Graymail vs. Spam Mail

We all know what spam mail is and have been subjected to the annoyance of it since the creation of the internet. But, what is graymail and how is it different from spam mail? Graymail is different from spam mail because it comes from a legitimate source and has varying value to different people. It also is solicited and otherwise known as bacn. With graymail, the recipients opt-in to receive but don’t click through. For example, when you opt-in with your email address on a website to get emails and never interact with them. We know we’ve done this on multiple occasions and have eventually unsubscribed when they become annoying. Graymail can be newsletters, sales, ads, and just plain old announcements from a brand. The largest difference between graymail and spam is that users opt-in for graymail whereas spam is unsolicited. So, as a brand how can you use graymail to your advantage? First, you have to verify the IP addresses before delivering to avoid spam complaints. To keep your brand emails from becoming graymail, your content has to remain relevant to keep email service providers from sending them to the spam folder for continued lack of engagement. You can do this with re-engagement campaigns. For example, incentivize your audience with discounts, prize surveys, and even freebies. You can also use Graymail to test your sending frequency. This can help your brand see how much you should send your audience emails. Try different things. Once a week. Maybe once a month. Every other day. Do a run of each for a while and see each CTR. When user’s opt-in for your brand emails it’s important to follow some guidelines to hopefully keep your emails out of the graymail category altogether.

1.     Let them know exactly what they’re signing up for

2.     Immediately follow up after signing up

3.     Segment your audience

4.     Send relevant and engaging email content

We’ve all gone on those unsubscribe rampages at one point or another. Keep your brand emails from becoming victims of graymail by following these practices. Protect your brand’s email reputation with interesting content and appropriate mailing frequency. You can also exclude low-engagement users from your mailing lists. Keep your open rates on the up and up.

Scratch Baking: How to Build an Email List

Email marketing is one of the most effective. A stat according to Statista said that “companies make an average of $36 for every U.S. dollar they spend on email marketing.” That’s some pretty good ROI, right?! But… how do you get a quality email list? First, you have to get quality contact information. Second, you need relevant prospects who will want to buy what you are selling. Lastly, you will need to grow that quality, relevant list to BIG numbers. Here are a couple of ways to start an email list for your brand.

1.     Add an Opt-In button on your website: these could be in the form of “sign up for our newsletter” or “join our community.” It could even be a contact form for inquiries. No matter which one you go with, it should be on every page of your website.

2.     Collect emails in person: if you throw an event or have a brick-and-mortar store, you can collect emails with a sign-up sheet. In-person connections are still the best and produce the best results. Transition your encounters from IRL to URL.

3.     Pop-up offers: these can offer some type of discounted product/service for a signup. This speaks to the gated content we wrote about last week. Offer discounts for submitting email information to receive promotional codes.

No matter which methods you choose to build your email list, it’s important that you obtain permission for their information and never buy email lists. You want quality contacts that fit within your niche. With email marketing your efforts are more precise with targeted audiences and you can personalize their experience with your brand.

Email Marketing: Avoiding the Spam Folder

Spam filters are a great invention! It saves you from looking at unwanted emails constantly. However, as a brand or business owner, it can be a tough challenge to bypass in order to make sure your newsletters and other forms of email marketing are getting through. Spam filters work by using certain methods to identify potential red flags, such as checking the IP address against a black list of known spammers, deceptive subject lines and content within the email. These are all good things but when it comes to your marketing campaigns not so much. So, what are some solid ways to keep your emails out of the spam folders? Here are some of our tips.

1. Avoid spam triggers by:

   1. Always using an unsubscribe button

   2. Avoiding subject lines with all caps or exclamation points

   3. Staying away from attachments

   4. Adding too many images

2. Proof read people! Phishing emails tend to be laden with grammatical errors and can send your email to the spam folder if it contains to many typos.

3. Always get permission. This one goes without saying but let us reiterate. Make sure that your newsletter email list is full of people who have consented to receive them.

4. Email your subscribers regularly. This will help the spam checker to weed you out as a real person and not spam since your regularly sending emails to their addresses.

5. Whitelist your emails. All this means is that your recipients will add your email address to their contact list. Then, the spam checker will tell your emails to go into their inbox instead of the graveyard.

6. Use spam checkers. This system helps assist you in checking your emails for potential spam-like content. GlockApps and Mailmeteor are two great systems.

We hope this helps you on your email marketing journey. “41.5% of brands state that email marketing is critical to business success,” according to Litmus and we couldn’t agree more. Here at Locomotive we are always looking for more ways to improve our marketing and grateful to share our findings.