Author Topic: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?  (Read 450 times)

Offline oh knee

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Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« on: December 30, 2011, 11:02:12 AM »
I've been taking the initiative and emailing local game stores around the country, asking if there is any interest in selling my dice bags.  I've gotten a few replies so far, and have sent out about two dozen emails. 
This morning I got a reply from a store that mentioned that my email had ended up in their Spam folder.  I'm now wondering how many other emails from the ones I've sent have ended up there.  Any suggestions on what I could do to prevent that from happening? 

The emails are coming from my me.com email address.  It's a simple, short email that I typed up as a sort of "form letter" - I change the name of the game store, but other than that it's copy/paste, so that I don't have to physically type out each individual email.  The email subject line is "Handmade Dice Bags".

The email is as follows:

Hello,

My name is Michael Althauser, and I run an Etsy store called Greyed Out.  I've been a gamer all my life, and recently started making my own dice bags, which I sell through the Etsy store.  Each bag is sewn to hide all seams and constructed to last, with a double drawstring for extra tight closure so that you don't lose dice everywhere. 
Recently I've been reaching out to friendly local game stores, and I'd like to see if there is any interest at Mind Games in carrying my dice bags. 
Examples of my dice bags can be seen here: 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/greyedout?section_id=7420040

Thank you for your time,
Michael Althauser
greylikestorms@me.com
greyedout.etsy.com



Any help is definitely appreciated. 
I paint miniatures and sew things.  Find me by looking up Greyed Out Productions on Facebook. 

www.greyedout.etsy.com

Offline Anumati

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Re: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2011, 11:06:40 PM »
It reads just like a grammatically correct version of what I call business spam. I don't know if it will help, but maybe..

Quote
Hello,

My name is Michael Althauser, and I would like to discuss the possibility of your store carrying my hand made dice bags.
(or wording to the equivelent)

Then put in all the stuff about who you are and the attributes of your dice bags etcetera. Also I suggest you change the subject to something like "Inquiry: Handmade Dice Bags?" or something else that suggests you have a question.
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Offline Narcissa

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Re: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2011, 04:49:01 AM »
I don't know if it would be convenient for you to go into the stores themselves and give a little demonstration of a few dice bags, but that might work a little better. When they see you and perhaps even recognize you from having been there before shopping/gaming, they'll be more likely to listen (at least more likely than to read an email that got autospammed).
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Offline Aeryven

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Re: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2011, 08:01:33 AM »
It sounds like you possibly sent the one email to all the recipients at the same time. while that's a valid way to send things, sometimes emails with multiple recipients in the To: field get tagged as spam in some email clients or mail servers.

It might help to either mail out individual emails, or if there's a lot, simply put them all in the BCC field. That way the people at the other end aren't seeing the email addresses or names of all the other stores you sent it to, and the email client program they're using may not flag it as spam.

Also, your message might be getting canned because of the link to your drawstring bags. If the spam filter is set just high enough, web links will trigger them. Especially long links. Not sure what to suggest here, since using a URL shortener will trigger the person's "OMG! I don't want a virus!" mechanism, and the link is kinda critical. :P

Which email client or webmail site are you using to send the email?
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Offline oh knee

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Re: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2011, 03:13:23 PM »
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. 

Anumati, I like that change, thank you. 

Narcissa; I'm emailing game stores around the country, not just ones here in Atlanta.  I don't have a car, and public transit here in Georgia isn't the awesomest in the world.  Plus, I figure that asking multiple stores is better than just asking local ones, you know?  :)

Aer:  I'm sending them one by one, actually.  I'm using Apple's Mobile Me, so the emails are coming from my greylikestorms(at)me.com address.  Would it help if I replaced the very specific drawstring bag link with a simpler "www.greyedout.etsy.com" link? 
I paint miniatures and sew things.  Find me by looking up Greyed Out Productions on Facebook. 

www.greyedout.etsy.com

Offline KnightOfNi

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Re: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2011, 07:13:51 PM »
You might also try sending a shortened link to your dice bags with something like tinyURL. Individual emails are definitely the way to go, you're doing the right thing. The only reason I can see that you might be triggering spam filters is your subject line and content, and I think the aforementioned advice on changing your text is good.
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Offline Aeryven

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Re: Inquiry email ending up in Spam... help?
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2011, 10:43:05 PM »
Definitely try changing the link. Either by shortening it like you suggested, or you can try using TinyURL or bit.ly. The automated spam filters may not freak out and can your messages.

Otherwise, as KnightOfNi said, you're doing it right.
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