A frequent reader told me this recently:
“Your emails look kinda like spam. You know, no pictures. Plain formatting. Shouldn’t you have a business logo or something?”
He was immediately banned from my email list, blocked from rejoining, and naturally, his passport was revoked.
(Or was he?)
Of course not, but I thought his comment was hilarious.
For starters, my emails look the complete opposite of spam—at least, what I consider spam.
And what Google considers spam.
Take a look in your Promotions folder.
What do you see?
Emails full of pictures, logos, and links, right?
Here’s why that’s a problem.
How to Make Sure Your Emails Don’t Get Marked as Spam
Most people don’t realize that the way they design their emails is actively hurting their deliverability.
The 3 Biggest Spam Triggers
- Images & Logos
- Images are one of the easiest ways to embed tracking codes, malware, and all sorts of nasty stuff.
- Google and Apple don’t trust image-heavy emails because spammers use them to hide scams.
- Most of the emails in your spam folder? Packed with images.
- Too Many Links
- My email software limits me to 3 links per email.
- More links = higher chance of being flagged as promotional or spammy.
- Ever wonder why scam emails always have a big “urgent” link? Links scream “marketing email.”
- Overuse of HTML Formatting
- Fancy formatting, big brand logos, and button-heavy designs all scream “this is a mass marketing email.”
- Google loves emails that look like they were written by a real person, in plain text.
Why My Emails Hit the Primary Tab (and Yours Should Too)
I write my emails to look like real emails from a real person.
No clutter. No distractions. Just words people want to read.
And guess what?
Google rewards that.
When you send emails people actually open, read, and reply to, your future emails are more likely to land in the inbox.
It’s almost like…there’s a strategy behind this stuff.
And if there were a strategy, I could even implement it for other businesses.
But I’d probably get really busy doing that, so there’d need to be a waitlist of some sort.
And I’d put the link right here:
Now playing at an inbox near you,
Nick
