Hey there!

As you know, we at Nucleus are tirelessly innovating to create a command center platform for ALL your operations needs. Here's a quick snapshot of our biggest features that debuted in April!

 1. Email Builder

Our drag-and-drop email builder has been upgraded! Now, more than ever, you can create customized email campaigns. Add videos, menus, HTML, banners, mobile formatting, and so much more! These new functions and details will certainly boost your subscriber engagement.

2. Sign-up Alerts for events

Events are pinnacle moments for many campaigns and organizations, so we wanted to ensure your staff is always in the know. We have added alerts to our events settings to notify specified personnel about event sign-ups. Add alerts for general, VIP, or media sign-ups, and never miss a sign-alert again!

3. Spam Score

We know email marketing can be tricky, and we want you to have all the tools at your disposal. That's why we have created a new 'Spam Score' feature in email. After creating your email, go to the review page to see how your email scores and better help monitor your copy and subject lines.

 4. Domain set up

Domains are vital to your Nucleus account's functionality and can be challenging to understand. We have added set-up steps under domains for step-by-step instructions on setting up your domain in Nucleus. Fast and Simple!

Stay tuned for next month's exciting updates!

Goonies Never Say Die when it comes to Spam Traps

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

You’ve heard us mention “spam trap emails” – but do you know what that is?

Spam trap emails can catch even the least spammy of emails. This is because these email addresses are utilized specifically to locate senders who are not closely monitoring their recipient lists.

The thought process behind is that, should one of these “fake” emails enter your recipient list, it would be less likely that you are maintaining your recipient list so well that every email on it is a valid & confirmed subscriber.

Sending emails too many of these “recipients” could lead to many blocks that can be detrimental to your domain reputation and overall deliverability.

So how do you know which emails are spam traps? You don’t. They can be previously active but now expired emails, random emails made by servers for this purpose, and really anything in between. The servers use this method to help protect their users from receiving spam content but it surely adds an extra obstacle to those sending mass emails.

At the very least, you are now aware of what we mean when we say “spam traps” & at the very most, you’ll do your best to keep your email list as healthy as humanly possible.

AND LUCKY FOR YOU… we have a few in-platform tools to help you do just that.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind regarding your recipient list:

ALWAYS turn on validations when importing new lists, especially large lists that may contain emails you are not personally familiar with…

Be sure to review recipient engagement and behavior – this is made easy with our Automation feature. Creating an engagement series for recipients who have not recently engaged with emails allows us to unsubscribe expired or uninterested recipients and their emails.

Respect the wishes of those who would like to be unsubscribed from your list. This means including visible unsubscribe links in all of our emails & reviewing responses for those who may have intended to unsubscribe. This is not only a legal requirement but will benefit you in the long-run. Angry recipients generally yield more spam complaints…

For more information about spam traps and how you can be proactive about keeping your recipient lists healthy, be sure to contact our team for training or insight.

For more information, please visit your Nucleus Resource Library!

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If you walked up to a stranger on the street and asked them for $20, odds are they’re going to look at you like you're crazy and walk away. I cannot blame them; I’d do the same. Now… what if, instead, you engaged them in conversation, swapped contact information, developed a friendship over the course of many weeks, and THEN asked for $20? You might have a better shot.

Well, in some ways, email marketing is a lot similar. People are much more likely to support a cause that they are familiar with and trust. So, with that in mind, it might be time to consider how we can be building trust with our subscribers so that we see the most possible success with our emails.

This means that we need to provide content that makes the recipient feel valued as opposed to just another donor. Before we ask for money and support, we need to show the subscriber how much they matter to us; that we do not just care about their wallets.

So what kind of content can we send out that would align with this goal of building trust? I have a few ideas…

Newsletters and informational content

• These emails can be used to inform your recipients on your mission and the news you find most important. Subscribers will be able to see how their values align with your own and, in turn, may acquire more support for your cause.

Feedback

• Do not be afraid to ask your subscribers about their opinions. Whether you need advice on how to go about things or you’d like to know what you can do better in the future, your recipients should be the first people you ask. Their opinions matter most!

Prospecting

• Sometimes the easiest way we can appeal to our subscribers is to ask them what they care to hear about. Our Nucleus CRM allows us to quickly tag our recipients so we can be ensuring we are reaching out to them with their interests in mind.

These are just a few types of emails we can be sending to our subscribers to ensure that we are building trust before forcing asks down their throat. I think you’ll all find that embedding a little love and care into all of our emails will always pay off in the long run.

For more information regarding how to send less aggressive copy while yielding higher return, contact our team for training or insight and visit your Nucleus Resource Library!

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By Julia, Deliverability Expert

Have you ever been put in a situation where you were at an event with some of the most sensitive people in the

world & you are just trying to get through the night without offending anyone in your conversational

encounters?

Literally, I hope you haven’t. BUT figuratively… this is actually a pretty good representation of your situation when you are sending emails to recipients and their affiliated servers.

Not only are the servers sensitive, but they are also all sensitive to different topics. For example, Google may hate talking about people dying, while Verizon may hate the mention of “BIG Tech.” It gets tricky to avoid offending ALL the servers. If your recipient list contains recipients from all email servers, you do not have to avoid offending one server but rather ALL the servers. 

Unless you’re “on the inside” & working with a server, it would be impossible to know and identify all the possible spam triggers in your copy and subject lines. 

Before you panic, there are a couple of tricks we can use to prevent the overuse of triggering phrases and words.

1. Almost EVERY server hates the act of “overpromising”

a. Avoid phrases like “100% guarantee” or “We promise you WILL NOT regret this!”

2. Do not be afraid to try the “nicer route”

a. This means using wording or phrases that implies a nicer connotation

i. For example, “passed away” sounds way better than “died tragically”

ii. “Weaponization” sounds a bit worse than “armed” or maybe “fortified”

One major point to be aware of is that the servers do not go through and read every email; instead, they have features in place set to look for triggering phrases and words. All this means is that, with a bit of creativity, we can avoid the brunt of censorship within these servers.

When you are choosing your subject line & content for emails, be sure to keep these tips in mind. While we are against the idea of censoring the important information that you are sharing, our email servers do not always feel the same. It isn’t fair, but until it is in our control, we will continue to work toward fully canceling the cancel culture.Please join us in achieving this goal!

For more information regarding contact our team!

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