Shopify is one of today’s most popular e-commerce platforms for people who want to create an online store where they can sell their goods. That’s no surprise since users can literally just create their basic store in seconds!
In fact, the platform saw an enormous surge during the pandemic as many businesses broaden their online presence. And one of the benefits of using their platform is that users can create and send emails to their customers directly from Shopify Email.
With it, businesses can customize and design their own branded templates. They can also select the group of customers they want to send emails to.
Now, let’s say you’ve created a good email strategy, designed a better email, and sent it out at the proper time. Catchy subject line? Check. Email design that makes readers go whoa? Checkity check. Call-to-action (CTA) that works? Cool, cool.
But somehow, you are not getting the results you wanted. In your customer’s inbox, it’s all silence.
Well, we’re here to tell you that you’re not the only one experiencing that.
Despite your best efforts, there’s a chance that your Shopify email will tumble past your customers’ inboxes and go straight to the spam folder. Or worse, your email did not go to the junk but that your email is blocked!
So in this guide, we’ll be covering common reasons why your Shopify Emails are going to the spam folder and what you can do to fix it.
Why Your Shopify Emails Are Going to the Spam Folder
Targeting the Wrong Audience
One of the common reasons why your Shopify emails are going to the spam folder is because you’re not engaging with the right audience.
Aside from providing products and services for your customers to purchase, an important part of your time as a retailer is usually spent on getting the attention of your customers, right?
It’s understandable that you want to get your prized products in front of as many people as possible but it would be nice if you could optimize your efforts. And one way to achieve that is by getting to know your audience and tailor your marketing efforts to those target audience
By knowing who you are emailing to you can market more effectively and send a message that resonates with them more strongly. Come to think of it, you surely don’t want to sell animal by-products to a vegan, right?
Buying Subscriber Emails and Sending Emails to Just Anyone
Let’s say you need an audience you can send your Shopify email to and you need them quickly. That’d be great also if you can get them at a low cost.
Some marketers have this mindset and they end up buying subscriber emails. After all, they need new people to support the sales team. However, acting out of desperation can do more harm to your email campaign than good.
The reason is that many email marketing automation platforms, like CampaignMonitor and MailChimp, have policies against purchased email lists.
Their algorithms can detect subscriber email lists that have been purchased and when they do, your efforts can literally go from gold to dirt in a few seconds.
Not only that. Buying subscriber emails and sending your Shopify emails to just anyone may also hurt the metrics. Why? Those people really have no investment in your brand since they were not the ones who took the initiative to interact with your business.
But of course, this is not to say that purchasing an email list is not altogether a kiss of death. It comes with pros too as long as you buy it from a trusted list provider that takes time to give you the email addresses of people based on psychographic information and demographics.
One of the benefits is that they save your valuable time in generating an email list (although this will be worthwhile in the end), you build brand awareness quickly, and you fill your sales funnel. Just a gentle reminder, if the offer is too good to be true, then it probably is.
IP Address Has Been Used for Bulk Emails or Spam in the Past
Your marketing emails end up in the spam of the recipient despite communicating the right way and segmenting them? Chances are it’s your IP address that is causing the problem.
If your IP address has been used for bulk emails or spam in the past, there’s a possibility that the emails representing your Shopify store are now getting flagged.
Spam Trigger Words In Your Email Content and Subject Line
Using spam trigger words or having email content that is spam-like is another reason why your Shopify emails are going to spam. What are these spam trigger words? These are the words that have been considered as too sleazy, pushy, manipulative, and evoke negative emotions.
Closely related to the readability and format of your email also includes:
- Flashy color and big fonts
- A lot of $$$$$ and exclamations !!!!
- Poorly written email copy
All these you have to avoid to prevent your email from landing in the junk folder.
Spam Laws Are Violated
If you’re sending Shopify emails to an opted-in list, make sure that every email going to this list has a way for the readers to opt out. This means you have to provide an unsubscribe link as this is required in the CAN-SPAM Act observed in the United States.
When sending to your customer email address, it is also important that you avoid using misleading subject lines and false identity information (“From,” “Reply to,” and “To.”) Other requirements of the said law applicable in the US requires marketers to have a valid physical office or postal address and clearly labeling the messages as an ad.
Violating any of these requirements may be the reason why your Shopify emails are going to spam.
Poor Domain Reputation
The domain that you use to send Shopify emails likewise plays an important role in email deliverability. That said, let us know more in this Shopify emails going to spam folders article as to what factors contribute to poor domain reputation.
It could be that many people have marked your emails as spam, which eventually notified the ESPs about the same, your open rates are dwindling over time, or you’re not sending to a permission-based list.
Email Authentication is Failing
Another reason why your Shopify emails end up in your customers’ spam folder is that you fail to authenticate your email.
Take note that email authentication (or domain authentication) gives mail providers, like Outlook or Gmail, the confidence that the emails they see from you are authentic and not sent by a bad actor.
The higher the confidence a mailbox provider has over your messages, the more likely your emails will land in the inbox. The primary email authentication methods include DKIM / DomainKeys (something set up in your domain host), SPF, Sender ID, and DMARC.
We’ll discuss the SPF record later. For now, let’s proceed with one of the common reasons why your emails are landing in the spam folder. It could be that you have a …
Poor Email Engagement
If a majority of your list is not opening your email, then email providers will have a strong reason to believe that messages coming from your domain are not adding value.
The point here is that you don’t have to send emails to inactive members. You are not just wasting your money, but you are also contributing to your poor domain reputation. We can’t emphasize this enough.
You see, for these reasons, you eventually know that your revenue is leaking since your campaign is landing in spam. So, how do you resolve these problems? Here are the steps:
How to Prevent Your Shopify Emails From Ending in Spam
Set Up SPF Record
To fix the issue of landing in the spam folder, we recommend you add Shopify’s SPF record to your domain settings. Include the following SPF record:
v=spf1 include:shops.shopify.com ~all.
Simply log in to your domain hosting account, locate your domain’s TXT record (often appears near the MX record and CNAME record).
Doing these can help your email pass through the firewall system of some mail providers so that your emails will not be mistakenly marked as spam or get blocked.
Components of an SPF record
If you’re wondering what TXT record v spf1 means, v=spf1 is the version while TXT is the DNS record zone record type. The “~all” denotes that the list is all-inclusive. Also, no other servers will be allowed to send emails.
To view or edit the DNS settings for domains, do check out this link.
Filter Out Inactive Subscribers
So that Shopify stores can send their emails directly to their customers’ inboxes, they need to prune their list regularly. Remove those who have not clicked or opened their emails for a certain period.
Even if you have a smaller email, but they are more engaged, it will still be better than a big email list that is only made of dead weight.
Nail Your Timing
Knowing the ideal time to send your email has been a hot topic among marketers. And although there’s no silver bullet for every business, we do have some insight and advice.
Based on tests, it has been shown that Tuesday is a good day for recipients to engage. Meaning to say, this is the best day to send your newsletters.
As to the time, avoid sending at the top of the hour (10:07 instead of 10:00) as this increases the chance that your mail will be delayed and will not reach the inbox as you originally intended.
A/B Test Every Part of Your Email
One of the best email marketing practices is to experiment to know what resonates in your campaign. This requires you to test every part of your email, from your call-to-actions (CTAs) to your subject lines, the links you used, and your email body.
But remember, A/B tests only one element at a time to get conclusive results. Also, there should be a significant sample size in your email test.
Don’t Let Your Shopify Emails End Up in Spam
Of course, this list is not exhaustive. There may be dozens of additional steps on how you can fix it but these usually do the trick.
Just remember, the key to success in your email marketing efforts lies in tweaking and testing.
Go ahead and be creative with your approach and just analyze the results. After that, modify your approach accordingly in your next campaign.