You never want to surprise your customers with unwanted email content. After all, one false move and your message could end up in email purgatory—AKA the spam folder.

Looking to avoid this fate? Lucky for you, it’s pretty simple: If you sidestep common deliverability pitfalls, you can significantly reduce the chances that recipients see the messages you’re sending as spam. Common errors include sending more emails than your customers are interested in receiving and sending content that users don’t expect. Your best move? Make sure you only send messages that your audience actually wants to read.

The Big Warning Sign That Your Email Recipients Aren’t Feeling It

As a rule, when people you’re emailing aren’t thrilled with the emails you send them, there are ways to tell. If you see your email engagement metrics—think opens, clicks, and other signs of interest—beginning to drop off, that’s a blaring siren telling you to pay attention.

When you see these sorts of indicators heading south, dig into the details and make sure you have a full picture of the situation. Are your engagement numbers dropping across the board or only for certain segments of your audience? Understanding who is disengaging can make it easier to isolate areas where your current email strategy isn’t resonating and can allow you to make changes that speak specifically to the people who are pulling away.

Send Emails People Want to Receive by Embracing Personalization

Crafting emails that your users are willing to open and read is the cornerstone of an effective engagement strategy in this channel. One smart way to send messages that are more likely to resonate is by using personalization.

This approach helps users feel like you’re speaking directly to them by leveraging data to include personal details and highlight relevant content. What does that look like? Well, if you use dynamic content in connection with your email program, you can elevate their impact by making the messages you send more timely and specific to each individual’s customers interests and needs.

Final Thoughts

It’s not 1999 anymore. People aren’t checking email on their desktop a couple times a day. With the rise of mobile, consumers are visiting their inbox throughout the day on an ongoing basis—and they’re getting a litany of additional messages across additional channels like push notifications or in-app messages.To succeed in today’s customer engagement landscape, you need to understand your users and use that understanding to support empathetic and deeply human brand experiences. Looking for a starting point? Consider this: Which emails resonate with you and which ones end up in the trash?

Email can be powerful way to reach and engage your customers. But you have to be thoughtful about how you use this channel if you want to see its full value. To learn more about how Braze can support smart, relevant email messaging experiences, check out our Email Product Page.