The easiest way to think about email whitelisting is to think of it as the opposite of blacklisting. If your emails are going in customers’ junk folders, you’ve been “blacklisted” by their email bots. If you want to show up in their inbox every time, email whitelisting is your friend.
Why did I get blacklisted? Email programs use bots, just like search engines do. Typically, they “misread” your emails and categorize them as spam, without your subscriber knowing it’s happened. If a customer ever says “I signed up for your email list, but haven’t gotten anything yet”. It’s probably been miscategorized as junk by the email bots.
That’s why being proactive, and telling them about whitelisting, is a great idea.
How does someone whitelist me? Whitelisting happens when a user opens your email and adds you as a contact. This will prevent your emails from going to the spam/junk folder, and make sure they are filtered into your inbox instead.
Two Simple Ways to Get Whitelisted
- Ask them to whitelist you
- Provide instructions on how to do it (across their devices)
For example: “You’re getting this email because you’ve signed up for our updates and offers. Make sure you don’t miss our exclusive email content [ insert link to whitelisting instructions].”
Whitelisting is one of the easiest do-it-yourself email marketing fixes, and it will improve your overall results. After all, if they opted-in to receiving your emails, your subscribers want to hear from you. Whitelisting is how to make sure they do.
We recommend two resources to help you make whitelisting easier:
- This whitelisting instructions list is great because it has instructions for the majority of email programs an operating systems out there.
- This generator makes it easier than ever to insert whitelisting instructions into your email campaigns.
Isn’t it amazing how one little word can change your email marketing for the better? Now no more of your subscribers—or your email campaigns—will fall through the cracks!
