When an email campaign fails to deliver and is marked as spam, it poses a significant business risk. The last thing you want is for your email to disappear into a spam folder, leaving your recipient unaware of its existence.
In today's digital landscape, the proliferation of email and aggressive marketing tactics have led to more stringent spam filters. Internet service providers (ISPs) and email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook automatically block emails they identify as spam, however, the filtering process is not infallible, and common mistakes can result in your email being flagged.
Spam filters now scrutinize the content of your emails, the manner of your writing, and recipient engagement. With billions of spam emails sent daily, achieving reliable email deliverability has become increasingly challenging.
Successful email deliverability hinges on sending the right messages at the right times. Recipient interactions—such as opening, clicking, or marking your emails as spam—play a crucial role in determining whether your emails are classified as spam. Positive engagement increases the likelihood of your emails reaching recipients' inboxes, ensuring your message is seen and acted upon.Top
Reasons Emails Are Going to Spam Folders
- Low engagement rates
- Outdated or unclean email lists
- Content is being flagged (Body of email and subject line)
- Use of spam trigger words
- Inclusion of attachments
1. Low Engagement Rates
Spam filters can now detect how your recipients are engaging with your emails. This is one of the most common reasons emails go to spam.
If you historically have low open or bounce rates, your emails are much more likely to be flagged as spam. The more email engagement you receive from recipients, the more likely you are to reach their inbox.
Tip: Avoid sending emails to the same addresses that are not opening or engaging with your emails after multiple tries.
You can see details on the campaign activity board:
Email performance and recipient engagement status will tell you exactly who is engaging and who isn’t.
Tip: When sending marketing emails and campaigns, watch your subscriber engagement and ensure that your unsubscribe link is evident. Also, ensure that your IP address is clean and was never used for spam in the past.
2. Outdated or Unclean Email Lists
Keeping your email lists clean plays a huge role in preventing your emails from going to spam.
First and foremost, your email list should consist of legitimate addresses and valid opt-ins from the recipients.
Remember to clean out your lists by deleting all inactive email addresses regularly. If you’re consistently sending emails to inactive accounts, this will significantly hurt your open rates. As discussed above, low open rates are a big indicator of spam.
Go through your email lists every month, clean them up, and delete all inactive addresses to avoid a bad reputation. Stay on top of your email metrics to ensure your email addresses are legitimate and active.
3. Content is Being Flagged (Body of email and subject line)
The content of your emails – both the body and subject line – can contain various flags that set off spam triggers. Spam filters now monitor your messages for spam-like wording and formatting.
Here are the top two behaviors you should avoid to ensure your email doesn’t get flagged as spam:
1. AVOID ALL CAPS! Nobody likes to be yelled at. Avoid all caps in both the body of your text and your subject line. Email filters catch these easily.
2. Avoid using multiple exclamation points!!! This looks very spam-like and just plain unprofessional – for the sake of all of us, try to avoid this.
These are two of the most common patterns in spam folders today.
Another huge spam flag is any type of spelling or grammatical errors. These are not only spam triggers but they’re also not too charming to your recipient. The best way to avoid this is to use tools that flag your mistakes and always proofread.
One option is Grammarly, and it’s great for catching quick errors on the fly.
Lastly, avoid using different colored text. Although some people might think these are eye-catching, spam filters pick these up as indicators of spam.
Keep it simple. Use no more than 3 font styles/colors total per email.
Use Personalization to Boost Email Open Rates and Improve Deliverability
Our top recommendation for perfecting the content of your email is to personalize.
The harsh reality is that 57% of email recipients consider a message to be spam if it isn’t relevant to their needs. So if you’re sending the same mundane messaging over and over again, off to the spam folder you go.
That’s why you need to personalize your messages. This way, spam filters can pick up that you know the recipient you’re sending to. And personalizing your email increases the likelihood of your recipient engaging and interacting with your message.
With advanced personalization features within Email Campaigns and Templates, you can easily personalize your messaging at scale.
Campaigns
Templates
Using templates, you can personalize every email without wasting the time of typing each one separately. Emails with customized messaging for individual recipients see higher open rates and reply rates.
4. Use of Spam Trigger Words
Unfortunately, sometimes the words you use in your emails are what’s keeping you from reaching recipients. This is because of content-based email spam filters.
There are certain words and phrases that you should avoid using in both your emails and email subject lines. But especially your subject lines.
Here are some of our top spam trigger words to avoid using:
5. Inclusion of Attachments
Spam filters are on the watch for attachments. This is because true spam emails often contain destructive attachments, so filters will automatically overreact when attachments are present.
So a good rule of thumb is to avoid attaching files to your prospecting emails. Also, attachments negatively affect the load time of your email, which increases bounce rates.
If the person is expecting to hear from you (someone who has you in their contacts) then by all means attachments are perfectly okay. But never send an email with an attachment to a new contact or in a cold email.
Our tip for if you want to attach a file or document in a cold email is to use a link – link to it with a CTA that directs the recipient to your website.
Tip: To reduce the chance of your email being flagged as spam, we recommend using descriptive links. For example, use Amazon rather than www.amazon.com.
Watch Improved Email Deliverability
With spam filters improving and becoming more refined, it’s always important to stay on top of up-to-date patterns and keep an eye on your email deliverability.
If you’re ever confused about why emails are going to spam – Google recommends looking at the messages that were identified as spam in the past to find patterns.
To finish off, use these tips and best practices in your everyday emailing activities to ensure your emails always reach your recipients’ inboxes.
Don’t let unethical spammers ruin your everyday emailing practices.
If you keep in mind spam filters and what sets them off, personalize all messages with a focus on building relationships, and stay on top of what’s working and not working – you’re set up for success.
Tip: Here’s a guide on Email Authentication to ensure a credible domain.