your business seem more organized and credible, it Watch your timing. There’s no “perfect time” to makes it far less likely that a recipient will get fed up send an email, but there are times that are better with an inbox clogged with your emails and hit the than others. As a general rule of thumb, avoid “Report as Spam” button. sending emails over the weekend or on Mondays, over major holidays or typical vacation times, first Choose your words carefully. Think of every thing in the morning, or at the end of the day. The obnoxious ad that you’ve ever received — and make worksheet at the end of this chapter can help you your emails sound as least like these as possible. find the optimal send time for your business. Phrases like “no commitment necessary!” and “for only $___!” are the best way to ensure that your Learn more Get the latest on email best practices. email is sent straight to the spam folder. for optimal about email sending best practices, optimization, deliverability, start emails with “Hello” or “Hi” rather and reporting in our Complete Guide to B2B than “Dear.” email Marketing, and get more information on deliverability best practices in the following articles: Keep your lists clean! High bounce rates caused by invalid or misspelled email addresses can hurt • 21 email Deliverability Terms You neeD to your email reputation, so make sure you’re regularly Know maintaining your lists. And if you’re buying lists, • 7 and a Half easy Ways to Improve Your stop. When you buy lists, you can easily end up sending emails to invalid email addresses, spam email Deliverability traps, and unsuspecting (read: unwilling) recipients • The Golden Rule of List Management — sending your odds of being reported as spam through the roof. even if these lists aren’t chock-full • So...What Is Blacklisting, Anyway? of invalid email (or spam trap) addresses, you’re still likely to end up with a high number of spam complaints. 36 / Pardot