As Marketers, you depend on email marketing to generate engagement and increase revenue growth. But are your emails reaching your customer’s inbox or SPAM folder?
If you’re transitioning to a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Email Service Provider (ESP) platform, it's best practice to implement an IP warming strategy to ensure your message is reaching your customers.
IP warming involves sending emails from a dedicated IP address and gradually increasing the volume of emails sent according to a predetermined schedule. This gradual process helps to establish a reputation with ISPs (Internet Service Providers) as a legitimate email sender.
To help you implement a successful IP warming strategy, here are a few best practices to consider:
Refer to your Engagement Data
The foundation of your IP warming strategy is determined by your engagement data, which tells you what content your customers are interested in and how engaged they are with your content (i.e. open and click-through rate). This information allows you to filter through your email list and successfully send your first batch of emails from the new IP address to those who are more likely to open your email.
Tip: Send to your most engaged subscribers first and gradually introduce other segments of your list with less engaged subscribers.
No engagement data? No problem. Although it’s possible to run an IP warm-up without engagement data, keep in mind that it may take longer to sort through your email list and send out emails to gain traction and engage your customers. In this case, we recommend lowering the number of emails you send out and gradually increasing them over a period of time, as well as tracking your email open and click-through rates.
Gradual Increase
Start with a small volume of emails, and gradually increase the volume each week according to a set schedule. Depending on the number of email subscribers, an IP warm-up process can take an average of 8-9 weeks.
How to avoid the SPAM filter
There are a variety of reasons why your emails may be reaching your recipients SPAM folder. When your email is sent, the recipient’s ISP scans your email for suspicious content and rates the legitimacy of the source.
One way to avoid the SPAM folder is avoiding “trigger words”. There are a number of words that are red flagged and should be avoided at all cost. Avoiding these words increases your chances of bypassing the SPAM folder and landing directly in your customer’s inbox. Keep in mind that trigger words different based on your industry. We encourage you to do your research and make note of these specific words.
Here are a few words to avoid in your subject lines and email content going forward:
- Urgent
- You’re a winner
- Guarantee
- No hidden costs
- Cash
- $$$
- Pre-approved
- Passwords
- Why pay more?
- Don’t delete
- This is not spam
- S-P-A-M
Helpful Resources
Your Sender Score measures the health of your email program. Sender Score is a number between 0 and 100 that identifies your sender reputation and shows you how mailbox providers view your IP address.
Scan your emails across key spam filters to identify and resolve issues before you press send.
As veterans of email marketing, with more than a decade of experience, Bubblebox has the experience to ensure that your emails will have an impact and convert. From deliverability to creative, we can help. Get in touch with us.
