Let me start by saying that I think you'd be crazy if you ever assumed that an email you'd sent had been safely received. Email disappears every day!

While email is a teriffic form of communication, I no longer trust it. In this SPAM filled world, messages go missing like planes and boats in the Bermuda Triangle. Email used to be much more reliable, but now (due to floods of spam) ISPs, hosting companies and others are employing spam filtering software and hardware in an attempt to determine what's legitimate email and what's junk. Many times, the legit email is being "deep-sixed" because it's being incorrectly labeled as spam. Getting a legitimate message delivered safely can sometimes be nothing short of miraculous.

Have you ever had a mission critical document that you emailed to someone, only to discover a few days later that the intended recipient never received it or it was diverted to his junk mail folder? Email has become unreliable. If the document or message you're sending is important, then you should place a phone call sometime afterwards to get the recipent to verify that the message was received.

Did I ever mention the time I found an email in my junk folder from a person that was to become my very biggest client? Am I glad I check my junk folder religiously? Youbetcha.

The point of this short article? Try to make your email communications as "un-spam-like" as you possibly can. The following are some tips to help you get  your message through.

1) A recognized, expected, consistent sender name. When I send out my NewBedford360.com email newsletters, I send them from "Paul Allen." People when they see my name, are more likley to open it as they've become used to receiving mail from me. Hopefully, I'm considered a "trusted" sender of email locally. Many people simply scan their inboxes for sender names they recognize and delete the rest!

As an aside on this point:  what is your email program using as a sender name? I receive email from one local agency and the sender name simply reads "office" - I've alerted them to this, but to no avail. Send yourself an email and see what comes back to you in the "Sender Name" field.

2)  A subject line that is BRANDED. All email newsletters from NewBedford360.com read like this "New Bedford 360 - Newsletter, July 2007" - Again, it's another attempt on my part to let people know it's from a safe, reputable sender.

Make your subject line easy to understand. You're trying to quickly convey to people that the email is legitimate. If the subject line is obscure or worst of all, missing all together - good luck on getting that email through. Ever see an email with just "Re:" as the subject line? Ignoring the subject line is a good way to all but guarantee your email gets "spammed." Increase your read rates by paying attention to your subject line.

3) A subject line that doesn't trigger the spam filter - don't use "FREE" or any other such words often associated with spam messages.

4) Send your email during daylight hours if possible. Most spam is sent at night and consequently spam filters have been programmed to investigate messages more thoroughly during the late night and early morning hours than during daylight times.

5) Don't send an important email at 5:30 PM Friday evening. If you do, it'll be buried by three hundred spam messages which will come in on top of your message over the course of the weekend. If you can'tsend your email well before close of business on Friday, then hold it off until after 9 AM on Monday morning. It might be late, but it'll have a better chance of being read.

New Bedford Internet (operators of NewBedford360.com) offer complete email consultation services. We can help you with email marketing campaigns, email deliverability issues and web site hosting. Call us for a free consultation. (508.415.8648).

Paul Allen

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Paul Allen is president of New Bedford Internet, a leading web site design and development company and an IT technology solution provider. Paul is also founder of NewBedford360.com, New Bedford's community web site.

A long time advocate of technology, particularly the internet, Paul is committed to helping individuals and organizations in the Southcoast Massachusetts communities of New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fall River, Westport, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett and beyond, find their voice (and customers) on the internet.

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