Every morning, I drop into my office, chair fire up my email program and wait, and wait, and wait.
143 emails later – I’m done. Welcome to my day. I wish 100% of the emails that I received were valuable, informative and wanted. Unfortunately, only 10 of the 143 fit those criteria.
Last week, I decided to fight back by enabling my spam filter feature. It worked like a charm. The next morning I received only 25 emails. My delete box had 127 emails waiting to be trashed. Since most of the emails in my inbox were important – my “no-spam” feature had proved its reliability – or had it?
Out of curiosity I checked my delete box. Sure enough -It was littered with spam. I was about to permanently delete the whole lot – when I saw it – an email from my Mom!
Here’s what happened – my Mom’s email contained the word “free”. My spam filter attacked like a rabid attack dog. Since the word free shows up in 100% of spam – this is a good tactic, unless it’s my Mom telling me about the deal of the week at the local grocery store.
After recovering from my near brush with a stern reprimand – I got to thinking. Is it possible that the very same “anti-spam” feature that helps me; also be hurting me as well?
After hours of research and trial and effort I’ve isolated some of the words and phrases that might land your legitimate email in the delete box.
They include: free, guarantee, guaranteed, money, discount, make, great, offer, credit, card, sex, kill, adv:, new, hot, loan, latest, affordable, advertise, amazing, announcing, approved, cheap, checks, discount, home business, invest, million, opportunity
If you use any of these words in email to your prospects – there is a very good chance that they may not see it.
Here are some tips to make sure your email sees the light of day:
Tip 1: Only send to recipients who have asked for your email (opt- in). Anything else is spam – period.
Tip 2: Alert your recipients that you will be contacting them on a regular basis and to “expect your email”
Tip 3: Use a standard format in each of your emails. People often configure their spam filters to recognize email from approved senders. Using a standard format makes it easy for your recipients to configure their email programs to allow you through the door.
Tip 4: If you must use must use any of the “suspect” words above then disguise it. Use f~ree, f-r-e-e, or some other variation.
Tip 5: Include your prospects name in your email. Personalizing each of your emails will not only get them opened but get them read as well.
Tip 6: Send valuable information every single time. Even if you get permission to email your prospects, you can quickly lose that right if you send them useless junk week after week. Gaining a reputation for sending great information is the only “guaranteed” way to make sure that your email gets an audience.
Once you implement these tips you can rest easy knowing that your email has a very good chance at getting in front of your prospect. And if you have your spam feature turned on – make sure you check your delete box for Mom’s email :>.
Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead-generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide – written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at http://www.RealtorInternetTips.com
