HTML... I have a confession: I don't even know what it stands for. But do marketers need to speak geek? Do you know your DKIM from your Kim Dotcom? Does thinking about SPF give you ADD?
Surely email marketing is like driving a car: You don't need to know how it all works, you just use it. It's simple: Choose your list, craft your message, send it into the world, and track the results.
Except when it breaks down and then you wish you knew a bit more than the basics! And email marketing can break down, including at delivery, when your beloved newsletter gets mistaken for spam.
Spam filters are here to make our lives better. But as marketers we feel frustrated if they block our emails. Using an email marketing application to be professional is a commendable step, but it's also good to know how to "pimp your ride," or fine-tune it, to get the best results.
Let's take a quick look under the hood of email delivery.
Four Ways to Get Your Spam Score Low Like a Pro...
1. Tag it
An alt tag is used when the reader cannot view the image in their mailbox (if their email client blocks images, for example, or if the person is visually impaired). It is a description of the image in HTML code (that word again!) shown when the image isn't displayed.
For example, for the image to the right, in the following snippet of code the the alt tag would be "mechanic under car": <img src="garage.gif" alt="mechanic under car">
What you need to do: Add alt tags to your images. You should be able to add alt tags within your email marketing software, without having HTML coding knowledge. When you use alt tags, your readers know what each image is about even when they don't see them.
Moreover, spam filters can't "see" images, but they can "read" alt tags and thus are reassured by them: An image without an alt tag is an unknown blob to a spam filter and therefore looks suspicious. So do yourself a favor and add the alt tags to keep them happy.
2. Don't cut and paste
If you're using an email marketing tool, bringing in text directly from Word (or PowerPoint or Outlook) will mess up the HTML coding in your email. Instead, you can copy text from those Microsoft Office programs and paste it into Notepad (to convert the formatted text into raw text), and then cut/paste from Notepad into your email software, where you can do additional formatting.
3. Be authentic
Internet service providers (ISPs) such as AOL, Verizon, etc. use a combination of various methods of email authentication to confirm that the domain you are sending emails from can be trusted—i.e., that you're not spam.
What you need to do: In the settings of your marketing software, check the box "Enable authentication" to maximize your delivery. When you do, the email service provider (ESP) will be able to digitally sign and send on your behalf.
There are four main authentication methods: SPF (Sender Policy Framework), Sender ID, DomainKeys, and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). Your email provider should be certified to apply all of these protocols on your behalf.