Email discrimination is real.
If you are making these two costly email mistakes, your well-crafted business emails may be going straight to the spam folder.
It’s like you NEVER SENT THEM.
We don’t have a lot of control over what happens once we hit “send”, but there are several things you can do to eliminate two of the reasons you haven’t heard from that hot lead.
MISTAKE #1 – YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE IS AN ATTACHMENT
I was astonished to learn that my emails to business owners might be ending up in the spam folder because of my professional email signature.
A few years ago, I created a signature in my email settings with my logo and links. Have you done this too? Well, over time I noticed that when I received a response from someone, it always looked like there might be a document attached. But it was just the email server showing my signature as an attachment because of the logo. I thought it was no big deal. Until now.
Many email servers like Gmail, Outlook, etc. will view my email as a potential threat because it has an attachment, and instead of sending it to the CEO or business owner I’m reaching out to, it sends it straight to spam.
HUGE waste of my time, and more importantly, HUGE BUSINESS LOSS.
The business owner or CEO will never see it, or maybe they see it IF they happen to check their spam. That’s bad for my reputation (aka brand, business, etc.) if I told someone I just met that I would send them a proposal or referral or resource, and they never get it.
Think about how often you check your spam folder. I don’t check it unless someone asks if I received their email, and I haven’t. The defaults in my email account, are set to delete the contents of my spam folder every thirty days.
FIX IT: Email Signature Software
Email signature software tools like Wise Stamp, translate your logo, social media icons, and your professional photo into code so they aren’t attachments. The software does it all for you.
There are free versions of email signature software out there, and they usually offer upgrades that give you more template options.
I am using Wise Stamp and it’s extremely economical. I checked out the free version, and decided it was worth it to upgrade to a yearly subscription because it gives me a lot of flexibility and it was only $58! That’s because I didn’t immediately sign up for it, and within a few hours of visiting the site, they sent me an email offering me 20% off if I upgraded within a certain amount of time. LOVE discounts!
If you put words like, “email signature software” or “email signature apps” in your browser, you’ll get lots of options. It’s SO worth it. I didn’t do any comparison shopping because Wise Stamp was exactly what I needed.
MISTAKE #2 – YOU’RE USING A GMAIL ADDRESS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Or Yahoo
Or Hotmail
This is one of my pet peeves because I feel so sorry for the business owner. That address is making them look like:
- Scam artists or spammers
- Amateurs or hobbyists (just “dabbling” in a business)
- Inexperienced and unprofessional business people
The REALLY SAD part is, that they usually are using one of those addresses because:
- Using a Gmail address helps you avoid having your email sent to the spam folder
- WRONG! These days we’re all trained to look at the address to see if it is coming from a legitimate web address. Gmail is not a business address, even if you work at Google.
- Frankly, Google is on the lookout for addresses that look suspicious or are sending mass emails. You could get blacklisted, and then your emails are never delivered. YES, there is an Internet police!
- It’s easy and free
- WRONG! It will cost you more business than you will ever know because your emails aren’t taken seriously or worse, they are considered potentially virus-carrying spam.
The REALLY, REALLY SAD thing is I’ve seen this done by highly skilled professionals like attorneys, accountants, and others who have worked hard – and spent tens of thousands of dollars – to earn the credentials that give them the authority and experience to do their job. I just want to hug them and then smack them!
FIX IT: USE AN EMAIL ADDRESS WITH YOUR BUSINESS URL
Example: melinda@melindathomascreative.com
My web hosting company, Blue Host, offers the option to create email addresses with my URL. It came with my hosting package.
I’m one of the least tech-savvy people I know, so I call experts to help me. If you have a website and haven’t set one up for your business, start by calling your web hosting company and telling them you need an email address associated with your website.
If you don’t know who your web hosting company is, call me! I’ll help you figure it out – no charge! Don’t let this one thing stop you from being seen as the professional that you already are and getting the customers you are meant to help.
You spent the money to buy the web address (URL), and you’re probably paying monthly or annually for web hosting for your site, so take the next step and get an email address that properly represents you and your business.