Email spam is a major problem that can make it difficult to use email for business. Many email services like Gmail and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have filters that automatically block spam emails. However, these filters can sometimes also block legitimate messages if they have certain characteristics that are common in spam emails. Some of the most common reasons for getting into the spam folder include:
If you want to avoid having your emails marked as spam, don’t buy lists of email addresses or obtain them through other means without permission. It’s not only unethical, but it is also bad for business. There is no guarantee that the emails you have are valid, and even if they are, the recipients are likely not interested in hearing from you.
The CAN-SPAM Act (a law that establishes the rules for commercial email) requires that senders of commercial emails include accurate information about themselves and their business, as well as a physical address. This is to prevent people from being misled by inaccurate or incomplete information. If you don’t follow these requirements, your emails may end up in spam.
The usage of large images with minimal text can trigger spam filters. This is because spammers sometimes use large images instead of text to avoid being caught by filter programs.
Although many recipients prefer interactive and visual content, you need to be careful about how to design emails to avoid spam folders.
If your emails don’t have an opt-out link and recipients can’t unsubscribe from your emails in a civilized way, chances are the messages are going straight to spam. Not only is this a surefire way to get your emails marked as spam, but this way, you also fail to consider the email compliance aspects which is against the law in many countries.
If your emails have a lot of typos and other mistakes, it may look like you’re trying to scam people. That’s because many phishing email scams have a lot of errors on purpose so that they get past spam filters or so that only the most gullible recipients will respond. They might also not be written by native English speakers. If you occasionally make a typo, it’s not a big deal. But if your emails are full of them, it could make spam filters suspicious.
A typical phishing email with mistakes looks like this:
An example of a non-spam email from a real company is below. There are some minor mistakes that make it look less professional. These mistakes can make recipients think less of the company as a whole.
To prevent emails from being caught in spam filters, there are a few things you can do:
Email services penalize senders who use purchased or borrowed lists, so avoid these shortcuts. Scraping email addresses from the web can also lead to your messages getting into spam folders.
Spammers and phishers typically don’t have good records of the email addresses they use. They often steal email addresses from other sources, without caring about whether the addresses are valid or not. This can cause the recipient’s email provider to mark the messages as spam.
To avoid this happening to your own emails, build your own lists of people who have explicitly agreed to receive emails from you (known as double opt-in).
When you use double opt-in for sign-ups, potential subscribers first enter their email addresses on your website:
Then, they receive an email with a link that they must click on to confirm the address:
Only then their emails get to your lists.
Also, keep your lists clean and remove people who have unsubscribed or whose emails have bounced. Monitor engagement and remove recipients who never open your emails or click any links. For example, if someone on your email list is not responding to your company’s messages, you can try sending a win-back email. This is your last chance to get them to engage with your company before you remove them from the list.
Here’s an example of a good win-back email:
Some marketers write subject lines that are misleading to get people to open their emails. This can result in the email going to spam. To avoid this, create attention-grabbing subject lines that are truthful. Some examples of misleading subject lines from spam emails include promises of money or confirmations of orders that the subscriber never made:
You can still be honest while writing attractive email subject lines. You can use humor, tease a discount that is available, or make the subject line personalized to get the attention you want.
Email spam is often caused by a lack of proper email authentication. This can be done by using technologies that verify the sender’s identity, making it more likely that spam filters will trust the email. The most common methods for doing this are DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. BIMI can also be used to help identify legitimate emails from a particular sender.
To set up your domain to manage each authentication method, you need access to the DNS settings (Domain Name System) through your domain registration service. Once you access the DNS settings, you can add various TXT and CNAME records to your domain.
These laws outline certain practices that marketers must use to avoid penalties. For example, the CAN-SPAM Act makes it illegal to include false or misleading information in the header of an email or to have a deceptive subject line. It also says that unsolicited commercial emails must be labeled as advertising and that people who receive them must be able to opt out of getting any more in the future.
Failure to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and violations of rights under the GDPR in email marketing can result in harsh penalties. In addition to the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR, be sure to familiarize yourself with the regulations of your country and those of your recipients to avoid any legal issues.
To stop your emails from going to junk, avoid being put on a deny list. A deny list is basically a blacklist that can keep certain people or domains from receiving your emails. If you’re on a deny list, it’s likely because you’ve been flagged for spamming in the past.
There are three measures you can take to reduce the likelihood of being blacklisted:
In addition to avoiding deny lists, monitor your email reputation. Your email reputation is basically how reputable you are as an email sender.
If you’re worried that your IP address or email domain might be blacklisted, there are a few ways to check:
If you don’t email your subscribers regularly, they may unsubscribe and forget about you. To prevent this, try to email them valuable content on a regular basis. If you can only do it once a week or even less, that’s fine and depends on your goals, but make sure to be consistent. This way, your subscribers will know when to expect an email from you and be more likely to open it. Email services also view irregular email sendings as suspicious.
Another way to provide value to your subscribers is by timing your emails so that they arrive when the subscriber is most likely to read them. This could be first thing in the morning or during their lunch break, for example. By considering the best time to send emails when your subscribers are likely to read your emails, you can increase the chances that they’ll actually open and read them.
Sending content that is relevant and interesting to your recipients is crucial. This means being intentional about your sending practices and not just sending for the sake of sending. Without purpose, your engagement will suffer, which is the last thing you want. The emails you send should have meaning for your readers.
To deliver valuable content, give your readers more control over their subscriptions. You can do this by adding options to your subscription form that allow new subscribers to choose what products they are most interested in and what type of emails (guides, tips, news, etc.) they would like to receive.
If you occasionally make a typo, it’s not a big deal. But if your emails are full of them, it could make spam filters suspicious. To avoid this problem, proofread your emails carefully or ask someone else to do it for you. You can also use a program like Grammarly to catch basic grammar mistakes. By taking these steps, you can help ensure that your emails don’t get flagged as spam because of bad grammar.
Email providers like Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail use engagement tracking to help detect and filter spam. They look at metrics like your open rate, click-through rate, and spam complaints to determine whether your messages should go to spam for that user. If a lot of users don’t open, click, or reply to your messages, then it is likely that the messages will go to spam. The more users that react this way, the worse things get overall.
This is why it’s important to pay attention to your email engagement metrics and make sure you’re providing valuable content that users will want to interact with.
If you’re using the wrong sender information, such as an incorrect email address or domain name, it could cause problems for your email campaigns. Misleading your recipients with false “reply-to”, “from” and routing information can send your campaigns off course.
Spam filters use various criteria to analyze and authenticate every message to determine whether it goes in the spam folder or the inbox. Having a bad sender name will make it more likely that your messages will be flagged as spam. Bad sender names are those that include random characters, gibberish, or that just sounds suspicious.
It’s a good idea to use your name and company as the sender, for example, “Rob from Clio”.
You can also split-test different sender names to see what works best.
Another thing to include in the body of your email (usually in the footer) is a physical address. This is required by the FTC as part of the CAN-SPAM Act.
Provide subscribers with an easy way to unsubscribe from your email list at any time. The CAN-SPAM Act requires that every email includes an unsubscribe link, which should be simple to find and use. This allows people to end their email relationship with you if they wish.
So if you want to avoid the spam folder, make sure you include an opt-out link in every email you send like this example in an email from BBC:
If you’re concerned that your email might get caught by a spam filter, you can use email checking software to see how likely it is to happen.
There are three main types of email spam checking services: those provided by postmasters, validators, and email spam checkers.
This report from Glockapps provides a graph that illustrates the percentage of emails that were delivered to the inbox, tabs, and spam folder for a test list. It also shows the percentage of emails that were not delivered at all, which can help you determine if your sending infrastructure is facing any issues with delivery.
SendForensics provides one of the most detailed reports available. In addition to traditional indicators (deliverability, email authentication, content errors), you can also see whether the mailing is GDPR compliant and how it will appear on different platforms. The results of the free test are shown below.
If you’re having trouble getting your emails delivered to recipients, it might be because you’re triggering spam filters. Some common reasons for this include:
If you’re worried that your email might end up in someone’s spam folder, there are some things you can do to reduce the chance of that happening.
As long as you adhere to the aforementioned best practices, your emails should go straight to your subscribers’ inboxes instead of being buried in their junk mail.
