(sorry you have to do more stuff...)  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Hey, There are two entities which can place your email into Spam – the automated filters at services like Gmail and the pesky humans receiving your newsletters. What makes one of your own readers do you dirty and hit that Spam button? It's a question authors often ask, usually with saltier language than that. Which I totally understand BTW. It can be incredibly frustrating when someone signs up to your newsletter, grabs your free book, and then marks the next email Spam. Le sigh. On the scale of annoying reader behaviors, it's probably only matched by those who give a tepid two-star review to Book 6 of your series saying something like "I loved all the other books but this one didn't grab me" or some such… but of course they didn't actually review the others! Ah, readers. Can't kill them, can't construct a world-class mastermind lair without them. Even if we don't fully understand our readers sometimes, we do need to account for their behavior – even if we consider it irrational or unfair. This is especially true under the new Gmail regime. This is the first time we have chatted since Google and Yahoo made their big change to the world of email on February 1 – one which has had authors scrambling for the last couple of weeks. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, I strongly recommend you read this newsletter from two weeks ago, and follow the advice in there before you send another email to your list.) I'm hoping all of you have been getting to grips with the new technical requirements for running email lists. Today, we are going to focus on one aspect I only gave passing mention to last week: the spam threshold. I was going to write about this last Friday, but I was struck down with the lesser spotted lurgy, and bedridden – apologies. But perhaps you needed a break after wrestling with DMARC and verification and alignment and all that super fun stuff (apologies again!). The topic of spam is a huge one – because it bleeds into deliverability generally which is both complicated and multi-pronged. I have covered that topic numerous times here, but we can dodge most of it today. Because compliance with Google's new rules refers to "spam reports" specifically - i.e. pesky humans marking your email as spam, rather than Gmail's filters proactively dropping you into the spam bucket. Google has stated quite clearly that the threshold is 0.3% of spam reports. However, the clarity ends there because they haven't given any more information than that, and even Email Marketing Services like ConvertKit don't know exactly how Google are going to handle things – I was chatting to their Deliverability team, and they basically said they have to wait and see. Does Google mean that you must not go over 0.3% of spam reports per send? Or do they monitor a specific period like 30 days? Or is it a lifetime measurement? Nobody knows yet, but if I had to guess it will be some specific monitoring period like 30 days or 90 days – they have to give people some chance to claw themselves back into Google's good graces. If you missed me talking about this last time, you can check your own spam rate at Gmail Postmaster Tools. Here's mine, for example: This is my performance over the last 90 days – easily under the thresholds, as you can see. In fact, there are only two small bumps in December – literally one spam report will show up here as a 0.1% spam report rate. Google seems to round up for some reason, but it's nothing to be concerned about at all. You will never eliminate this completely, especially on a bigger list, even if you embrace all the best practices going. Some of you emailing me are wrestling with much higher spam report rates though, so let's look at some of the reasons why people mark emails as Spam. Remember, we're dealing with humans here, who can be emotional and irrational and downright befuddling sometimes. Not everything they do is correct or fair, and you shouldn't take it personally. Marked for (email) death There are certain things you can and should avoid doing with your newsletters, which will minimize spam reports. Happily, these are all best practices we have been generally advising people to engage in for years now, so it might not require a massive change in your current behavior if you have been following along. But if you have been pushing back against some of the advice that we regularly dole out here in this newsletter (e.g. using double opt-in, or culling your list) then you might want to think again. And to make things as easy as possible for you, I'm not just dumping problems on your doorstep – I'm giving you the solutions here too. 1. Added Without Permission This is probably the #1 reason people mark emails as Spam – getting added to a list without explicit consent. The reason should be obvious, readers haven't given you permission to send them marketing emails, and can react angrily if you do this. Most people know not to do this, but some authors just don't realize you need informed consent – i.e. people have to willingly sign up to receive your marketing messages. You can't hoodwink them into doing it. You must be very clear when collecting an email address that you will be emailing them. For example, you can ask for an email address as entry to a giveaway or a promotion, but you must make it clear that you are going to be sending them marketing messages. This isn't just smart, or ethical, it's also the law FWIW. Don't dismiss this one just because you are very careful in this regard – you also need to remember you are dealing with imperfect humans who can be wrong sometimes. Not me, obviously, the others... You also need to account for when readers think you have added them to your list without consent. For example, this can happen if readers sign up to your list and don't get an automated welcome message… but then receive an email from you a few weeks later (when they might have forgotten who you are, sorry, it's a fast moving world!). This can also happen if your automations are broken or stuck, if you don't email people in a while (hey, life happens), or if your welcome sequence isn't quite optimized, or you aren't using a very good email service which has a delay in your automations firing. E.g. if your free book goes out ten or fifteen minutes "late" because of one snafu or another, a reader who is having a bad day might mark you as Spam, thinking they have been hoodwinked. I've been there – it definitely happens. Unfortunately, it can also happen for reasons which are manifestly unfair: like readers not receiving your emails for whatever reason, over an extended period, and then Gmail suddenly dropping them back into their Inbox again... and those readers not remembering who you are and then marketing you as Spam. But all of these issues can be minimized with a little work. Solutions: Informed consent always. Don't buy lists of emails. Don't add people to your list without explicit permission. Don't trick people into signing up. Do make it abundantly clear that readers are signing up to a newsletter. Do also be clear about how regularly you will email them. Use double opt-in. This will get some pushback, I'm sure, as there are always voices out there suggesting authors shouldn't use double opt-in, because you can build your list much faster without it. This is bad advice, in my opinion. I've discussed why here many times, but don't take my word for it – literally every major email marketing service, as well as the likes of Google and Yahoo, strongly recommend that you use double opt-in. It helps you deal with malicious actors, reduces the chances of spam traps and robo sign-ups, it eliminates typo sign-ups, improves your open rate and your deliverability generally, and also stops anyone signing up a third party for your list. Have an automated welcome message. Ideally you should have a sequence of welcome messages, but you really must have at least one email which goes out to readers automatically after they sign up. Immediate cookie delivery. If you have promised a free book or something else in exchange for a sign up, you should deliver it immediately. Any delay of more than a few minutes can generate complaints; people are that impatient. Whine about that if you like but you must manage it. Cull your list. You don't need to be aggressive about it at all, and you certainly don't need to do it very often, but I do recommend removing terminally disengaged readers from your list every so often - if they have opened or clicked nothing over a long period, and after you attempt to re-engage them, of course. 2. Emails feel too salesy This is more of a vibe, which is inherently subjective – sorry, we're dealing with people here, not perfectly predictable robots. But it's probably the second most common reason that readers hit that Spam button so we have to tackle it. Problem is, everyone's appetite for salesy stuff is different. And if I can be permitted a gross generalization about several billion people, I might gently suggest that Americans have a higher tolerance for this than the rest of the world – something to consider. This topic can get complicated. Let's make it simple. If you are always pushing your stuff, you will probably see more spam reports. If you are always asking for something from your readers (a purchase, a click, a like, a review), you will eventually see more spam reports. If you generally treat your list as a resource to be strip mined… you will certainly get more spam reports. And if you just toss people into your list without letting them get to know you a little first… yeah, you'll probably get more spam reports. Thankfully, we have solutions here too: Treat readers as people. Radical or what? Joking aside, it's easy for anyone to slip into the wrong mindset here – myself included. When email marketing is done right it can be incredibly lucrative, so it's important to continually remind yourself that there is a person behind every single one of these email addresses and they should be treated with respect. Too vague for you? Read this. Give more than you ask. It took me years to realize that when I launch a book or share a sale with readers, I'm asking for something (rather than giving them something). Keep that in mind, and make sure you are giving readers more than you are asking of them. Don't make every single email about you or your books either. Mix it up. Warm them up first. A welcome sequence doesn't just help you avoid Spam, it's also a great opportunity to set expectations and warm up your new readers – and to put into practice the approach of treating them like people and giving more than you ask. This helps readers get up to speed, improves their engagement, and boosts your open rate. It also helps prevent the scenario where readers sign up and then don't hear anything from you for a few weeks, and then forget who you are (and maybe hit that Spam button). 3. Hidden or non-functional unsubscribe. You could argue that this is largely taken care of now with Email Marketing Services making changes, at Google's urging, to include a one-click unsubscribe. But I'm not quite sure I agree with that point of view. I still think you should have a clear Unsubscribe link at the bottom of your emails – because that's where people expect to find it. If they go looking for one, and don't find it, there's a reasonable chance they will mark you as Spam. So you should account for that behaviour. Maybe this will change over time as people get more used to the one-click unsubscribe, but I don't personally think we are there yet. I've heard smart people like Tammi Labrecque go even further and recommend deploying a more prominent Unsubscribe button when you are adding emails from more inorganic sources – like giveaways or promos – which I think is a great idea, especially if you are seeing a spike in Spam reports from things like BookFunnel promos or BookSweeps givaways. You might not like getting unsubscribes - no one does - but they are a million times better than a spam report. Solution: make sure your Unsubscribe link is obvious and functional – and in the place people expect. 4. Misleading or deceptive subject line Yeah, another vibes one, sorry, but it's important. This can be a tricky tightrope walk. We want to grab readers' attention so our messages don't get lost in their inbox, but if we go to far it can feel like clickbait – misleading and deceptive – and that can make them reach for the dreaded Spam button. There's also a trend among the funnel bros of the world to kind of… neg you with the subject lines. Yeah, you got my attention, but you also got dumped in Spam. But you can still end up there with less icky behavior, simply by making a promise with the subject line which you don't quite deliver with the email. Solution: no clickbait, no negging, no deception, and no unfulfilled promises. Get to it! We've only covered the more likely reasons for readers to mark your email as Spam here, and you'll get even more emails dumped into Spam by automated systems like Google's filters – but that's certainly enough for today. Oh and seeing as we are after Feb 1 now, if you noticed anything funny about this email - if it dropped into Spam or Promotions or had any warning label attached - I would hugely appreciate if you replied to let me know. Feel free to reply if you got it safely too - it all helps! Dave P.S. Music this week is Kevin Morby with Beautiful Strangers. Broomfield Business Park, Malahide, Co. Dublin K36 AT04 ​Unsubscribe | Update your profile​