Email Campaign Ideas and Strategies for Contractors

Spam filters aren’t evil; they’re just cautious. Here’s why they might mistake your brilliant emails for spam:

Poor Sender Reputation: Think of your sender reputation as your email credit score. If you’ve sent sketchy emails before (intentionally or not), your score suffers. For example, if your roofing company is emailing from different random addresses, spam filters will think you're up to no good.

Suspicious Content: Using subject lines like "FREE MONEY!!!" is the email equivalent of wearing a ski mask in a bank—it’s suspicious. A landscaping business that sends emails packed with huge images and flashy promotions will probably trigger spam alarms.

Low Engagement Rates: If recipients often ignore or delete your emails, spam filters assume you're boring or irrelevant. Sorry, HVAC company, but sending heating promotions in July just won’t get clicks.

Unclean Email Lists: Sending emails to outdated lists is like texting your ex’s old number—it gets messy fast. Plumbing businesses, beware: buying third-party lists usually backfires.

Imagine your email authentication as your official ID card that says, “I’m legit, promise!” Here's what you need:

SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF tells email servers, “Hey, these servers can send mail on my behalf.” It’s like giving Mailchimp a hall pass to send emails for your roofing business. Mess this up, and your emails might never see daylight again.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM is like sealing your emails with a secret handshake, so recipients know your messages haven’t been tampered with. It ensures your plumbing appointment reminders reach customers untouched (and unmarked as spam).

DMARC: Think of DMARC as SPF and DKIM’s boss—it makes sure they're working together smoothly. Pest control businesses use DMARC to keep scammers from sending fake emails pretending to be them.

Avoid Spammy Subject Lines: If your pest control email reads "FREE Pest Control!!! Act Now!!!", spam filters will panic. Instead, try something calm and clear like "Schedule Your Pest Inspection Today."

Balance Text and Images: Don’t flood your emails with pictures. Keep a healthy mix, like a 60:40 ratio of text to images. Landscaping businesses, take note: less is more.

Use Trustworthy Links: Shortened links look shady, so stick with regular links that clearly show your business name. "www.bestroofingco.com" beats "bit.ly/sketchylink" any day.

Include Clear, Simple CTAs: Instead of screaming “BOOK NOW!!!”, say something friendly like "Schedule Your Gutter Cleaning Here." Desperation doesn’t look good in emails—or dating.

Regularly Clean Your List: If someone hasn’t opened your HVAC emails in a year, they probably won’t start now. Gently remove inactive subscribers.

Use Double Opt-In: Ask new subscribers to confirm they're real people. Robots don’t open emails, anyway.

Segment Your Audience: Send relevant content to specific groups. A roofing business sending storm-damage repair offers to actual storm-hit neighborhoods gets much better engagement.