logo
Turn Your Emails into Trust-Building, Revenue-Driving Machines — Without Ever Touching The Spam Folder

Turn Your Emails into Trust-Building, Revenue-Driving Machines — Without Ever Touching The Spam Folder

Entrepreneur16-05-2025

Your customers check their email for deals. Use these six tactics to stand out and drive more sales
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Wondering if you should invest in email to market your business? Wonder no more: 93% of people check email daily, and 35% spend up to five hours a day in their inboxes, ZeroBounce found in its latest Email Marketing Statistics Report. What's more, 41% of consumers check their email intently, hunting for brand discounts.
That makes email one of your biggest opportunities to drive sales and build loyalty – if you show up with the right message. Here's how to stand out in your prospects' inboxes and make email work for you.
1. First, keep your emails out of spam
If you want people to see your emails, keeping them out of the spam folder is the first step. It doesn't matter how good your offer is; if your message lands in junk, it's game over.
To get your emails in the inbox, use this short checklist of best practices:
Maintain your database up-to-date. Remove obsolete contacts regularly and weed out dormant subscribers if they don't open your emails for more than six months.
Make sure your emails are authenticated properly (think SPF, DKIM and DMARC). These protocols tell mailbox providers that you are, in fact, you, not a scammer pretending to be you.
Remove people who unsubscribe within two days to avoid being penalized by large email providers like Google, Yahoo and Outlook.
Your goal is to become a sender people trust and mailbox providers recognize as legitimate. That's how you earn a spot in the inbox — and stay there.
Related: More Than a Quarter of Your Email List May Be Bad – Here Are 5 Ways to Clean It
2. Work on building trust
Email is a powerful way to grow your business, but many people associate it with spam and an overload of marketing offers. If you want to stand out, first you have to earn your audience's trust.
Instead of constantly pushing for the sale, focus on making your emails helpful. Share useful articles, expert tips and other resources – even if your call to action (CTA) still leads to a product or service. This approach draws people in rather than overwhelming them, and it builds long-term loyalty and engagement along the way.
3. Make your emails feel personal
Once you're in the inbox and building trust, the next step is to make your emails feel like they're meant for each of your subscribers, not for your whole list. Here are three simple ways to achieve that:
Segment your audience into smaller groups so you can make your emails hyper-relevant. Your prospects will be much more likely to open, click and convert.
Even simple personalization – like using your customers' first names — can improve engagement.
Experiment with text-only emails. No fancy images, no pushy messaging — just an email that looks like it could be from a friend or colleague. Just make sure it feels natural, not forced.
Being relevant and human earns your audience's trust and respect. And when people feel seen, they're far more likely to stick around and buy.
Related: 5 Ways to Delight Your Customers With Email
4. Write subject lines that earn the click
You made it to the inbox, now you need to win the open. Your subject line is your first (and often only) shot to grab attention.
Avoid clichés like "Hurry!" or "Don't miss out," which scream spam and often trigger filters. Instead, focus on clarity, curiosity or value. What's in it for the reader? Why should they care right now?
Here are a few quick pointers:
• Keep it short and scannable — under 50 characters works best on mobile.
• Use action-oriented language, but skip the hype.
• Test subject lines regularly to see what resonates (even small tweaks can make a difference).
Think of your subject line like a headline. If it doesn't make you want to click, rewrite it.
5. Design for fast reading
No one's settling in with a cup of tea to savor your email. People skim. They scroll. They're checking on the go. So if your email looks like a wall of text, it's probably going straight to the trash folder.
To make your emails easy to scan, use short paragraphs and bullet points to highlight key takeaways. You can also break things up with subheadings and bold text. And keep mobile in mind — most people check email on their phones. If your layout's clunky or the CTA button is buried, you'll lose the click.
Related: 3 Tricks for Getting More Email Clicks
6. Make your offer crystal clear
If your prospects have to reread your email to figure out what you want them to do, they won't do it. So make your offer pop. Whether it's 20% off, early access, or a free resource, spell it out and make the CTA unmistakable.
When writing your next email, remember to:
• Stick to one main call-to-action per email.
• Use clear, specific CTA buttons like "Get My Discount" or "Download the Guide."
• Place your CTA early and repeat it at the end for the skimmers.
When people instantly understand what you're offering and why it matters, they're more likely to take action.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Watch Messi for cheap at Club World Cup? FIFA offering discounted tickets to some students
Watch Messi for cheap at Club World Cup? FIFA offering discounted tickets to some students

New York Times

time24 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Watch Messi for cheap at Club World Cup? FIFA offering discounted tickets to some students

FIFA's latest attempts to fill Hard Rock Stadium for the Club World Cup opening match between Inter Miami and Egyptian team Al-Ahly involve offering students at an affiliated local college a single ticket for $20 — but with the promise of up to four complimentary tickets. The Athletic last week revealed the launch game, which takes place on Saturday night, still had tens of thousands of tickets unsold for a match likely to star Lionel Messi for MLS side Inter Miami. Hard Rock Stadium has a capacity of 65,326. FIFA denied that fewer than 20,000 tickets had been sold for the match — insisting the number was 'much higher' — but they did not specify the number. Advertisement Now, however, email promotions have been sent out to those connected to Miami Dade College, which announced a collaboration with FIFA in April 2024. This involves students being given the chance to intern at FIFA's Miami office, while FIFA's museum loans exhibits to the college. Miami Dade College has more than 100,000 students currently enrolled, according to the announcement made by FIFA of the partnership one year ago. An email promotion sent out says that FIFA, in collaboration with Miami Dade College, is 'providing up to four complimentary tickets to the opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup with the purchase of one ticket at the reduced student price of $20.' Those who respond are asked to submit their Miami Dade College email when using their purchase. If they secure the five tickets, then they are essentially able to watch Messi for just $4 a seat, which is a bargain for the local community but a long way away from FIFA's original expectations when pitching this tournament as the most coveted trophy in world club football. As reported previously by The Athletic, FIFA has sold general sale tickets for the revamped 32-team Club World Cup under a dynamic pricing model, a system whereby prices fluctuate based on demand, and the slumping prices for certain games are indicative of FIFA's struggles to sell out stadiums. As of last Tuesday, Inter Miami's game against Al-Ahly had dropped to $55, according to prices on Ticketmaster, the portal FIFA is using to sell tickets for the tournament. This was half of what they were available for in May, while tickets were $230 for the cheapest seat in January and $349 after the draw in December. FIFA is now hoping that the reduced prices will draw people in during a publicity blitz in the final week before the tournament. Despite the $20 offer for the affiliated college, the cheapest seat available on Ticketmaster tonight was $69.15 for an 'obstructed view.' It is not known how many tickets have now been sold for the game, but it is clear that FIFA is now taking every possible step to avoid any perception on Saturday night that the tournament is not in demand. Advertisement FIFA sources, speaking anonymously as they were not authorized to talk publicly on the matter, said that the organization has a strong relationship with the college and see it as a positive to extend the offer to their students to see world-class soccer on their doorstep.

Longtime Wichita business to be auctioned, and it's harder than it looks
Longtime Wichita business to be auctioned, and it's harder than it looks

Yahoo

time29 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Longtime Wichita business to be auctioned, and it's harder than it looks

The first of a couple of auctions at the former Barney's Discount Drug store near Central and Zoo Boulevard will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. It's new territory for Scott Riffel and his family, who have had the business for four decades. Ask him how he's doing these days, and Riffel might stutter a reply. 'I'm OK . . . I think.' Riffel said he hesitates to compare it to a death, but 'it's very draining to go through.' He and his family decided to close the store because the pharmacy within it was closing. The Riffels owned that business with George Saghbene. Changes in the way prescriptions are reimbursed forced the closure, and without the pharmacy, Riffel said Barney's could not survive. A lot of over-the-counter medications will be part of the first auction as will various medical, home health and personal supplies along with a variety of other items, such as greeting cards and light bulbs. 'Mostly for this first one, it's leftover merchandise,' Riffel said. 'Just a little bit of everything we were unable to sell in the liquidation sale.' There also will be items such as open and closed signs, 'things that we found that we still had after 40 years of hoarding things in the warehouse.' Bud Palmer Auction is handling the auction and will sell a lot of the items in lots instead of individually. 'They've been impressive,' Riffel said. 'I mean, Bud knows what he's doing.' A second auction, at 9 a.m. on June 25, will be to sell fixtures in the store. Riffel said he's already learned a lot from Palmer that he wishes he'd learned earlier in business. Not that he recommends anyone go through this. After reading about so many businesses closing or being forced to close through the years and having their merchandise auctioned, Riffel said, 'I see it through a different light now.' He said he feels a lot more compassion for those businesses these days. 'When I read these in the future, I will think and pray for them more than cruising through the article.' Among the mixture of feelings he's experiencing, Riffel said gratitude — for his employees and customers, whom he's already missing — is a big one. 'I'm really grateful that Wichita gave us such a nice run.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store