Did you know that 93% of B2B marketers use email to distribute content? If you’re a business spending a lot of time on crafting the perfect content for your emails, you want to make sure it lands in your audience’s inbox.
The spam folder is the dreaded end for your email campaign, so let’s learn about how to perform an inbox test before you send them out – making sure they make it to the main inbox.
Why and How to Do an Inbox Test
Many marketers spend hours writing email campaigns only to have them end up in the spam folder because they don’t know all the algorithms and rules regarding email and spam laws. Their emails never get seen by customers, they stop qualifying leads, and their salespeople have a smaller pool to sell to.
To make matters worse, these algorithms are constantly changing, so it’s hard to stay up to date.
There are programs you can use that help you identify any unforeseen issues with email deliverability prior to sending them out. However, being informed about email deliverability yourself allows you to solve issues in light of not having a program.
How to Test Deliverability
There are several things to do to test your email deliverability prior to starting your email campaigns to make sure they land in the inbox. They don’t take a lot of time and benefit your marketers and sales team greatly.
Blacklisting
Finding out if your IP address or company domain name is blacklisted. There are several blacklists out there such as Composite Blocking List (CBL), Spamhaus Block List (SBL), XBL Exploits Block List, Spambot, Passive Spam Block List (PSBL), Invaluement, Barracuda, and SenderScore.
You can check your IP address with them directly, and they report back to you on if your domain and IP address are blocked.
If they are, you have a serious problem and will need to get a new domain name or IP address. This is difficult if you are a business, so it’s best to ensure you’re doing it right from the get-go.
Screening Your Email Messages
Always check your emails before sending them out. Send them to yourself, or to a colleague to ensure the spam filter allows them through. There are also programs that allow you to send your emails to a list of email addresses and it provides the results to you.
Misleading Subject Lines
According to the CAN-SPAM Act, it’s illegal to mislead someone with your email subject line. Misuse of subject lines may lead to people reporting your emails as spam, and decrease your email deliverability score. The same goes for not including an unsubscribe link. All emails must have this so the user can unsubscribe.
Make It to the Inbox Every Time
Now you have the steps to check your emails with an inbox test before sending them out, reducing the risk of sending out spam. If your company doesn’t have the bandwidth to check all your emails, you’re in luck.
We work hard to provide email enhancement solutions for spam and inbox testing, putting it all in one place for you. Check it out today!