Why Your Best Sales Emails Are Disappearing Into Thin Air
Imagine you’ve spent three hours on a Sunday night putting together a massive promotion for your Brisbane landscaping business. You’ve got a great offer—20% off all paving jobs booked in March. You hit 'send' to your list of 1,000 past customers, expecting the phone to ring off the hook on Monday morning.
Monday comes. Silence.
Tuesday? Not a single peep.
You start wondering if your offer was rubbish or if people just don't have the money. But the truth is much more frustrating: Half of those people never even saw the email. It didn't land in their inbox; it went straight to the 'Spam' folder or that 'Promotions' tab where emails go to die.
In the marketing world, people call this "email deliverability auditing." To you and me, it’s simply making sure the stuff you send actually gets read so you can make more money.
If your emails aren't getting through, you’re wasting time, wasting money on software, and—most importantly—losing out on sales that should have been yours. Most business owners I talk to in suburbs like Chermside or Coorparoo have no idea this is even happening. They think if they hit 'send' in Mailchimp or Klaviyo, the job is done. It isn't.
The "Silent Killer" of Small Business Sales
I’ve seen this happen to a local boutique gym owner. She was sending out weekly workout tips and monthly membership specials. She was paying for a fancy platform but wasn't seeing any new sign-ups. When we looked under the hood, we found that because of a few simple mistakes, Google and Outlook had flagged her as a 'nuisance.'
Her emails weren't even being blocked; they were just being hidden. This is the "silent killer" of your marketing. You think you're communicating with your customers, but you're actually shouting into a void.
When you measure ROI on your marketing, you have to account for the emails that never arrived. If you’re paying $100 a month for email software but only 40% of your messages are hitting the inbox, you’re effectively throwing $60 in the bin every single month. Over a year, that’s nearly $800 gone, not to mention the thousands of dollars in lost bookings.
How to Tell if You Have a Problem
How do you know if your emails are being ghosted? You don't need to be a tech genius to spot the warning signs. Look for these three things:
1. The Big Drop: Your 'Open Rates' (the percentage of people who click on your email to read it) have suddenly plummeted. If you used to get 30% of people opening and now you’re seeing 10%, something is wrong. 2. The Silence: You send a big announcement or a 'flash sale' and literally nothing happens. No replies, no clicks, no phone calls. 3. The Test: Send an email to yourself at a personal Gmail account and a work Outlook account. If it goes to spam for you, it’s going to spam for everyone else.
The Three Reasons Google Hates Your Emails
Google and Big Tech companies have one goal: to keep their users happy. They don't want their users' inboxes filled with junk. If they think you are sending junk, they will hide you.
Here is why they might be grumpy with your business right now:
1. You're Sending to People Who Don't Care
If you bought a list of email addresses from some dodgy guy online, or if you’ve been emailing people who haven't shopped with you since the 2011 floods, you’re in trouble. When people don't open your emails, or worse, they hit the 'Report Spam' button, it tells Google that you are a pest.A healthy list is better than a big list. I’d rather have 200 customers who love my shop and open every email than 5,000 random people who ignore me. In fact, keeping those 4,800 people who don't care on your list is actively hurting your ability to reach the 200 who do.
2. Your "Technical Reputation" is Bad
Think of this like a credit score for your email address. Every time you send an email, the receiving computer checks your "score." If you haven't set up your account properly, your score is low.Most small business owners just use the default settings on their email tools. This is a mistake. You need to prove to the internet that you are who you say you are. While I promised no jargon, just know that there are three little "digital badges" (often called SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) that need to be attached to your domain. If you don't have these, you look like a scammer from overseas rather than a legitimate business in Fortitude Valley.
3. Your Emails Look and Sound Like Junk
If your subject lines are all in CAPITAL LETTERS or use too many dollar signs ($$$!!!), you’re triggering the spam filters. Also, if your email is just one giant image with no text, that’s a massive red flag. Spammers use images to hide words from filters, so when you do it, you look guilty by association.The Step-by-Step Fix (The Audit)
If you want to fix this and start getting more enquiries, here is what I would tell a mate to do over a beer at the Brewhouse.
Phase 1: Clean the House
Stop emailing everyone. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it works. Look at your list and find anyone who hasn't opened an email from you in the last 6 months.Do not email them anymore.
Move them to a separate list or just delete them. By only sending to people who actually engage with you, your "reputation score" will skyrocket, and Google will start putting your emails back in the main inbox for your best customers. If you're worried about losing them, try one last-ditch effort to get customers back with a really strong "We miss you" offer. If they don't click that, they're gone for good.
Phase 2: Check Your Settings
You might need a hand with this part, but it’s a one-time job. You need to ensure your website domain is "verified" inside your email software. This usually involves copying a few lines of code from your email tool (like Mailchimp) into your website's back end (like GoDaddy or VentraIP). This tells the world: "Yes, this email really is coming from Smith & Sons Plumbing."Phase 3: Give People Options
One reason people mark you as spam is that they feel trapped. If they don't want your weekly newsletter but they do want your monthly specials, give them that choice. When you let customers choose what they receive, they are much less likely to get annoyed and hit the 'spam' button. A happy subscriber is a customer; an annoyed subscriber is a liability.The Cost of Doing Nothing
Let’s talk numbers, because that’s what matters.
If you’re a professional service provider—say, an accountant in Milton—and a single new client is worth $2,000 a year to you. If your emails are landing in spam, you might be missing out on five new clients a year. That’s $10,000 in lost revenue.
Fixing your email deliverability might take a few hours of work or cost a few hundred dollars to have a professional look at it. The "return on investment" is massive. It’s the difference between your marketing being an expense and your marketing being a profit machine.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Using a 'No-Reply' address: Never send from no-reply@yourbusiness.com.au. It looks cold, it’s annoying for customers who want to ask a question, and it’s a spam magnet. Use a real name or hello@.
Too many links: Don't put 20 different links in one email. It confuses the customer and makes the email look suspicious to filters.
- Ignoring the 'Unsubscribe' link: Make it easy to leave. If people can't find the unsubscribe button, they will find the spam button. One of those hurts you; the other doesn't.
How Long Until You See Results?
This isn't an overnight fix. If your reputation is currently in the gutter, it can take 2 to 4 weeks of "good behaviour" for Google and Outlook to trust you again. You need to send smaller batches of high-quality emails to your most active customers first. This is called "warming up" your sender reputation.
But once it’s fixed? You’ll see it immediately in your stats. You'll see more opens, more clicks, and most importantly, your phone will start ringing again.
Is This a Waste of Money?
Look, if you only have 50 people on your list and you only email them once a year, don't bother with a deep audit. Just make sure your settings are okay and keep going.
But if you have 500+ people, or if you rely on email to drive your weekly sales, then ignoring this is the biggest waste of money in your business. You are paying for a car that only has three wheels.
Most "marketing gurus" will tell you to write better copy or use fancier designs. I’m telling you: none of that matters if the email never gets to the customer. Focus on the plumbing first, then worry about the paint job.
What Should You Do First?
1. Check your stats: Log into your email tool right now. Is your open rate below 20%? If yes, you have a problem. 2. Clean your list: Remove anyone who hasn't opened an email in ages. It hurts to see the number go down, but your bank account will thank you later. 3. Ask for help if you're stuck: If the thought of "DNS settings" or "domain verification" makes you want to throw your laptop out the window, get someone to do it for you. It's a small price to pay for a working marketing channel.
At Local Marketing Group, we help Brisbane businesses stop shouting into the void. We don't care about fancy awards; we care about making sure your customers see your offers so you can grow your business.
If you’re worried your emails are going straight to the junk folder, let’s have a chat. We can run a proper check on your system and get your messages back where they belong: in front of your customers.
Ready to get your emails working again? Contact Local Marketing Group today.