If your inbox is anything like mine it’s filled with emails you signed up for but never really wanted. This is called graymail. It falls somewhere between welcome emails and spam.
Maybe you signed up for a rewards card or downloaded an ebook and subscribed to the company email list with the promise of an occasional deal or discount. However, now you’re getting daily emails that are not relevant and you no longer wish to receive or open. This is graymail. You technically subscribed, but no longer engage.
Graymail doesn’t get much engagement and email providers can identify it by the lack of it.
Graymail is Not Spam
Let’s be clear, graymail is not spam and doesn’t meet the legal requirements of spam, but it accounts for roughly 75% of the email that are classified as it.
Hotmail was among the first to wage war on graymail and Gmail’s tabs evolved out of graymail.
How to Avoid Sending Graymail
As a marketer, you don’t want to send graymail and there are a few ways to avoiding send it. First, you want to make sure subscribers legitimately opt-in to your list. This means no automatic opt-ins because they downloaded your ebook and it also means no pre-checked boxes. Also, make sure users know what they are subscribing too, be honest about the content you will be sending. Lastly, segment your list. Make your emails specific to the user by segmenting your list. If users no longer engage with your content it may be time to remove them from your list.
While graymail may not technically be spam, it still irritates people. When doing email marketing focus on proving interesting and relevant content. Also, make sure users actually opted into your list.
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