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How to Keep Your Nonprofit’s Emails from Being Read as Spam
By Tamara Berry
Sending out updates or newsletters as part of an online marketing campaign is a great way for nonprofits to stay in touch with interested parties at minimal cost or effort. In fact, since keeping your name and brand at the forefront of people’s minds is one of the cornerstones of keeping volunteerism and donations high, many marketing consultants suggest doing just this.
However, if you aren’t taking certain precautions, your emails might be bypassing their targets and going directly to junk inboxes and spam filters – right up there alongside financial scams and offers for sexual enhancements.
The most important step you can take in keeping your newsletters on the straight and narrow is avoiding the Blacklist. A Blacklist occurs when a spam filter decides that your email address or domain name is a recognizable spam sender. You are branded with the equivalent of a scarlet letter, and it can be incredibly difficult to remove it. While this is good news for those of us who hate getting hundreds of spam emails every week, it is bad news for anyone who gets placed there unjustifiably.
Avoid Getting Blacklisted:
- If your email or newsletter uses certain keywords or techniques (such as the word “free” or “money,” a large proportion of exclamation points, WORDS IN CAPITAL LETTERS, or really long subject lines), you might get automatically placed on the spam list. Keep your subject lines short and simple, and avoid over-hyping anything you send out.
- Place a “Thank your for subscribing” message somewhere near the top of the email. This will remind people that they requested to be sent your email updates and newsletters, thereby reducing the risk that they will click the “This is Junk” option on their email provider, which is a quick way to the Blacklist.
- At the same time, never send out your newsletters unless your recipients have subscribed or requested it. Unsolicited mail has a higher probability of being Blacklisted. It’s also a good idea to allow for easy unsubscription, as well.
- Include your organization’s contact information somewhere on the email. Giving a legitimate phone number, address, and URL authenticates the work you are doing and the emails you are sending out. This makes you look a lot less like spam and a lot more like the quality organization you are.
- Avoid sending your emails from a free email address (like Yahoo, Google, or AOL). Use your official company email service or any email address that can be traced to a legitimate organization.
- Never send any attachments on the email. Attachments are one of the primary vehicles through which spammers send viruses and other catastrophic messages. Blacklists look out for these for this very reason.
- Consider using an email services firm to send out your newsletter. Specialty groups that work directly with nonprofits (such as Local Voice or Network for Good) are an especially great way to go if you have additional communication needs.
- Comply with the regulations set out by the Direct Marketing Association. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with a copy of their FAQs related to spam and sending out emails.
Remember, getting off a Blacklist is much, much more difficult than getting on one. Avoid problems now by taking the right steps to validate your email correspondence. Get permission for all the newsletters you send, and keep copies of everything.
Topics: Marketing |