Your email list is your lifeline. But what if it gets cut? That’s what happens when your IP ends up on an email blacklist. What’s blacklisting? Allow us to explain what it is and how to avoid it.

One of the most frequently requested features of our new website customers is an email list. Email, it’s turned out, is still the most effective way to market to potential customers. And while the majority of our eCommerce clients choose to integrate their websites with a service like MailChimp, it’s important to remember that building your list is only half the battle—the other half is delivering quality, effective content that drives sales. Yet, even if you do everything right and win the content marketing war, your contact list could be rendered as useless as a potato in a knife fight if your IP gets blacklisted by spam filters.

“Being added to an email blacklist murders any email marketing campaign, regardless of how awesome your intentions are.”

Murder. That’s bad.

Avoid the Email Blacklist

So here are some tips to help your emails stay off the email blacklist and on the right side of the cyber police, or whoever polices this place.

• Utilise a double opt-in on your sign up form. This creates a security net to make sure the people signing up for your services really mean it. This might reduce the overall amount of subscribers you receive, but it will increase the quality… people who are more likely to engage with you anyway.
• Ditch the attachments. They are a favourite tool of spammers and a one-way ticket to the email blacklist.
• Check yourself before you wreck yourself. If you’re sending out more than a few emails per week, slow your roll. Reducing frequency (you don’t really need to email your customers once per day) can help you skirt the spam filters and the blacklist.
• Keep it real. Make sure your “from” address is a real address—not just an amalgamation of numbers and symbols. If Gary in IT sends the email out, let people know it’s coming from Gary. Or, at least use your company name. gary@metalpotato.com sounds a lot better than 12337@metalpotato.com. Spam filters are smart, people are smart. Treat them like it.
• Never use all UPPERCASE in your subject line. This is a hallmark of spam emails that will get you flagged fast.
• Avoid spam-like keywords in your subject line. Words such as: free, win, get rich, check, cash, opportunity, etc.

Lastly, if you’ve followed these steps and still aren’t sure if your IP is crispy clean, run it through a blacklist checker. Just to be sure. And hey, if you’ve got more questions about how to set up an email contact list for your website or how to avoid the blacklist, get in touch. We’re always happy to help.