I recently began managing a newsletter for my ecom store and they are being marked as spam when I send them out. I only send it out once a month. No more. How do you guys get around them spam bots?
Well, make sure you check out the keywords that are normally tagged as spam. You can easily search this list on the internet. A major one is the word "free" plus images are also targeted.
Can you post a link to your mailer? Depending on the size of your list (big lists are expensive) you could use a service like Constant Contact or iContact. They have relationships with the major ISPs which helps assure your newsletter reaches your recipients. They also have a tool that reviews your email to verify it will beat the filters. They may offer a trial service, or you could signup for their minimum plan, so you could go in and review your mailer. You may also find value in the Web stats those services provide.
its not just the content of your newsletters. Do you have reverse dns, mx records, domain keys and spf records set up for your sending domain/ip? Without these you will not get in with any isps, Also you can apply for feedback loops with most isps.
i dont know about any of that stuff. Im sending from the backend of my shopping cart which has an integrated newsletter component
what is your sending domain. i can take a look, also post your email header. If you don't' have the records set up you can usually have your hosting company do it for you.
ALSO you need to make sure NONE of the links in your newsletter are blacklisted or on any block lists. The isps don't just look at the links in your newsletter they also look at the landing page links. So lets say you have your own links and then they redirect to a landing page, the isps look at all link all the way down to the landing page url. IF any of those are blacklisted or blocked then that will effect your delivery and reputation.
Ouch..I wouldn't advise sending your newsletter to someone who didn't give you permission. Isn't that spamming? You need a way to record and save the info of the people who gave you permission. If your domain/IP address gets accused of spam and they go to your hosting company, they can immediately cancel your account. You will need some sort of proof that you received permission or you are gonna be out of luck. Good luck Zeek
What Zeekstern said.. While you are technically ok because of the prior relationship, and I'm assuming that you tell them at checkout that you are going to spam them.. But you should always allow your shoppers the option to sign up or not.. By forcing them to get your newsletter I'm sure that several flagged you as spam, and if they use GMail (or Yahoo! / Hotmail) and enough of them do it, those services will simply block EVERYTHING that you send from then on.. And I mean everything..