I have close to 1,000 registered members on my website and every time I send an email about some new features I've added to the website, only maybe 1/4 of those people come back. I fear that it's because they do not get my emails. I've noticed that every time I send an email to myself to test if it will go to spam folder, it does go to spam. How can I make sure my members get their emails? These spam filters are just annoying and prevent me from contacting people who registered on my website. Is there some service that delivers these emails 100% to their Inboxes?
Try adding a gmail, yahoo and msn account yourself and test it out. Different free email services have different spam filters. Which autoresponder do you use. I use aweber and 1shoppingcart, both are very good.
I don't use an autoresponder. I send the emails from my website's email account with its domain name which I'm paying for. I do not send all 1,000 emails at once. I send them slowly in smaller amounts so that they get sent, otherwise it will not work. You're saying that using Aweber will make sure that all my clients get their emails and they will not go to spam folder? I read somewhere on this forum a moment ago that they have problems with Aweber and that their Gmail account blocks any emails sent from Aweber. What's the deal? Also, it costs $30/month for sending emails to more than 500 people. That's not cheap by any means.
Well some people told me that they did not get my email and got the news from another member. So, yes they want to get my updates. These updates are about new features and account updates so they're are important. I do not just send an update saying that I changed my background color.
Don't take this the wrong way, but not everybody will read what you sent them, even though they signed up. Maybe half will keep on reading the e-mails. Sometimes my url triggers the spam filter, so many times I will use a Yahoo mail account.
I understand that not everyone will come back, but having less than 1/4 of them come back and knowing that some of the emails went into their spam folder makes me think what if everyone received their emails, maybe then I would have 1/2 of them coming back. Also, how can companies like Aweber guarantee that the email will not be marked as spam by email filters?
They can't. No company can. They have no control over it. Well, I take that back...they may have a service where it redirects mail to a url that does not trigger a spam filter. But I have never heard of it. Check into it. Maybe they have something like that. For now, you just have to have patience in sending e-mails via Yahoo, or some other mail account, that doesn't have your url. You should also think about also having a page in your site that has the same info you mail out. That way many can just come to you. Anyway, brother, I hear you about that spam filter shit. I hate it, and I don't spam. It's just the fucking url that sets it off.
I see, so they basically charge you $30/month for managing your contacts and allowing you to track your emails and who clicked on the links. I'll pass on that. I guess I'll continue sending them on my own but I may try using Yahoo mail or something similar but it seems unprofessional if the email address is not your URL.
I could see some people recommending Yahoo Mail, even they have the same problem too. I have tested it more than once.
You need to choose an autoresponder services with good delivery rate. With free auto-responder or even some tracking url services may cause your email to caught in spam filter and never get deliver. Reasonable price and over 90+ delivery rate autoresponder is aweber or getresponse.
$30/month is too much to take control of all your email marketing? Aweber is one of the best investments I have ever made. You say that sending emails from an address that doesn't have your url in it is unprofessional - well I think sending emails one by one in little groups like you are doing is not a very professional or great way to run a business - especially if you have any plans on making that list of your bigger. There are a tone of things that set off spam filters. And the problem is that once an email service like Yahoo has decided to block your url, every message you then send to a Yahoo email account will always go straight to the bin - regardless of what you change. Seems your domain has been blacklisted by a few of the email services. Also one other tip I can give you, which is something I have already done, is try and find another way to connect with these same users. Maybe set up a twitter page for your business, a facebook page, or an rss feed so users can subscribe to these services and always get your updates without relying on email. Email is becoming less and less effective so you need to have another way to connect.