| Yikes!
Who would open and read the message above?
Who would click on anything it contained? Almost nobody.
Plus, when Gmail flags messages like this, images are all disabled. So the recipient wouldn't even see your artwork.
The reason this message has the big scary warning is simple: To prevent spam, Gmail attempts to verify that the message you receive came from an email server that was authorized to send the message. And gmail KNOWS, since they own the domain "gmail.com", that you don't have permission to send marketing emails like this from their servers. Hence they are warning the recipient. This may be slightly annoying when you're the sender, but it's important. It prevents spam and, importantly, it prevents people from sending nasty email impersonating you.
There is a simple solution to this: Send your marketing emails from a custom email address on your own domain.
Instead of sending from artistname@gmail.com, this artist should have sent the message from artistname@artistname.com.
If you are NOT a FASO customer, you will have to pay a bit extra to do this (most platforms charge something like $5/month for a custom email box) and you (or somebody technical you know) will have to setup some fairly complicated records on your domain's DNS known as DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. The good news is, it's not THAT difficult and you only have to set it up once. That's a small price to pay to double your sales!
If you ARE a FASO customer, I have even better news - nearly all our plans include a custom email address and, even better, when you set up your email address through us, we automatically add all the proper DKIM, SPF and DMARC records for you. Here's a link to an article that explains how to setup a branded email box on FASO. And here's an article that shows you how to make sure you send newsletters from your branded email account.
That's right. If you use FASO's art marketing platform, then we can eliminate that big scary message in about ten minutes.
So, please, before you send your next email newsletter, take the time to make sure it will send from a custom email address on a domain that you control.
Until next time, please remember that Fortune Favors the Bold Brush.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson BoldBrush/FASO Founder & Art Fanatic
PS - To start your own email marketing program, if you're a FASO customer, we recommend you use the built-in ArtfulMailprogram. If you're not a FASO customer (or need more advanced features), we recommend ConvertKit. Help us keep bringing you great content by signing up for Convertkit with our affiliate link here.
PPS - If you want to hear my latest thoughts on marketing and selling art, or you have comments or questions about this article (or others), I'm very active on Twitter, Please follow me at the link below and send your questions or comments to @clintavo | 