How to Send Emails that get Delivered and Read

Today it’s harder to send an email that makes it through all the spam filters, makes it to its destination, and goes into the person’s inbox rather than their junk mail folder. If you are sending email to a wide audience, it’s even tougher.

The first thing to do is to think like the intended recipient of your email. With so many unwanted messages coming into their inbox every day, it is important to consider how they will view your message. How can they tell if it is junk or something that they want to read?

Here are some tips to increase your successful delivery:

1. Send your messages from the same e-mail address each time. You should also encourage your intended recipients to add your email address to their “safe” or “white” list of contacts (usually by adding them to your address book) ensuring that your mail doesn’t go straight to the Spam or trash folders.

2. If you are using an auto-responder, adding a “hello” or “welcome” message to the verification message can increase the number of people who validate their information and complete the opt-in process.

3. The return address and subject line should be informative. The name of your business (or your personal name, if you have branded your business using your own name) should be part of your e-mail address for ease of recognition. The subject line should provide enough information to make them want to read more.

Example: From: “Pain Management of Seattle” Subject: Back Pain Relief Tips

4. Limit your subject lines. Each mail program allows a different number of characters, 50-60 being the average. In most cases, only the first few words will be visible when a person is scanning the subject lines in their email inbox, so put the most interesting and important words first (in the first 6-8 words).

5. Make your message concise. People are more likely to skim than to read large blocks of information. Use headers and bullet points to allow your reader to find the information they want.

6. Use hyperlinks sparingly. Emails that have a lot of links to web addresses are often automatically flagged as spam.

7. Avoid spam trigger words. Most autoresponder systems have
a facility for checking your outgoing emails for words and phrases that tend to trigger spam filters. Generally, words and phrases that promise that the recipient will make money, and sentences that are filled with hyperbole will increase the odds that your email will be flagged as spam. This is an area where many people go overboard and create unnatural looking emails in an attempt to get around spam filters and, as a result, send an email that looks unprofessional. Rather than obsessing over spam filters that may send your email to the junk mail folder unless your recipient adds you to their address book or “white list”, focus on producing a clear, concise, and professionally written message.

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