Filters that keep legitimate spam out of your inbox can block e-mail as well. Here's how to improve deliverability and boost open and response rates.
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Ask recipients to add you to their address book. This is the best way to avoid filters and ensure your e-mail is delivered. Include a request that reminds users why they're receiving your e-mail and when they opted in to receive it: “You were sent this e-mail because you opted in for information from ABC Co. To ensure you receive future e-mails, please add abc@abcco.com to your address book or safe sender list.”
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Stick with your “from” name and address. Once your “from” address is added to an address book, changing it will cause your e-mail to be filtered again.
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“De-spam” your content. Look for spam-filter triggers — promotional words and phrases, multiple exclamation points, all capital letters and other text often used by spammers.
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Keep Yahoo!, AOL and Hotmail customers happy. These ISPs use shared filtering, so when one customer reports your e-mail as spam, deliverability decreases.
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Use a permission-based e-mail marketing provider. These companies work hard to demonstrate a history of low undeliverable e-mails and complaint rates. The low rates allowed them to develop white-list relationships with major ISPs that produce higher deliverability rates.
CHIP HOUSE is vice president for privacy and deliverability at Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, a provider of permission-based e-mail marketing services.
