In a nutshell, an email safelist is a list that consists of “approved” aka “safe” email senders. To make an email safelist safe, it’s necessary to tell users’ email clients that they know and can trust the messages that come from the safelist email address. Once an email address approved for the safelist, messages from that email address should not appear in the spam folder and should stay in the recipient’s inbox.
Safelists are valuable tools for marketing, as you generally require subscribers to add the safelist email address to their whitelist, ensuring that emails from that list reach the intended inboxes and do not get routed into a spam folder.
2. How is an email address added to a safelist?
Generally today an email address is required to “double opt in.” Generally this means adding contact information to a subscription form along with a first and last name. Once the email form is submitted, there is usually some kind of message stating that you will receive an email with a link you will need to click on to confirm that you want to receive email from the list.
Sometimes you will also be required to answer a challenge question, often some kind of “captcha” where you have to choose a certain type of picture or a hidden word.
3. Is this guaranteed to make my email not spam?
A safelist is a valuable toolto help get your emails delivered to real people who will read them. You can prompt your blog or website visitors to subscribe and add your email address to their whitelist, so that your emails reach their inboxes without getting routed into a spam folder.
But even when you do everything correctly, it is still possible that your messages will get sent to a spam folder. Many modern email clients use their own algorithms to decide whether or not email is spam, even overriding user settings.
However, if an email safelist does follow proper practices which include requiring subscribers to double opt in, you can’t legitimately be accused of spamming your subscribers. So while you can never fully guarantee your messages will get to where they are intended to go, you are at least protected.
4. Do email safelists work?
Just like banners and flashy websites, email safelists used to be highly successful. But the internet has evolved as literally billions of people have come online since its inception.
With such growth, competition has increased exponentially. So, nothing works exactly like it did in the early days. It has become a lot harder to get noticed!
But with that said, yes, an email safelist does still work. With every message sent, you get exposure at a relatively low cost, which is definitely worth the small amount of work.
Bonus points
While you are unlikely to sell a vast amount of product just using an email safelist, you are more likely to make more sales if it is part of your marketing effort.
Internet marketing is not a set it and forget it enterprise any more than opening a store on a typical street in a typical mall or business section of a town.
If you were to stock up a brick and mortar store with great products and then just open the door with no sign, no window display, no advertising, or anything to grab attention, people would think you were crazy, and you probably would sell little if anything.
No, you would dress up your store to make it as attractive as possible, pay someone design a great sign for your store, and probably take out print, radio, television, and social media ads so that people would come looking for you.
In other words, if you were a smart business person, you would do everything you could to make sure people find you!
The same thing applies on the internet. You need to do everything you can to get people interested in your store and what you have to offer. So using an email safelist is one of the most affordable things you can do for this purpose and therefore a critical piece of your overall marketing arsenal.
Be sure to share your experience with our readers in the comments below, and remember to leave your link!