Putting up barriers

Due to the high volume of spam landing in the average inbox on a daily basis it can be tricky for recipients to judge the validity of an email.

It’s no wonder then that, as a direct result, email clients are acting on the user's behalf by providing a ‘spam’ option on top of existing spam filters. 

Email clients don’t tend to set high spam filters in case they interrupt the path of genuine emails. 

The spam option works as an alternative route, allowing users to report received emails as spam, which are then traced back to the sender and blocked. 

However, an email displaying HTML, images or attachments can also be trapped by spam filters and may not arrive in the inbox.

To overcome this, email clients may not automatically download and display HTML, images or attachments. Instead the user is prompted to load images within emails by a 'Load Images' button or ‘View HTML’ option.

This provides fewer risks for the email client as they won’t be blocking emails which recipients have opted in to receive.

Understanding the barriers

How does this affect the sender?

When the HTML and images in an email are not automatically downloaded the recipient may not recognise it. This means they may either report the email to their email provider as spam or hit 'delete'. 

A further possibility is that recipients might use the spam option as a means of deleting emails – causing the sender to be reported and future emails blocked. 

This can be frustrating – even though you have ensured your recipient has agreed to receive your emails by opting in, and the HTML has been minimised to get through the spam filter, there is still a chance of being classed as spam.

Breaking the barriers down

How do we overcome these issues?

It boils down to building trust by including what we call 'Trust Earning Text'. Remind the recipient of who you are, tell them why you’re emailing, let them know how you obtained their data and encourage them to add you to their list of 'safe' addresses.

This last consideration will mean that in future the email client will recognise your emails without question.   

Information such as this should be positioned at the top of your email, in plain text format, so that it's viewable to the recipient from the outset, regardless of whether images have been downloaded or not.

Below are a few examples of the types of text we use in our emails:

'This email has been sent to you from Pure and contains important information and advice about email marketing.'

'If you'd like to carry on receiving the Email Marketing Manual please ensure you add this address to your safe list.'

Some people may need, or prefer, to view a graphical version of your email, so provide them with a link enabling them to do so:

'To view a graphical version of this email please click here'

Making a good first impression

If you have purchased a data list you will remain unknown to the recipient until they have read your message.

In this case you must again advise who you are but this time include information that will help to build their trust. For example:

'Pure is a member of the Direct Marketing Association and as a member of the DMA we abide by the Direct Marketing Code of Practice. Your details were obtained from a list provider and your data is being used in accordance with current business email legislation including the Data Protection Act & DPEC.'

By informing recipients of how their data was obtained, explaining that you are a member of a recognised association and abiding by email legislation you are reassuring recipients that you are genuine.

By following this advice you will increase your chances of not only arriving in the inbox but building trust and having your emails opened and read.