How prevent emails from ending up in spam?

If your emails are landing in the spam folder, it can significantly impact your communication and campaign success. In this article, we will explain why this happens and what steps you can take to improve your email deliverability.

Proper domain authentication is one of the most important steps to ensure your emails avoid the spam folder. This process involves setting up your DNS records, which helps email service providers confirm the legitimacy of your emails, ultimately improving deliverability. For step-by-step instructions, refer to the article: "How to connect my sending domain".

Your contact list also plays a crucial role in email deliverability. Ensure that emails are only sent to users who have opted in to receive your communications and that the content you send is relevant to them. This approach will not only improve deliverability but also boost client engagement with your emails.

Even with optimal settings, it’s impossible to guarantee that emails will never end up in the spam folder. Each email provider uses its own set of filters to assess the likelihood of spam. To reduce this risk, do the following:

Regularly remove contacts who haven’t opened your emails, as repeatedly sending to these recipients may cause spam filters to flag your messages as unwanted. Use tools or automations to tag contacts who haven’t engaged with your emails over a set period, such as 6-12 months. It’s important to either remove or re-engage these inactive contacts. Running re-engagement campaigns is an excellent way to assess interest before removing them. Keep your email list up-to-date by consistently attracting new subscribers and removing outdated contacts.

The key to keeping your emails out of the spam folder and maintaining high engagement is delivering valuable content. When your messages resonate with your audience, they are more likely to open and interact with them, helping your emails stay in their inboxes. Always send content that your subscribers have actively signed up for. Share fresh, interesting, and relevant content that aligns with their needs or interests—such as tips, resources, or valuable updates.

Be mindful of sending only promotional content. Overloading your audience with constant sales pitches can lead to disengagement and lower open rates, which can negatively impact your deliverability. Strive for a balanced approach.

Your registration process sets the foundation for your relationship with your contacts, making it essential to align their expectations with the emails they will receive. Consider what you, as a customer, would expect after signing up—what frequency of emails would meet your expectations? Thinking from this perspective helps engage your audience more effectively and reduces the chances of users marking your emails as spam. Use a clear, consistent tone that reflects your brand throughout the registration process, and maintain a recognizable design for your emails, including colors, layout, and logo.

Sending emails to a large audience increases the risk of spam complaints. To minimize this, start by segmenting your contacts into smaller groups based on behavior, preferences, or interests. By targeting specific segments with relevant content, you can boost engagement and reduce the likelihood of spam complaints. This approach allows you to send personalized emails that feel more relevant and valuable. Incorporating elements such as the recipient’s name or tailoring content to their actions or preferences further enhances the relevance of your emails.

Finding the right balance in email frequency is key to maintaining a strong relationship with your contacts and optimizing your sending reputation. Overloading your audience with frequent emails can lead to annoyance, while sending emails too rarely can decrease engagement and hinder your reputation-building efforts. The ideal frequency depends on your relationship with subscribers and their expectations. Take into account how often they want to hear from you and the type of content they value most. As a general guideline, sending emails twice a week strikes a good balance—engaging without being overwhelming. Be sure to monitor metrics like open rates, click rates, and unsubscribes to gauge if your chosen frequency is effective.

For each campaign or automation email, the summary includes a spam check that analyzes your message. 

Here's how it works:

Before sending, review the spam report in your campaign or automation summary. If there are any potential issues impacting deliverability, the spam check will highlight them. Follow the tool’s suggestions to resolve any problems and optimize your email for better performance.

To ensure your emails are successfully delivered and reach your audience, it's crucial to include text in your messages. While images can enhance the visual appeal of your email, relying solely on them can cause deliverability issues. Email service providers often evaluate email content, and a lack of text can trigger red flags. Avoid placing key details (e.g., important messages, CTAs) solely in images. Instead, use a balanced mix of text and visuals to create engaging and deliverable emails.

Always use a business email address linked to your website domain (e.g., yourname@yourdomain.com) instead of a free email address like @yahoo.com or @gmail.com. A business email address adds credibility and signals to email service providers that your messages are legitimate, reducing the chances of being flagged as spam.

The links you include in your emails can significantly impact deliverability. Spam filters used by email providers carefully evaluate all links in your message. If your email contains links to a domain with a poor reputation, there’s a high risk that your message will be flagged as spam and sent to the recipient’s spam folder. Some URL shorteners can appear suspicious to spam filters. Use full, clear links whenever possible.

While web links can sometimes appear lengthy and less visually appealing in an email, it's best to avoid using URL shortening services like Bit.ly. Shortened links are often flagged by email filters as spam, which can negatively impact your deliverability. Instead of displaying the full link, consider embedding it behind a button, a text phrase (e.g., "Click here"), or an image. This not only keeps your email clean and visually appealing but also ensures a clear and effective call-to-action.

Consistency is key when it comes to building a strong sending reputation. Email providers track your sender information over time. Using the same sender name and email address across your campaigns helps establish trust with email providers and your recipients, improving the deliverability of your emails.

Regularly reviewing your automations is crucial. These checks help you identify and fix any issues that might affect the deliverability and performance of your emails. For example, if certain emails in an automation have low open rates, it could mean that contacts are either stuck in the flow or receiving too many emails. A drop in open rates can negatively impact your sender reputation, which in turn can harm your email deliverability.

To improve email deliverability, always create a subject line that is distinct from the text within your email content. If the subject line matches a piece of text in the body of the email, there’s a higher likelihood that email providers may flag it as spam.

A spam complaint can seriously damage your sending reputation. To prevent this, make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe from your emails if they no longer wish to receive them. Ensure the unsubscribe link is clearly visible and prominently placed, typically at the bottom of your email. By simplifying the unsubscription process, you reduce the likelihood of recipients marking your emails as spam, which helps protect your reputation and maintain trust with your audience.