Do you regularly check your junk mail folder? If not, you may be losing business. We are all inundated with emails filling our inbox. It’s easy to overlook your junk or spam folder, but you might be surprised what you find in there.
Let’s back up a sec and talk about why a message becomes “junk.” When your email server sees email coming in to you, it tries to determine on your behalf if it’s a legitimate email or a spam message. It has all kinds of filters set for the usual spammy terms and it learns over time from past known spammers and types of junk mail, but it’s ultimately up to you to train your own email client what is good email and what is bad.
Your mail server will actually attempt to delete known junk mail, but when a message is questionable, it will toss the message into your Junk or Spam folder. It’s then your responsibility to teach your mail client what is good and bad.
Examples of Missed Opportunities
It seems like every few months, we run into a client who has lost leads because they aren’t regularly checking their junk folder. This past week we saw two distinct examples of clients who almost lost business because they aren’t checking their own junk mail regularly.
Both examples were actual leads for people interested in either doing business with them or coming into their place of business to get more information on their services. Luckily, they both by chance checked their spam to find the email in time. We have discussed previously how important it is to respond to leads quickly. Part of that also means locating your leads quickly, because not every lead will perfectly land front and center in your inbox every time.
Another Option: Lead Management
If you’re worried about missing leads (and honestly, you should be), there’s a way to cut out email altogether – by having leads from your website and other sources feed into a secure lead management tool. Most tools can be set to send you email alerts when you receive new leads, and then you can log into the tool to retrieve each lead. Because the lead notification email will always come from the same address, you can add it to your safe senders list and never miss an email. Plus, you’ll have the added benefit of more securely storing lead info, which is particularly important for medical practices who must comply with HIPAA.
Summing Up
So are you already checking your spam folder? If not, make a habit of doing a once daily check in for any junk folders you may have. If you find emails that are not junk, take the time (it literally takes seconds) to teach your email client that it’s a legitimate email and to deliver to your inbox. Usually you can right click on the email and say Not Junk or your email client may have a button that says to label the address as not junk.
One way or another, you will likely end up with a few people in your junk mail who want to do business with you. Pay attention.