Spam filters have gotten better over the years, but their accuracy has not necessarily increased. Email marketers struggle with this problem every day, working hard to play by the rules and provide real value to their subscribers – only to have their carefully crafted messages end up in the recipients’ spam folders.
You can fight back against this problem in a number of different ways. You can work even harder to make sure your mailing list is clean and well maintained. You can review your bounces and delivery statistics and use them to tweak future marketing campaigns. All of these strategies can be very effective, but there is another – even more effective – strategy you may be missing.
This one requires action on the part of your list subscribers, but it just could be the best way to keep your messages where they belong – in front of your readers. Simply asking your subscribers to whitelist you can make a huge difference in your delivery rate and allow your readers to continue getting the valuable information they signed up for.
Getting your recipients to whitelist you is very effective, and not all that difficult. If you want to improve your company’s reputation, reach more potential customers and avoid the dreaded junk mail folder, here are some tips to get you started.
- Add whitelisting instructions to your email. Many of your subscribers would gladly whitelist you if they knew how. Adding clear instructions to your marketing emails makes it easy for them to do so.
- Ask recipients to add you to their contact or safe senders list. Again, providing instructions will make it easier for your subscribers and improve the response rate.
- Add a blurb to your thank you page. The thank you page is the perfect place to ask subscribers to whitelist you. They are already thinking about your company – otherwise they wouldn’t have signed up in the first place.
- Use the welcome email. The initial email you send is also a great place to ask for whitelisting. Just include instructions in the email to make it as easy as possible.
- Put a link in the preheader. A simple link in the preheader provides an easy and simple way for recipients to whitelist you.
- Include a link that allows subscribers to change email addresses. You never want to send messages to an inactive email address, so make it easy for subscribers to switch addresses.
- Make the unsubscribe list easy to find. You do not want to keep sending messages to recipients who no longer want to see them. Placing the unsubscribe link at the top of the page can keep your list cleaner and make sure future messages are reaching the right people.
Getting your subscribers to whitelist you is one of the best ways to enhance your reputation, improve your deliverability statistics and improve your sales. The tips above can help you get started and make sure every message you send is read and welcomed by the recipient.