As we outlined in earlier posts, effective e-mail marketing, such as drip campaigns, are an essential marketing tool for your B2B SaaS business, but if your intended audience’s spam filter blocks your e-mail, then all of your efforts are for naught.  Since spam filters become increasingly complex as they evolve, it is of the utmost importance for you to know how to keep your messages from being “spammed” before you send them.  Follow the following tips to help ensure that your email makes it to its intended inbox.

1. Watch your subject line

We’ve discussed before how a great subject line can be the determining factor in whether or not your e-mail gets opened. Great marketing campaigns grab and hold their audience’s attention, but is your subject line also garnering the attention of the spam filter?  When crafting your subject line, avoid the following:

• Trigger words: Spam filters block emails that contain words like “free”, “opportunity”, or “open”.  Carefully select your text to avoid being spammed.
• Yelling: Don’t unintentionally yell at your recipients by using all capital letters in your subject line. It’s not professional and make your emails easily flagged as spam.
• Excessive Excitement: Do not use exclamation points in your subject line.  Spam filters are designed to block symbols, not just words.

2. Minimize and clean your links

While it is important to include links that drive your clients to your website, spam filters often block emails containing an overabundance of links. The same is true of email that contains the sloppy HTML code that occurs when copying and pasting a link from Microsoft Word, or emails that contain shortened URLs. Keep the number of links to a minimum and take the time to make sure that they are complete.

3. Formatting and spelling matters

Spam filters scan for inconsistencies in formatting. Avoid using too many colors in your text, background colors, and large and unusual fonts so you don’t trigger an overzealous filter. While you’re at it, be sure to check your spelling. Not only will a potential client find these errors to be unprofessional, spam filters may use spelling errors as a reason to block your email.

4. Image choice counts

Having great images in emails is important, but spam filters don’t always agree. Spam filters can’t read images, so if your e-mail contains large images with very little text, your e-mail might be detected as spam. Avoid this by limiting the image file size and the number of images that you are sending to your target audience.

5. Keep it legal

According to the CAN-SPAM Act you are legally obligated to provide your physical address and to always include a way for your e-mail recipient to unsubscribe from your list. Not only will a spam filter block your e-mail if it does not contain this information, but you could face a hefty fine. Each individual email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act may incur a penalty of up to $16,000.