news, and free offers.

Some key assumptions with which you should approach every email marketing campaign are:

- You will need to send out multiple email messages over a fixed period of time to get any results. You can then test various messages. Remember that it is all about numbers and percentages. One day a prospect will ignore your email and the next day open it and purchase your product or service.

- The beginning of your message can be most important. Provide a few accurate, thought compelling words in the beginning of your message and avoid starting with bland copy or your company name. Avoid using words such as we, leading, solution or there are. Know what interests your readers and then give it to them, right from the start!

The goal of permission based email marketing is to generate interest in your prospects which may then lead to an actual sale.

Unsolicited bulk email or Spam is not worth the risk. Your domain will end up being blocked by many ISPs and you may even face some legal challenges.

In case you have not figured it out yet; permission based email is the ultimate free advertising resource for the internet marketer.

Copyright 2008 Joe Rispoli

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Check Your Email Marketing Newsletters For Spam

Spam is serious business and it can really cause your email marketing campaign some big headaches if recipients of your newsletter consider your emails spam. Luckily, there are methods to test your newsletters and other emails before you ever send them out to determine if they are “spam” or not. There are many spammers out there and the more there are the more difficult your work as an email marketer becomes. Not only do you have to compete with other marketers for the attention of your customers, but you also have to find ways to keep your email from being considered spam so that it will actually arrive in your intended recipients email inbox.

It may sound incredible, but even Internet Service Providers are taking control of the spam nightmare and filtering out emails that could potentially be spam.

The emails are all filtered for certain trigger phrases that are common with spammers. Writing styles that are “aggressive” as well as certain types of formatting are also considered when evaluating emails for spam. Those that are deemed spam are prevented from being delivered. Unfortunately, there are some emails that are not spam that are blocked by these well meaning ISPs and many times these are emails from email marketers. The best way to get around this situation is to use a spam checker.

What’s a Spam Checker
A spam checker is the best way to find out if your newsletter or other marketing material will be considered spam and kicked out by the recipient’s ISP. All you have to do is submit your marketing material to a spam checker and then wait for it to be analyzed. In most cases the report will be returned quickly and provide a scale of “spam” for your newsletter. It’s basically a ranking to let you know how “spammy” your newsletter is. The benefit in this is that this will give you an idea of whether you need to do some rewriting and editing or if your newsletter is fine as it is. Knowing this up front is important simply because it will allow you to check all of the marketing emails you want to send out before you do. If there is a problem you will know up front and be able to change it. This is much better than sending out lots of emails only to have ISPs delete them or send them back to you.

There are many different ways you can go about checking your  email marketing efforts for spam. What’s recommended is that you check every single email that you are planning on sending out to your subscribers. It’s better to be safe than sorry and the effort you put into de-spamming your marketing materials the more sales you will make so it’s definitely worthwhile.

Benefits Of Spam Checking Email Marketing Campaigns

There are many benefits of spam checking your email marketing campaigns and if you are interested in being successful then you will not ignore these benefits. In fact, if you do ignore them it is quite possible that you will not have a very successful campaign because many of your emails will go undelivered because they will be marked as spam. That’s something many email marketers are unaware of and it is very important to know and understand. With spam being such a huge problem many ISPs are taking it upon themselves to reduce spam. As a result, they scan emails before delivering them for certain phrases, layout, and key terms. Those emails that meet any of the triggers will not be delivered because they will be marked as spam. Follow the tips outlined below to help create an email marketing campaign that will be successful and won’t be deemed as spam. 

Increase Deliverability of Emails
The biggest benefit of spam checkers is that they help you improve the chances of your emails being delivered. There are enough obstacles email marketers have to deal with when it comes to having their emails opened and read and adding the issue of ISPs blocking emails is somewhat frustrating. However, any savvy and smart email marketer will pay attention to what’s going on in the industry and have a spam checker evaluate all content before it is sent out. Emails, newsletters, and the like can all be “graded” to determine their level of spam. Content that passes can be sent out as is, however content that doesn’t will need to be changed enough so that it can meet the spam checker’s qualification of “no spam.

Improve Opinion of Products/Services
Another benefit of spam checkers is that they will help you improve the overall opinion of your products and services. The reason why is that when you use a spam checker you will have an idea of how your newsletter or marketing materials will be received. When your marketing materials pass as not being spam then this is the way the majority of your customers will respond to the marketing emails, too. Today, people are fed up with spam and anything that even closely resembles it will get deleted immediately if it isn’t blocked first by the ISP. So, follow the spam checker’s suggestions and send out a newsletter or other marketing email that is spam free!

Reduce Risks of Spamming
Spamming has many risks within itself and even if you don’t think you are spamming, your recipients might. This is a fine line and one that email marketers certainly have to walk along. What’s important is that when you use a spam checker to evaluate your content you will ensure that everything you send out is on the up and up. That’s really important and it will keep you out of trouble, which could include big fines and other problems!

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Your Online Email Marketing Campaign is not Spam

Earlier this year, internet security provider Tumbleweed Communications issued a press release stating among other things, “The spam problem will continue to grow and be increasingly profit-driven. Spammers will continue to exploit new ways to circumvent spam filters, such as using video and audio files to avoid detection.”

Spam has affected everything from mobile phones to web search engines but nothing compares to the damage it has done to online email marketing. It’s tough enough getting people to open your email considering they are bombarded constantly with some form of advertising online or off .But spam has created such a stigma, that many people view nearly any advertisement in their email box as spam.

You can’t blame them but you still have to do business online and marketing by email is a powerful tool that should be a major part of your internet business. Therefore you need to structure your email marketing campaign so as to avoid any accusations of spamming but still be able to advertise your product or service to potential customers. Here are some tips to help you accomplish this:

1. What’s it worth.

When you offer something of value in your email marketing campaign such as a well written article filled with useful content, the chances increase that people will check it out. Make references to your product without letting your email turn into one long sale letter. Focus on providing quality information.

2. Watch your language.

We’ve all seen those “do nothing and earn a million dollars” emails. If you ever want to trigger an anti spam filter, this is the way to do it. Stay away from using lingo that makes outrageous claims. Any over the top descriptions concerning a specific product or service will likely be considered brazen promotion. Even if it manages to survive the anti spam filter, email recipients will probably wind up deleting it anyway. No matter how good or excited you are about your product, your email marketing campaign must sound believable.

3. Know Your Audience

The best way to do this is to only send your email out to people you know would be interested. Even if you have been very careful to avoid blatant advertising and structured your email so it provides quality information, it can still irritate email recipients who have no use for your product. This is where a little research can help your email marketing strategy. If you can personalize your email so it reflects common interest between you and your audience so much the better.

4. Quiet Please

By this I mean don’t place your website link in every paragraph. This practice can strike email recipients as a “hard sell” which is just another phrase for blatant advertising. Focus on keeping your web links to the least amount possible. Integrate them smoothly into your copy. Make it so that it entices people to learn more about your offer. “To get more information check out (your) web link” is a lot better than “Buy the product now by clicking this link.”

Spam is not going away anytime soon therefore you must take it into consideration when doing business online. But this doesn’t mean you should let it stop you from implementing an email marketing system. Just provide quality information in a believable manner that gets your target market curious to learn more. When you do this, people won’t mind spending time checking out what you have to say.

Avoiding the Spam Filters and Other Email Marketing Tips

Email marketing, as many of us know, can be a powerful, inexpensive method of reaching our most active potential or existing customers. It can boost not only our direct sales, but also our credibility and referrals.

One of the major benefits of email marketing is that email is free, but obviously this is the same reason why spam has become so popular and so frustrating. With spam comes spam filters and with spam filters comes the blocking of legitimate email.

In this article I’ll try and describe the basic steps that can help reduce the number of emails you send out that get blocked by spam filters — hopefully resulting in a more rewarding marketing effort.
The right selection of words Many spam filters work by analyzing the email based on its content and the words used. Many words — such as free, sex and so forth — are very heavy spam trigger keywords. Your priority should be to avoid such words while keeping your newsletter as professional as possible.

Later in this article I will show you a technique that I use to help me detect words that could trigger spam filters that I may have missed.

Pay attention to your formatting When formatting your email, keep it simple and professional. Excessive use of different colors, fonts, sizes, images and so forth will result in a higher spam filtering rate. Keep your email as clean as possible, and try to stick to a maximum of 2 or 3 different font types and sizes. Overly large sized fonts will surely add to an email being flagged as spam, as will too many images (or not enough text).

Try and use a short and simple stylesheet rather than using font tags excessively. Most spam filters don’t appreciate a multitude of font tags and inline formatting, and the more primitive filters can’t detect stylesheets so they will not penalize as easily.

Consistency is king Use a template if you plan on sending newsletters consistently. This will make sure that all your newsletters look and feel the same. It will also add a touch of professionalism and branding to your newsletters.

Whilst not directly affecting spam filters, this will enable your readers to distinguish your newsletter instantly, thus not reporting it as spam accidentally. Some spam filters work by querying a spam server, whereas others report individual emails as spam. If your email gets reported as spam, then more than likely multiple spam filters will flag your email.

Being consistent with your timing of the newsletter also helps. For example, if you send a newsletter once per month (I personally don’t recommend you send out any more than this, unless you’ve got something really interesting to say), then aim to send it out at the same time, on the same day each month.

Once again, your potential readers will learn to expect your email, adding professionalism and often improving open rates, also reducing accidental spam flagging as well.

Always use Double Opt-in Always make your mailing lists double opt-in. This means that when a user subscribes to your mailing list, they will be sent an email with a link that they must click on to confirm their subscription.

This is very important because many people can accidentally enter an incorrect email address, or even the email address of someone else on purpose. When that person receives a newsletter they did not subscribe to, they will assume they have been spammed, and your newsletter (and possibly your web server) will be reported as spam.

Unsubscribe and Contact Information Every newsletter you send out should contain a way for the reader to unsubscribe. Not doing so is illegal in some countries and is an instant sign of spamming. You should also display your contact information (Phone, Fax and Address) clearly, as this greatly increases confidence in your email and your company, as well as conforms to spam laws in the United States. Contact information also allows a potential customer to contact you if need be.

Test,Test, Test The key to avoiding spam filters is testing. The first method of testing I use is to send the newsletter to multiple email accounts with existing spam filters. For example, I have a Gmail (http://www.gmail.com) account and a Hotmail (http://www.hotmail.com) account that I make sure I send my newsletter to. If the newsletter ends up in the junk folder, then I’ve got some work to do.
I also have a couple of email accounts with different web hosts that have spam filters in place. In particular, they mostly use spam assassin — a popular piece of spam filtering software. Spam assassin is useful because every email that it flags as spam is given a report and a list of why that email was considered spam.

I also have a local spam filtering application called No Spam Today! for Workstations, that runs a local copy of spam assassin on my PC. It acts as a very close replica to the same software used on thousands of servers world-wide. By sending myself copies of the newsletter No Spam Today! — using the spam assassin checking techniques — gives me feedback as to why my email may have been flagged. If I’ve used words or formatting that I shouldn’t have, or if I’ve included too many images, etc.

Conclusion Avoiding spam filters when sending out legitimate newsletters can be a time consuming effort. However, as your mailing list grows, it can also be a very beneficial exercise. I’ve watched open rates of just 2 to 3% soar to a massive 50% and over, simply by applying the techniques described in this article.

In conclusion, I hope that you’ve found the above tips useful and I wish you luck with your email marketing endeavors!