Writing Emails

The Importance Of List Hygiene and Writing Emails That Get Opened

BySandy Allain Reading Time: 7 minutes

No matter how great your e-mail marketing technique and how engaging your subject headings, the chances of achieving buyers and building a connection with your fans is zero if no one sees or opens your messages.
Perhaps, the most crucial aspect among all of your e-mail marketing strategy is only getting through the junk mails so that your messages can get read. It is something that a lot of marketers struggle with most. Please continue to read this so you’ll understand what you can do about it.
The first one is to avoid using marketing language. Words like ‘buy’ and other related terms could risk sending your e-mail to the spam folder because it like you are trying to make money by selling something. What’s more, is that those words will make your reader filter you manually and ignore your e-mail for real.
Now that you have the idea of keeping it to a minimum, the next step is to ensure that you do not repeat some critical mistakes. One of the errors to avoid is using too many exclamation marks and writing too much in uppercases.
Likewise, if you will be using a lot of images, then make sure that you give them the proper alt tags on the e-mail so that the client can work out on they are about.
Try to control the length of your e-mail to a minimum. If your e-mail has exceeded a thousand words count, then prepare yourself getting banned.
Here’s a simple trick, humbly ask your recipients to add your e-mail address to their “allowed senders” list. It will ensure that your e-mail won’t go to spam.

List Hygiene

Another thing to think about is blacklisting. If your IP becomes blacklisted by Google, Yahoo, or Outlook, this only means that none of your e-mails gets through those said addresses. It occurs if you kept on sending e-mails to addresses that always bounces – so take some time to ‘clean’ your e-mail lists regularly to prevent the thing from occurring. It is what we call “list hygiene.”
You can look for “list hygiene tools” in your autoresponder. These can be used to check for typographical errors like “bob@gmailcom” and automatically shift to these contacts. You can also do this manually but to a lesser extent.
Looking at your bounce rates from time to time is also a reasonable manner. Check for ‘hard bounces,’ which are permanent delivery options. After that, look out for inactive subscribers. If someone hasn’t opened any of the messages within the year, you may as well remove them from the list.
It is also a reason why you should never buy a list from someone. Purchasing a list of e-mails means most likely buying e-mails that have been scraped off of the web or tricked into signing them up unwillingly.
Even if it’s in a different case, you’ll still be using someone else’s audience. It is a list of contacts that has nothing to do with you, and that you haven’t built a relationship with. In short, they will never have a reason to be interested in what you are about to tell them.
PLUS! Buying a list is expensive! Remember that we are trying to build this on a tight budget! It’s a lost cause.

Preventing Spam

When you thought of spam and e-mail marketing, you’ll probably be thinking of spam messages are those e-mails that clog the recipient’s inboxes. E-mail spamming is notorious, and one of your responsibility as a marketer is to differentiate yourself from the spam e-mails.
But what about you? As an e-mail marketer yourself, you could still be prone to spam!
There are several materials out there that will scour the web for anything they can sign up for. For instance, some people will enter fake e-mails to get into gated content or make their way inside.
Less malicious people are those that just accidentally entered typos when they’re signing up, or some have abandoned their old e-mail accounts. Of course, some people on your mailing list may have departed to the afterlife.
Then again, it’s your job to keep your mailing list ‘clean’ to reduce the bounce rates and making sure that all your messages are being delivered to the intended recipients.
You can even add a spam filter on the opt-in form itself – most of the autoresponders must have this feature.

Double Opt-In

One of the best resolutions to help you deter people who sign up for anything and everything that can help you prevent spam is to use a double opt-in.
It also implies that people who sign up will be asked to confirm their interest by responding to a follow-up e-mail. If they cooperated, this means that they are interested, and this will also prove that they are human. It will also make a person have a look at their inbox and look for your recent messages.
It will separate people from those that don’t have the time to read your messages and to some that have unwittingly entered their e-mail incorrectly!
No matter how pure your intention to the world, it is still possible for a well-meaning marketer to end up getting blacklisted. If so occurred and happens to you, you’ll need to search for “unblacklisting” forms online for each of those clients. Most probably, this will remove your e-mail from that list.
Take note: ideally, list hygiene is not just about removing e-mails that have to happen to be there by some chance. It would also mean pulling out anyone that doesn’t want to be in your mailing list. These people would just count as a gash to on your analytics, and only supports the risk of your e-mail getting blacklisted.
The main point is that it’s way better to have a list of 10 people that will be looking forward to every word you will send, rather than having 1,000 people who will never open your e-mail even once.

Cleaning Tools

One reason why using strategies like double opt-ins to keep your list clean is that it is a free option for list hygiene. Otherwise, you might need to pay for a list cleaning tool, which can be a lot more expensive.
Furthermore, this is a useful option to have on your reserved options. Although autoresponders might include list hygiene tools, these are far more powerful and will be better at finding inactive subscribers and incorrect addresses.
Good choices are:

  • Kickbox (https://kickbox.com/)
  • NeverBounce (https://neverbounce.com/)
  • BriteVerify (https://www.briteverify.com/)

Keeping People Engaged

Of course, you are at your most capable of keeping your audience attended to every word you say. It will all go down tested if your ability can also incorporate writing compelling e-mails that would make them consider reading those in the first place!
You must be careful with separating the informative/entertaining from those sales e-mails (there’s a slight exception if the value you provide is primarily in the form of discounts and offers!).
Ensure that you set aside your big sales pushes and provide lost, genuinely useful, and valuable information by the moment. Also, try to make it more sincere by comfortably setting the tone while having a conversation with your customer online or individual. It will make them feel more important. If you noticed that your engagement is kind of sloppy, then think of other ways to draw their attention back to your messages. One of the best moves is by giving away a big freebie! It works just like an incentive or lead magnet, except this time, it will be directed to those already in your e-mailing list.
Doing so will give them a good reason to open up that e-mail, but it will also assure you that they felt valued and even grateful for your kindness! It can drastically improve your relationship with these members.

The Best Subject Headings

Other than “avoiding the spam folder,” the purpose of a good subject line is to pique someone’s interest immediately. It is a fine line from being bombastic, but the first tip on ensuring that each of your e-mails has something exciting and compelling to impart. It means to say that you should also be open about what’s inside your e-mail!
With that being said, once more, try to attack the emotional side of your readers again. That means adding a little bit of mystery to your headlines so that they are less likely to get compelled to click to learn more about what you are saying. It would be great if you also search for topics that haven’t been covered repeatedly, and that therefore sound inherently new and exciting for people interested in the niche.
Lastly, try to use questions derived from facts, and always refer to the readers by their names.
For Your Benefit: A List of Spam Terminologies to Avoid in Your E-mails

  • Online dating • Credit • Cost • Price • 100% free • Subject to credit • Chance • Remove • Satisfaction • Maintained • Dear • Free • Buy • Earn $ • Meet singles • Handbags • Money making • Viagra • Opportunity • While you sleep • Work from home • Online degree • Guarantee • Member • Name brand • Long-distance • Message contains • No disappointment • Gift certificate • Deal • No gimmick • No obligation • No selling • Prize • Per day • Unsolicited • Vacation offers • Unlimited • Per week         • Offshore • Winner • Free consultation • Promotion • Great offer

CONCLUSION

Here are the takeaways from this chapter:

  • Don’t use spam words
  • Ask to be moved to the inbox
  • Write subject lines that are personal, engaging, and eye-catching
  • Use double opt-in
  • Make unsubscribing easy
  • Avoid overly tempting lead magnets
  • Manually remove nonengaged e-mails
  • Don’t buy lists!
  • Use a spam filter on your form
  • Avoid images and large attachments
  • Don’t make e-mails too long
  • Build up to selling
  • Keep providing great value.