How to Avoid a Bride's Email Spam Filter?



Wedding Professionals:

It can be so frustrating. You follow all of the rules and sometimes your email campaigns still do not reach a percentage of brides’ inboxes. According to MailChimp, “You can expect 10-20% of your emails to just get lost in cyberspace, mostly due to overzealous spam filters.” While there is no quick fix, there are ways that have been proven to help overcome this challenge. Yes, this is another thing to think about when doing wedding marketing but guess what… more brides will get your email messages. This will expand both your relationships and your opportunity to earn more money.

Rule #1: First and foremost, make sure that you aren’t actually spamming your audience.
Spam (a.k.a. junk email) involves sending nearly identical email messages to numerous recipients who have not opted-in for this activity. So, take the spam test. Are you importing a purchased list of ANY kind? Are you sending to non-specific addresses such as: sales@domain.com, business@domain.com, webmaster@domain.com, info@domain.com, or other general addresses? Do you have any abuse@, postmaster@, or hostmaster@ domains on your list? Are you sending to distribution lists or mailing lists which send indirectly to a variety of email addresses? Are you mailing to anyone who has not explicitly agreed to join your mailing list?

Rule #2: Don’t use certain trigger words or phrases. This is especially true for your subject line. Don’t use words like free, affordable, all new, no hidden costs, risk free, etc. To help, I recently found a list of 100 words that you should avoid in your subject line.

Rule #3: Don’t use a lot of exclamation points!!!

Rule #4: DON’T use all CAPS.

Rule #5: Don’t use bright red or green for your font colors.


Rule #6: Don’t send just one large image in your email. Spam filters can’t read images and won’t trust your email.

Rule #7: Do use a spam checker. I personally use and highly recommend Constant Contact's spam checker. (If you'd like to try out Constant Contact, here's a link to their FREE 60-Day Trial). Before you send out your email, the spam checker can scan your email for things that the spam filters will look for.

These simple rules can save you both time and money. More importantly, they will maximize the value of the bride list that you worked so hard to accumulate. Are there other best practices that you have learned in order to avoid the bride’s spam filter?


About This Blog: Christine Dyer is the Creator and Founder of BridalTweet. Christine has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week, Sign Up for a Free BridalTweet Membership.

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Comment by Rev. Angela Chester on November 23, 2009 at 1:43pm
Thanks for posting such great information. We can always use tips to help us grow our business.
Comment by Astrid Mueller on November 30, 2009 at 7:24am
Great post and great topic, Christine, thanks!

Well the brides that you email to should have signed up for your newsletter (otherwise you may be spamming them). In my online sign-up process, I have a sentence in the confirmation that recommends to the bride she should add my email address to her address book. If all brides do that, they should theoretically all get your email. Whenever I do have problems with bounce emails, this has proven to be the main problem. Hope that helps!
Comment by Yelena Johnson on December 14, 2009 at 7:39am
The "100 Spam Triggers" link was super helpful - there are definitely words on there that you wouldn't think to avoid naturally, but now I'll know better. :) Thanks again for such a relevant article!

Yelena Johnson
Creative Director
The Stylish Soiree
StylishSoiree.wordpress.com
Comment by Captured Memories Photography on February 22, 2010 at 5:49pm
All good points. I appreciated this post. Thanks!
Comment by Deborah A. Holmes on June 14, 2010 at 6:01am
Thank you very helpful.
Comment by Sandra Lemin on June 15, 2010 at 4:40am
Great information!
Comment by Jenna Halek {Artistic Edition} on June 15, 2010 at 5:19am
Thanks for the helpful tips! :)
Comment by Invitations by Ajalon - Trish J on June 16, 2010 at 12:36pm
Good information. We use Constant Contact with excellent results. I've recently used their survey product as well, and received excellent feedback.
Comment by Tony Laub on August 11, 2010 at 5:56am
According to Yahoo business...Don't put your website link in the signature.
Comment by Megan Price on September 28, 2010 at 5:33am
Thank you. You always post the most helpful blogs!

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