Reader, I have a problem. I can't shut up about emails AND emailing spammers has become a new obsession.

I suppose that's two problems, but they are mostly the same problem.

Yesterday, because I was epically avoiding work (my kitten got hurt and needed emergency surgery so my brain was short-circuiting all day long), I decided to email a pile of unsolicited requests (spam) to hire people to do random things for me.

I had someone who wanted to guest post on a blog I don't have...and for her crafting blog???

I had someone who wanted to redesign my website. Yes, I need that person, but no, it's not gonna be a rando who can't spell design properly...or many other words in the email.

I do this a few times a year when I'm in a particularly salty mood. Sometimes I report them to CASL (Canadian Anti Spam Legislation) but I save that for the spammers who email me back arguing about my request to be removed from whatever list I seem to have been sold to. Mostly I just quote the legislation. Ask them to do their research on who I am and why our target markets are different and go on my way.

But lately I've been hearing a lot of chitter chatter in my communities about accounts being frozen and under investigation for being wrongfully thought of as a spam/bot account by the domain hosting service.

Even one of the leaders in global anti-spam legislation, Anne Mitchell, the founder of the US anti-spam legislation and who ONLY works in email spam legislation...had her business account list frozen due to suspected spam activity this week. She wrote the damn law on this one so...if she's not safe, who is?

This is all to say in 2024 and beyond, mitigating your exposure to being marked as spam or having your email address sold to a spammer is a huge risk factor. It's in the same league as having your social media account shut down and go under review. You lose control and your business revenue is at risk.

How do you do this?

1. Back up your list. Frequently.
2. Have at least one email in a welcome sequence, preferably more. This helps prepare the reader for regular newsletters.
3. Send frequent and consistent newsletters that have the same look and vibe to keep that brand connection going.
4. Segment and sell based on the value your reader indicates they want from you. The simplest segments to do this are promos only and give me all the things.
5. Pay attention to your bounce rates and your spam rates. Keep that spam rate below 0.3% each week.
6. Pay attention to your open rate. If it starts to fall on a consistent basis, you likely have a deliverability problem. Get ahead of any account freezes by asking them to investigate the health of your account before they shut it down to do so. And BTW, a good email service provider will do this for you. It might take a minute...but they'll come back with results.

Happy Emailing,

Holly

PS I have 4 audit spaces open for October and 1 for November. Let me audit your emails, send you back a detailed report and work together to grow the health of your list! Click here to book your audit now!