Over recent years the big free email address providers, such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo, also major ISPs and the sophisticated Spam and Bayesian Filters they deploy, along with the proliferation of Blacklists have created a very hostile environment for senders of bulk marketing emails.
Collectively they have imposed a series of sophisticated requirements supposedly in the name of minimising Spam. For an Email Marketer, ensuring one is meeting those requirements has become an equally sophisticated task, and one requiring software created for just that purpose.
Here in SendReach we have Sending Domain Verification – ensuring that the now necessary DKIM and SPF Records are in place and correctly configured. That is just part of the story however, and there are many other considerations to be addressed if your emails are to consistently reach the Inbox.
Are any of the component parts blacklisted at all, including the domains in any links in the Content? Is your email going to pass the checks and filters deployed by the ISPs and their Spam Filters with regard to the Subject Line and Content in terms of Subject Matter, Style and Text.
We are therefore suggesting using http://www.mail-tester.com/ who provide a totally free Spam Score service for evaluating ALL the various aspects of an email. They use Spam Assassin’s algorithms – the most reputable out there.
All you do is open Mail-Tester in your browser, copy the unique email address displayed (leaving the page open), and using the “Test Template” function in SendReach Dashboard > Campaigns > Your Campaign > Template > Test Template > Recipient – paste in that email address and click “Send Test”.
Return to the Mail-Tester page and click “Then Check Your Score”.
You will see that every aspect of that email is fully evaluated and commented on in detail, and importantly the Spam Score is based on that email having navigated that hostile environment and is therefore based on the real world and not simply a theoretical test.
The Spam Score allocates marks out of 10 – under 5 needs appropriate modification – 5/6 is a little suspect – anything over 7 should be OK.
