Getting on prospects’ white lists is the name of the game for many marketers.

Yet, I often come across marketers doing exactly what they’re not supposed to be doing when they send out emails.

I think it’s time for a mini-primer on email practices that contribute to getting on white lists.

First, I should warn you that some of these five tips may be considered common knowledge, but I don’t see them implemented enough. I can only think that marketers don’t do them because a) they assume that prospects have a familiarity with the processes associated with white listing or b) they’re just careless. Either explanation results in a throwing away of leads and warrants a reminder post.

So without further adieu, here are the basic things that marketers should be doing every time initial correspondence is sent:

Ask Prospects Nicely

Be courteous with your request for permission to be added to a customer’s white list. Lots of business owners, in their urgency to gather leads, almost demand to be made part of prospects’ inboxes. That tone is almost always met with some form of resistance. Your request should be nice and simple. Don’t muddy it up by using flowery language and eager sales jargon. Your goal of getting on a white list should be your number one concern. If you succeed, you’ll have plenty of time to pitch sales.

So what’s “courteous” on the Internet? Basically, it’s the same thing that you would encounter in a face-to-face scenario. “Please” and “thank you” will get you far. You’ll likely see an increase in the number of people who are open to your correspondence if you employ those three, criminally ignored words.

Extra mini-tip: consider making your request to be on a white list part of your double opt-in subscription process for good measure. That way, you can kill two birds with one stone, or so they say.

Instruct Your Prospects

Don’t assume that your prospects know how to white list your email address. While they may have been bombarded with requests for white listing from other businesses, the fact is that only about 1 in 5 businesses offer white listing instructions to their prospects. That’s like asking someone to bake a cake from scratch, but not providing them with a recipe.

Even if your business has to do with technology, don’t ever take it for granted that your prospects already know how to white list. Instead, realize that every ISP provider may have different white listing processes. If you really want to go the extra mile, look into those different processes and provide the correct processes to your prospects.

Louise Rijk suggests a few different ways to deliver white listing alerts. According to her, you may post them on a registration page, on pre-headers in text links or in welcome messages.

If you’ve already collected hundreds of prospects, these things can seem tedious. That’s when sending out a one-time white-listing request to all on your subscriber list will come in handy. Some recipients may question the step of having to white list an email address that they’ve already been receiving email from, but that’s sort of the point. Make sure to point out that you’re doing it to protect beneficial, future correspondence. If you think about it this way, it can never be too late to white list.

Avoid the Spam Look

Names, return email addresses and subject titles are incredibly important. Customers use them to recognize that you, someone who they have had legitimate business with in the past, has sent the email- but that’s only if you keep them standard. It won’t take much for them to reach for the “block” buttons if names and return email addresses look different and titles look spammy. They won’t exactly take the time to check the legitimacy of the email and neither will ISPs when they log your email onto their black lists.

How can you avoid this? Make sure that you always put a real first and last name in the sender’s email address- preferably, a recognizable one. If you ignore this and instead offer a generic “From Someone You Know”, you’re sure to be blocked. Also, assign a single legitimate-looking email address to the name. Using “nobody@yourbusiness.com” is a terrible idea, yet I see it all the time. So is switching the names up. Despite your best intentions, it only arouses suspicion. Finally, make your titles as detailed and beneficial as you can. Using titles like “Special Offer for You” basically translates into “Delete Me” in prospect-speak. Use highly beneficial and targeted subject titles that will make your prospects want to open and read your emails instead of ignoring or trashing them.

Extra mini-tip: Motorcity International offers some additional tips to ensure that your email gets delivered, including providing a list of words you should refrain from using in your correspondence.

Become Familiar With the “X” Factor

In an effort to protect email users, ISPs often disable images in HTML messages and replace them with tiny “x”s. Assuming that the message actually makes it to an inbox, this means that when your prospects open your email, there’s a high chance that they’ll assume that the message was spam- possibly the dangerous kind. This is trouble for marketers because many use images to illustrate offers. Some of their offers are even contained within the images.

The solution? Make your first piece of correspondence text-only. In that message, request that prospects white list your email address so that they can receive further correspondence- future, possibly highly lucrative correspondence.

Invest in a “Delivery Assurance” program

Many business owners simply send out emails and hope for the best. What’s the better plan? Spending money on a program that can do all the worrying for you. A delivery assurance program means that you can kick back and just worry about the content of your email messages. Email deliverability will be someone- or something- else’s task.

Do you do all of these things when sending out email to prospects?