- Don't send SPAM! Most people don't want to receive emails with jokes, marketing or sales material so don't send those emails to people who didn't specifically ask for it.
- Use a double opt-in signup form. Users who want to receive your marking or other mass emails should complete an online form, where they submit their email address and then confirm that the email address by clicking on a link that should be emailed to them. Most mass mailling applications, like pommo / phplist / mailman have this feature.
- Have an easy unsubscribe link. Users should be able to unsubscribe quickly and effortlessly. The unsubscribe link is normally in the footer of the email with clear instructions on how to unsubscibe.
- Tell people where you got their details from. Most people will forget that they signed up for a mailing list, unless you put some clear instructions on how or where you obtained their information.
- Honor the scope of the list's intent. If your mailing list is about jokes, then stick to sending jokes. If it's a self-help list, then don't try and sell product services on the list.
- Honor the frequency of the list. Specify up-front how often someone could expect emails from the list and stick to the specified frequency. If a client expected an email once a week but received an email every day, they could mark your emails as spam
- Don't hide your identity. Send the emails as yourself, or from your company. "Forged" or poorly assgined "From:" headers could cause your emails to be marked as spam as well.
- Segregate your lists. If you have different terms for marketing, announcements and billing / invoicing purposes, then rather send those mass emails from different servers if possible.
- Remove all bounce emails immediately. Large amounts of bounce emails, because the recipients email address doesn't exist anymore or is misspelled, could cause your domain, IP address or server to be blacklisted. This is referred to as "backscatter" Most mailing list applications will do this automatically but might need to be configured properly.
- Avoid bad email subjects. Email subject typed in ALL CAPS are a no go. Also, use punctiation marks sparingly. A subject like "DOWNLOAD OUR FREE WALLPAPER NOW!!!!!!!" will most definately get your email blacklisted
- Avoid common spam words. Common spam words, like "free, gaurenteed, cash, click, viagra, rolex, giveaway, holiday, win, earn, work, credit, winner, debt, collect, tax" should be avoided where possible, or other used very sparingly.
- Avoid the word "test". Even if you want to send yourself a test email, rather use something else. Spam filters get suspicious of emails containting "test" in the subject or body.
- Personalize who the email is addressed to.
- Always include a plain text alternative. A common tactic for spammers is to only send an HTML version of the email and spam filters often block HTML-only emails for this very reason.
- Keep images to a minimum. Rather link to an online version of your "newsletter" if you need a lot of images, with a "read more online" link or something like that to entice the user to read the online version.
- Keep email content short and to the point.
- Don't yell! An email typed in ALL CAPPS is considered as yelling and seen as rude. Most users will mark such email as spam without even reading the contents of the email.
- Avoid pushy calls to action. Apply more grace to your call to actions than "click here!" or "click here now!" or "act now!" or "limited time only." Instead, create enticing calls to action like "see how our software can help" or "download the Facebook guide to become an expert."
- Send from your company email rather from a free email account. This is very important. Clients will react more to a company generated email, than a marketing mail from a free email account.
- Ask the client to "whitelist" your email address. As soon as the client has confirmed his email address using the opt-in proccess on your website, ask him to "whitelist" your email address to ensure email delivery.
These are some recommended guideline to ensure email delivery. We also recommend the following URL's for further information:
CAN SPAM Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003
ISPA Spam regulations: http://ispa.org.za/spam/
