Best Practices to Avoid Spam

Ensuring email deliverability is essential for keeping your email outreach campaigns from being flagged as spam. By following these best practices, you can improve your email open rates and maintain a strong sender reputation. Here are the top tips to help your emails land in inboxes, not spam folders.

1. Limit the Use of Images

Spam Filter Sensitivity: Emails with too many images, especially when identical images are reused across campaigns, are often flagged by spam filters.

What You Can Do:

• Minimize or Avoid Images: Prefer text-based emails for outreach. If you must include images, ensure they are small in size and quick to load.

• Use Different Images: If images are crucial, we recommend using different images for each campaign to avoid repetition.

• Balance Text and Images: Ensure there’s enough text to balance out the images, so it doesn’t feel too visual-heavy.

2. Avoid Repetitive Subject Lines

Using the same subject lines over and over, or including words like "free", "exclusive", or "urgent," can trigger spam filters. A hard-sell approach or “too good to be true” offers can also hurt deliverability.

What You Can Do:

• Always Personalize Subject Lines: Include the influencer’s name or relevant details to increase engagement. For example:

  • “Hey {{user_name}}, check this out!”

• Test Different Subject Lines: Experiment with new subject lines to see which ones get the best response.

3. Improve the Quality of your Email Copy

Certain words and phrases often trigger spam filters. To keep your emails clear of spam flags, avoid the following:

• "Free," "Guaranteed," "Limited-time offer"

• Overuse of capital letters or punctuation marks (e.g., “CLICK HERE NOW!!!”)

• Too many emojis or promotional language

What You Can Do:

• Use a Conversational Tone: Avoid aggressive sales language. Focus on building a relationship.

• Increase Personalization: Include the influencer’s name multiple times to create a personalized experience. For example:

  • “{{first_name}}, I thought you'd love this opportunity!”

4. Send High-Value Follow-Up Emails

Many influencers juggle their social media passion alongside busy schedules, which means they may not respond to your first email. Following up effectively is key. Simple!

What You Can Do:

• Use SARAL’s follow-up templates for a seamless process.

• Send 5-6 follow-up emails spaced over 25 days (or 15-16 days).

• 3 Tips for Compelling Follow-Ups:

  • Highlight the benefits of your offer.

  • Foster trust by referencing other creators who are part of your community.

  • Try testing new subject lines in your fourth follow-up.

5. Set Up a New Domain & Inbox

Why It Helps: If your current domain has been flagged or has a poor reputation, setting up a fresh domain helps you avoid deliverability issues.

What You Can Do:

1. Register a New Domain: Typically costs between $10 and $20 per year.

2. Set Up Google Workspace: This will allow you to create professional email accounts (starting at $6 per user/month).

3. Personalize Your Email Accounts: Use a format like first_name@brandpartners.com to maintain professionalism and personalize your outreach.

6. Centralized your Outreach with SARAL

Once your new domain is set up, you can use it exclusively for outreach. With SARAL, all your communication, tracking, and influencer management are centralized within the platform. This keeps everything organized and helps maintain a streamlined process, so you can focus on building relationships with your influencers without juggling multiple tools.

Key Features:

• Email Warm-Up: SARAL gradually ramps up your email sending volume to help prevent your new domain from being flagged by spam filters.

• Human-Paced Sending: SARAL sends emails at random intervals, like a human would, instead of sending them all at once.

7. Use Spintax for Personalization

Spintax helps you personalize each email by rotating different lines of copy, making each message feel unique. This not only improves engagement but also helps bypass spam filters.

Spintax Example:

• Input: Hi {there|friend|mate}, I hope you’re {doing well|having a great day|in good spirits}!

• Output:

  • Hi there, I hope you’re doing well!

  • Hi friend, I hope you’re having a great day!

  • Hi mate, I hope you’re in good spirits!

8. Avoid Attachments, Link Shorteners, and Excessive Images

Attachments, shortened links, and excessive images in your emails can make them look suspicious to spam filters.

What You Can Do:

• Use Regular Links: Instead of shortened links, include full URLs in your emails.

• Skip Attachments: Avoid attachments in outreach emails to maintain professionalism and avoid being flagged.

• Keep Signatures Simple: Avoid using excessive images or links in your email signature.

In the worst-case scenario where Gmail suspends your email, we highly recommend refraining from sending anything from that email for the next week or two. If there are any active campaigns, please pause them or send them from another email inbox. The most important thing to focus on during this situation is to avoid sending emails and follow these best practices moving forward.

By following these best practices, you can greatly reduce the chances of your emails being flagged as spam. A personalized approach and the right tools will help you get better results and build stronger connections with your influencers.

Still have questions?

Reach out anytime via the support chat at the bottom-right corner of your dashboard, or email us at support@getsaral.com. We’re happy to assist!