Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail Doctor’s blog.
Imagine you’re at home watching Game of Thrones when you hear a knock on the door.
You look through the peephole to see an acquaintance on your doorstep. Not wanting to interrupt your night, you simply don’t answer and hope they go away.
Graymail is like that.
Graymail is e-mail customers opted-in to receive from you, but now don't really want. They haven’t yet taken the step to unsubscribe. Instead of their inbox, these e-mails might go to their Promotions, [Bulk], Low Priority or a Junk mail folder.
And that hurts all of the e-mail you send since your sender score reputation is being damaged.
Here are six ways to avoid being gray-mailed:
Make your subject lines magic. If you can’t pique their interest in your content with a riveting subject line, your opens will suffer.
Make your communication valuable to your readers. Another Friends and Family or 20 percent off gets old — fast. Stay useful by helping your readers learn something about your products.
Segment your list into two. Send the same information to both lists but with different subject lines. In one, add first names and make it a question. In another, use an emoji and a more provocative tone. See which does better.
Find your best send days of the week and time. Test and see. Then be consistent.
Adjust the frequency of e-mails you send. If you’re sending too many, they may be perceived as too much alike. If too few, recipients may forget who you are.
Prepare them. In your welcome e-mail, let new recipients know you only want to provide information they are interested in. Urge them to unsubscribe if it’s not as promised.
After taking these steps, create your engaged list. If a recipient has never opened an e-mail from you or has not opened the last 10 e-mails, put them on a low engagement list. Your open rates and inactive subscriber rates are good indicators of whether your content is working.