The Battle Against Junk Folders: How We Delivered Our eBook Seamlessly

I was assigned the task of creating an eBook titled “Present and Future Use Cases of Banking Chatbots.” Following the completion of the book, the management expressed the desire to feature it on the Banking Chatbot industry page on the REVE Chat website. During discussions, the management decided to add a form to collect the emails of individuals interested in the eBook.

To implement this requirement, I brainstormed and came up with the idea of using a simple form. After users fill out the form, we would send the download link of the eBook to the email they provided.

Problem: Email Deliverability Challenges

When attempting to send emails containing PDF links, we noticed that our emails were consistently landing in the recipients’ junk folders. This issue has resulted in users not receiving the email, as many users primarily check their inbox and may not notice emails in their junk folder.

This situation has the potential to negatively impact our reputation, as users who filled out the form to receive the eBook may perceive our emails as spam. This is detrimental to our company’s reputation and trustworthiness.

Email Confirmation Rates

Between 27% to 61% of new users never confirm their email after signup. Two primary reasons contribute to this:

1. Spam folders: Emails are often diverted to spam folders, preventing users from seeing and confirming their emails.
2. Distractions: Users may get distracted by other emails in their inbox, leading to oversight and neglect of our confirmation emails.

To address this challenge, we developed a technique that significantly lowered our email open rate for confirmation emails.

Solution

To overcome the challenges associated with emails landing in the junk folder, I initiated brainstorming sessions and conducted research. Subsequently, I identified a solution to address the issue. Let’s explore how I resolved this problem.

Propose Solution No. 1:

Add a test that explicitly instructs users to check their junk folder if they don’t find the eBook download link in their inbox. However, the challenge with this approach is that approximately 60-70% of users overlook or miss this message, leading to a negative impression on our reputation.

Propose Solution No. 2:

As a second solution, I propose adding a customizable Call-to-Action (CTA) button. This button will assist in ensuring that the email, containing the eBook download link, is received whether it goes to the inbox, junk folder, or any promotional folder. Users can conveniently locate the desired email by clicking on the customizable CTA button.

Let’s dive into the second solution and learn how I solve the problem

Adding filter on URL

Step 1: Open user’s email inbox

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/username@gmail.com

 

Step 2: search the email of REVE Chat in the inbox section

#search/from%3A(info%40revechat)

 

Step 3: allow the user to find the email if the email is in junk folder

This is our hero of the URL that saved us from finding the email in the Junk folder

in%3Aanywhere+newer_than%3A1h

The section consists of two major segments. The first one is “in%3Aanywhere,” which aids in locating all available emails sent to a particular email address, regardless of whether they are in the inbox, junk, or any promotional folder. The second segment is “newer_than%3A1h,” designed to identify emails sent within the last three hours from the current time.

So, the full CTA will link to be like

“[<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/username@gmail.com.com/#search/from%3A(info%40revechat)+in%3Aanywhere+newer_than%3A1h”>](<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/username@gmail.com.com/#search/from%3A(info%40revechat)+in%3Aanywhere+newer_than%3A1h%E2%80%9D>)

This is for Gmail users. For Yahoo or Hotmail users, the link will be

https://mail.yahoo.com/d/search/keyword=from%253Ateam%40growth.design

https://mail.hotmail.com/d/search/keyword=from%253Ateam%40growth.design

Drawback

If a user uses a company email or business email, where filtering options may not be applicable, we have simply added explanatory text to address this situation.

eBook is sent to [yourname@email.com](<mailto:yourname@email.com>)

Please check your email including junk/spam folder.