Email Checklist for GTM Leaders to Stay Out of the Spam Folder
We continue to see a lot of pain being felt with Outbound teams, specifically with sending email and sequences. We took the 20 minutes to read through Apollo’s detailed summary about everything email, specifically around their key points for outbound teams.
There were many insights, but some of our favorite were around debunking some email myths:
Including links, images, or HTML doesn’t necessarily trigger spam filters.
Click-tracking and using outreach tools don’t automatically harm deliverability.
Low engagement, not bad deliverability, often causes poor outbound performance.
Have to say, those first two were surprising to us.
We suggest reading that blog post, but for those who don’t have that kind of time, we created a good checklist below that you can use ASAP with your outbound teams.
The Outbound Team Email Sequence Checklist
FAQs
-
Email deliverability refers to the ability to successfully deliver emails to the recipient's inbox without being marked as spam. For GTM leaders, high email deliverability ensures that their outreach campaigns reach the intended audience, leading to better engagement and higher conversion rates.
-
Improve your email deliverability rate by setting up proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), using subdomains for sending emails, personalizing your outreach, and monitoring key metrics such as open and click rates. Additionally, ensure your content is relevant and includes a clear unsubscribe option.
-
Common mistakes include sending emails from an unauthenticated domain, using misleading subject lines, failing to include an unsubscribe link, sending to unverified email lists, and using spam-triggering words. Avoiding these errors and following best practices can help keep your emails out of the spam folder.
-
Modern spam filtering uses advanced machine learning algorithms that analyze hundreds of data points, including sender behavior and recipient interactions. Filters look at factors such as email sending frequency, engagement rates, and recipient actions like marking emails as spam to determine the likelihood of an email being unwanted.
-
Warm up a new email domain by starting with a low volume of emails and gradually increasing the volume over time. Send initial emails to real contacts who are likely to engage positively, and use both automated and human-driven methods to establish a good sender reputation. Monitor engagement metrics and adjust your strategy accordingly.
-
Stay compliant by authenticating your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, keeping your spam complaint rate below 0.3%, and ensuring your DNS records are correctly validated. For bulk sends, include a one-click unsubscribe link in the email header and a clear unsubscribe link in the email body content.
-
Personalization plays a significant role in email deliverability as it increases the likelihood of recipient engagement. Personalized emails show that you have done your research and are reaching out with relevant content, which reduces the chances of your emails being marked as spam and improves overall engagement rates.
