When is the last time you mystery shopped your own dealership? Did anything go to SPAM? If so, why?  If you think nothing goes to SPAM, my guess is you haven’t likely checked.I mystery shop dealers every week and it still amazes me how many emails and auto-responders are sent directly to my junk mail. I just returned from speaking at a NADA 20 group where 5 of the 20 dealers’ emails were caught in SPAM. Last month, when Jared Hamilton, Brian Pasch, and I spoke to an NCM 20 group together, of the 35+ emails I received back from the attending dealers over the course of 5 days prior to the event, 8 of them went to SPAM. That is almost 25%. What are you doing to combat this?There are several things you can do to avoid getting lost in a prospect’s junk mail. Here are just a few ways to put your best font forward.

1. Tiny font tends to get caught in spam. If you have font smaller than 10px, it can get you nailed by the triggers. (Think of all the legalese trapped at the bottom of special offers…that is why)
2. Large font sizes bigger than 2+ gets trapped in spam filters
3. More than two font sizes and two font types are no good either
4. More than two images or two links in your email can get you caught as well
5. If you do send an image, make sure it isn’t too large and overwhelming to the email
6. If you do send an attachment, make sure it is under 300k
7. Don’t use too many bolds, colors, exclamation points, or italics
8. Make sure your email text has the same font and size as your signature. (Not sure if it affects spam, but it ticks me off and looks unprofessional 🙂
9. Don’t use punctuation in your subject line  (Writing a good subject line is a necessity and worthy of another blog entirely.  Recognize its importance)
10. Make sure that if you are sending an html email, you have a higher percentage of text to html image. (I just learned of this one by researching… pretty cool)
11. Always test yourself by mystery shopping as you can easily get put on a blacklist – and that can be the primary reason you are getting sent to spam
12. And do your best to steer clear of these “trigger” words:

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Opportunity Compare Removes Collect Amazing Cash Bonus Promise You Credit Loans Satisfaction Guaranteed Serious Cash Offer Please Read Don’t Delete Visit our web site

When all else fails, just go to Spam-Checker.com and plug in your email templates individually.  Considering my company, DealerKnows Consulting helps all of our dealers create and customize email templates, it is imperative for us to recognize that the most elementary task we must perform is getting back in touch with a customer who submitted a lead. These are just some of the tactics we monitor during our Virtual Dealer Training to ensure there is a proper lead management plan in place.

I hope this helps you take a close look at what you are sending out from your store. Make sure to put your automotive email templates under a microscope and ferret out the spam triggers.  The customer already submitted the lead.  Why not make sure you are getting back to them professionally?  Don’t throw away opportunities.  It is imperative to put your best font forward.

Are your emails avoiding spam?