One of our clients has recently had their email address blacklisted for spam even though they were not attempting to spam anyone.
Now I know that some people might find that hard to believe; how can you get your email address blacklisted unless you really are sending out spam emails?
Getting blacklisted is easy
Well I have to tell you that it is easier to get your email blacklisted for spam than you might think. Some very innocent actions can send you to email hell in just a few seconds.
Here are just a few of the ways you can end up on an email blacklist:
A person who receives your email accidentally … or intentionally … marks your email as spam. It only takes one person to do that and when it’s done you’re basically screwed.
You send an email to a client who has a spam filter on their incoming email that looks for trigger words or phrases in the incoming email … in the subject line or in the text. As soon as it finds one of those trigger words or phrases it marks your email as spam and puts you on a blacklist. You’re done like a dinner.
You send out a large number of bulk emails and the sudden surge in the number of outgoing emails leaving your account is enough to trigger an alert that puts you on an email blacklist. You can even do it to yourself.
Yes, it is that simple … especially when you consider that there are at least 438 trigger words and phrases that can blacklist you … and the impact on your business can be dire.
Being on a blacklist can destroy your business
What happens when you’re put on email blacklists?
This is what happens when your email address is blacklisted:
No emails that you send from the blacklisted email address are delivered.
No emails addressed to your business arrive in your inbox.
It’s possible that your website rankings in the search engines are impacted too.
Getting off email blacklists can be hard
Getting onto an email blacklist is easy but getting off all the email blacklists that will list your email address takes time and requires the services of someone who knows what they are doing and how to plead your case with those who control the blacklists.
“Ooops I made a mistake,” is not an excuse that anyone is going to listen to.
For many people finding themselves on email blacklists can mean the end of their business because you are basically cut off from the people who are your clients and the people who provide goods and services for you.
Don’t put off getting help
It is very important to get off those lists as quickly as possible because the longer you stay on those lists the more damage is done to your business.
So as soon as you think that your email address might have been blacklisted get help … call Toni or me now, not later.
Sadly, right at the very time when quick action is important, it seems to take days for most blacklisted businesses to wake up to the fact that they’re not getting any emails.
How to avoid getting blacklisted
Think before you send and:
Don’t send bulk emails through your business email address. Use the services of a business like MailChimp to handle any bulk emails you want to send out.
Look at the subject lines and the text in your emails to make sure that those 438 words are not in your emails.
If someone tells you that they don’t want to receive any more emails from your business then listen to them and stop sending them emails. Remove them from your email lists so that you don’t accidentally send one that could destroy your business.
Staying off email blacklists is not hard to do but getting you off once you’ve got yourself onto those lists is an entirely different matter … and it can be expensive too.
So save money, save your business and turn brain on and think before you send that next email.
Go here for a list of those 438 trigger words and phrases.
