Five things to remember while sending an email campaign

Five things to remember while sending an email campaign

At Zoho Marketing Automation, we've built an efficient anti-spam system that validates every aspect of a campaign before sending it. This system won't send a campaign under the following circumstances:
  1. When there are issues with the email message
  2. When there are issues with the sender domain
  3. When there are issues with both the email message and the sender domain
Since our system will send the campaign only after the issues are resolved, we've created a checklist for you to run through so you know your campaign is ready before hitting the send button. Let's take a look at it.


Sender domain reputation 

The reputation of your sender domain will definitely impact the performance of your campaigns. If your sender domain has a positive reputation, email deliverability will be good. If your sender domain has a negative reputation, deliverability will be poor and you won't hit your conversion goals. We recommend you use a sender domain that has earned a positive reputation from mailbox providers and anti-spam services to send your campaigns.
 
If most of your contacts use Gmail, you can use the Google Postmaster tool to understand the reputation your sender domain has earned from Gmail. After configuring the tool, visit the Domain Reputation page to check your sender domain's reputation.



Read our help article to learn more about configuring the Google postmaster tool.

Sender domain status

We urge our users to use a business domain sender address and ensure that your website is up and running. If your website is down, and if the mailbox provider's anti-spam system identifies this, they may classify your emails as spam.

Blacklist status 

When you use a blacklisted sender domain to send emails, email deliverability will take a serious hit and the emails you send may land in the spam folder. To prevent this from happening, you must ensure that the sender domain isn't blacklisted. After checking the reputation of your sender domain, you can use anti-spam services such as Mxtoolbox, Spamhaus, Sorbs, Spamcop, or others to check if the sender domain is blacklisted.
 
If your sender domain has been blacklisted, you need to submit a delist request to the anti-spam service that blacklisted your sender domain.  

Sender domain authentication

After verifying the status and reputation of your sender domain, you must ensure that your sender domain is authenticated. Major mailbox providers consider the authentication status of a sender domain when making inbox decisions. If you use an unauthenticated sender domain to send emails, mailbox providers may deny inbox placement for your emails.
 
At Zoho Marketing Automation, we strongly urge our users to authenticate their domain before sending emails. The most commonly implemented domain authentication mechanisms are SPF and DKIM.
 
Read our help article to learn more about authenticating your sender domain.

Campaign content

Now that you've validated your sender domain, you can start focusing on your campaign's content. The performance of your campaign hugely depends on the content you offer. Here's what you should do before hitting the send button:

Check for spam phrases  

Our anti-spam system will scan your campaign's content for phrases that are commonly found in spam emails. If a campaign contains spam phrases, our anti-spam system won't approve the campaign. Instead, we'll inform the user about the phrases and will approve the campaign only after those phrases are removed from the email message.

Verify the URLs used in your content 

We urge our users to be careful about using URLs in email content. Avoid the following URL types in your email message:

Blacklisted URLs and URLs that lead to blacklisted websites

When there are blacklisted URLs in your email content, or URLs that take email recipients to blacklisted domains, your emails may get classified as spam. Mailbox providers may even blacklist your sender domain if your emails have these URLs. When a domain is blacklisted, the URLs associated with the domain will also get blacklisted. So, we urge you not to use URLs associated with a blacklisted domain in the email message.

Broken URLs

Broken URLs are those that don't work. When email recipients click a broken URL, they will see a 404 Error page. When the receiving servers of mailbox providers find broken URLs in an email message, they mark the email as spam.

Shortened URLs and URLs with multiple redirects

Spammers mostly use shortened URLs and URLs with multiple redirects to perform malicious activities. When the receiving servers of mailbox provider find these in the emails they receive, they might consider the emails to be suspicious and may deny inbox placement. So, if you craft a campaign with even one of the URLs, our anti-spam system won't approve it. We recommend using legitimate URLs that take recipients directly to the target website.

Verify the images used in your campaign  

While scanning a campaign's content, our anti-spam engine will look for pornographic and sensitive images, spoofed images and logos of famous brands, or spoofed web pages of other businesses. If the system finds any of these in a campaign, the campaign will not be approved. So, we urge our users to be careful about the images that they use in their campaign.

Check the merge tags  

When crafting personalized campaigns, use merge tags offered by Zoho Marketing Automation and ensure that they are configured properly. If you're downloading templates from third-party services, the merge tags associated with those templates will not work. We urge our users to remove such merge tags before using the templates in their campaigns. After crafting a campaign, you can send your campaign to test accounts so that you can identify faulty merge tags and correct them.

To enjoy a hassle-free email sending experience, we recommend you maintain quality mailing lists, choose the right set of contacts to send your emails, and adopt hygienic email sending practices. 


    Access your files securely from anywhere

      Zoho CRM Training Programs

      Learn how to use the best tools for sales force automation and better customer engagement from Zoho's implementation specialists.

      Zoho CRM Training
        Redefine the way you work
        with Zoho Workplace

          Zoho DataPrep Personalized Demo

          If you'd like a personalized walk-through of our data preparation tool, please request a demo and we'll be happy to show you how to get the best out of Zoho DataPrep.

          Zoho CRM Training

            Create, share, and deliver

            beautiful slides from anywhere.

            Get Started Now


              Zoho Sign now offers specialized one-on-one training for both administrators and developers.

              BOOK A SESSION









                                            You are currently viewing the help pages of Qntrl’s earlier version. Click here to view our latest version—Qntrl 3.0's help articles.




                                                Manage your brands on social media

                                                  Zoho Desk Resources

                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                    Zoho Marketing Automation

                                                      Zoho Sheet Resources

                                                       

                                                          Zoho Forms Resources


                                                            Secure your business
                                                            communication with Zoho Mail


                                                            Mail on the move with
                                                            Zoho Mail mobile application

                                                              Stay on top of your schedule
                                                              at all times


                                                              Carry your calendar with you
                                                              Anytime, anywhere




                                                                    Zoho Sign Resources

                                                                      Sign, Paperless!

                                                                      Sign and send business documents on the go!

                                                                      Get Started Now




                                                                              Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                                      Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                                                        Zoho DataPrep Demo

                                                                                        Get a personalized demo or POC

                                                                                        REGISTER NOW


                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now









                                                                                                              • Related Articles

                                                                                                              • Eight frequent activities that affect email deliverability

                                                                                                                Email deliverability is the ability to land emails in the inbox of your recipients. If your campaign's deliverability takes a hit, it might be due to certain email marketing practices you follow. Let's dive deep and learn about practices that affect ...
                                                                                                              • Best Practices

                                                                                                                Sending emails that don't reach your contacts has no positive impact on business returns. A delivered email can be opened, read, and clicked on. There are filters at various levels of your recipient system that judge your emails based on your email ...
                                                                                                              • Getting started with email deliverability

                                                                                                                Identifying the needs and interests of contacts and conceptualizing email campaigns around those are part and parcel of a marketer's daily routine. Sometimes marketers may assume that crafting a compelling campaign alone will help them hit their ...
                                                                                                              • Best Practices for WhatsApp Campaign

                                                                                                                It's important to follow a few best practices while crafting and sending a WhatsApp campaign. In this document, we'll cover some of the best practices to be followed before sending a WhatsApp campaign. Consent from contacts As per WhatsApp Business ...
                                                                                                              • Create an email campaign

                                                                                                                An email campaign is a marketing message that you send to multiple contacts simultaneously. With relevant content, it’s an effective way to reach out to your contacts at the right time. Zoho Marketing Automation lets you send different types of ...
                                                                                                                Wherever you are is as good as
                                                                                                                your workplace

                                                                                                                  Resources

                                                                                                                  Videos

                                                                                                                  Watch comprehensive videos on features and other important topics that will help you master Zoho CRM.



                                                                                                                  eBooks

                                                                                                                  Download free eBooks and access a range of topics to get deeper insight on successfully using Zoho CRM.



                                                                                                                  Webinars

                                                                                                                  Sign up for our webinars and learn the Zoho CRM basics, from customization to sales force automation and more.



                                                                                                                  CRM Tips

                                                                                                                  Make the most of Zoho CRM with these useful tips.



                                                                                                                    Zoho Show Resources