Are Your Emails Going to Spam? Let’s Fix It!

To determine if user complaints are contributing to your emails being labeled as spam, you can monitor the percentage of emails marked as spam through Google’s Postmaster tools or other feedback loops offered by mailbox providers.

These tools can help identify any spikes in spam complaints and pinpoint the sources of these complaints.

By investigating the causes of these complaints and taking appropriate action, such as removing recipients who consistently mark your emails as spam, you can work towards improving your delivery rates and maintaining a good sender reputation.

Poor list management

Neglecting your email list is the fastest way to end up in the spam folder, despite ticking all the technical boxes.

A list that is bloated or outdated can harm your inbox rates. Here are some best practices you can follow:

Regularly cleaning out inactive subscribers
Using double opt-in for confirmation
Avoiding purchased lists at all costs
Making unsubscriptions easy.

Keeping a clean and permission-based list and prioritizing relevance over volume increases engagement, reduces complaints, and signals to inbox providers that your emails come from a reputable source and not a spammer.

Subject lines and content mistakes

Words like “Act now!” or “You’ve won!” and excessive punctuation (!!!) or all caps can instantly red-flag your email. Avoid:

Misleading subject lines
Overusing emojis
Too many links or large attachments
Keyword stuffing in the body text

In a nutshell, subject lines that bait readers into opening emails or making false promises, violate their trust.

As a best practice, it is important to set clear expectations about what the email includes

No plain-text version in emails

Spammers often don’t bother including a plain-text version of their HTML emails, so if you’re not including one in your emails either, some spam filters and firewalls might find it more likely that you’re a spammer, too.

So include a plain-text version with every email you send. This doesn’t just help prove to email spam filters that you’re a legitimate sender but is also valuable to recipients who don’t view the HTML version within their inbox.

Plain-text emails also play a crucial role in making your emails more accessible because screen readers often rely on plain-text emails to read your messages.

Open URLs in emails

For instance, as an e-commerce store, it’s important to ensure that your email campaigns are delivered successfully to your subscribers’ inboxes. When including a website link in your HTML email, there are two common methods to choose from:

Option A: Use the phrase “Visit our website” followed by the hyperlinked text. For example: “To check out this week’s special treats, visit our website.” This method directs the recipient to your site without any issues.
Option B: Use an open URL (often referred to as a raw link) that is directly linked to your website.

However, be advised that using this approach may lead to higher chances of your emails being flagged as spam. Our experience has shown that some spam filters have identified patterns of spammers utilizing open URLs, which could result in delivery problems for your legitimate emails.

It’s best to avoid this method to minimize any potential deliverability issues.

Poorly coded email HTML

It is common for poorly coded HTML in emails to be associated with spammers, as they often lack the time and resources to properly test and optimize their code for proper rendering in various email clients.

While issues with rendering may not necessarily lead to immediate email spam filters, they can still negatively impact the user experience and potentially trigger spam flags if recipients encounter broken or malformed HTML elements within the email.

A major reason for finding emails in the spam folder.

To mitigate this risk, it is advisable to utilize pre-designed and thoroughly tested email templates to maintain a polished appearance, especially if one lacks proficiency in email HTML coding.

Domain reputation

It is crucial to prioritize the reputation of the domains used in links and images included in your emails, as they can significantly impact the delivery rate of your messages.

While focusing on improving your own sending domain reputation is essential, neglecting the reputation of external domains can lead to negative consequences. This can lead to your emails in your spam folder.

For instance, if you rely on third-party image hosting sites to store your email’s visual content, such as logos or pictures, the reputation of these platforms might not be ideal.

As a result, when receivers’ mail servers encounter these domains in your emails, they could perceive them as suspicious or spammy, leading to a lower chance of reaching the intended recipient’s inbox.

Similarly, utilizing domains unrelated to your email’s sender domain for links can also pose problems and direct your emails to your spam folder.

By directing traffic from these links to outside sources rather than your website, you risk compromising the credibility and trustworthiness of your message.

Moreover, some anti-spam measures might flag these domains as potential threats, causing additional obstacles in getting your email delivered successfully.

To mitigate these risks, it is recommended to use your domain for linking and hosting images within your emails instead of relying on external resources.

By doing so, you maintain greater control over the reputation of the associated domains, ensuring that they complement rather than detract from the legitimacy of your message.

Words that trigger spam

These are specific words or phrases that can raise red flags for spam filters and negatively impact your email deliverability.

Understanding how spam trigger words work and taking steps to avoid them can significantly improve the chances of your emails reaching the inbox.

The concept of spam trigger words revolves around the idea that certain terms are commonly associated with spam or unwanted promotional content. Every day, approximately 347.3 billion emails are sent out.

Your subject line should avoid trigger words, as well as follow some other best practices to avoid spam. When these words are detected in an email, spam filters may flag them as potentially harmful or irrelevant, diverting them to the recipient’s spam folder or even blocking them entirely.

This can be frustrating for legitimate senders who have valuable content to share.

You can use our Icegram Express plugin to check your spam score and engagement score to determine how engaged and spam-free your emails are.

Sending emails to inactive addresses

You expose your emails to spam by sending them to inactive addresses. Clean your email list regularly by removing inactive addresses to maintain a positive reputation and improve engagement rates.

Implement count-based or time-based pruning strategies to ensure you’re targeting active subscribers effectively.

Keeping a clean and engaged email list is essential for several reasons. For starters, it helps maintain a positive sender reputation.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email service providers closely monitor engagement metrics like open rates and click-through rates to determine the quality of your emails.

When you consistently send emails to inactive or dormant addresses, it negatively impacts these metrics, potentially leading to lower email deliverability rates.

Using large images with little text

Visual content is highly popular in marketing campaigns. Marketers often opt for image-heavy emails due to their aesthetic appeal.

Professional-looking emails often incorporate visuals, making them visually appealing and engaging for recipients.

When emails contain excessive image content and minimal text, they can trigger spam filters, leading to poor email deliverability. To avoid this issue, follow these best practices:

Strive for a balanced image-to-text ratio to maintain engagement.
Include descriptive alt text for images to improve accessibility.
Avoid relying solely on images; incorporate relevant text in your emails.
Optimize image loading for faster rendering and better user experience.
Test your emails across various platforms to ensure compatibility.
By implementing these strategies, you can strike the right balance between visuals and text, improving email deliverability and engagement.

It’s possible to trigger spam filters if emails contain excessive images and little text.

As a result, spam filters tend to mark legitimate emails with similar characteristics as spam when they contain images.

As a result, the deliverability of your emails is compromised, with a reduced chance of reaching your intended recipients’ inboxes. It is essential to understand this issue to effectively improve email deliverability and avoid the pitfalls of triggering spam filters.

Attachments

Attachments should be avoided for two reasons:

First, they trigger spam filters and hinder email deliverability.
Second, attachments can slow down the load time of emails.

Instead of using attachments, it is recommended to include all necessary information, offers, and calls to action directly in the email body. If you want to share a video, consider inserting a screenshot linked to the online location where the video is hosted.

When it comes to sending emails, using attachments can pose various challenges and risks that are important to consider. Here are the key points to keep in mind:

Explore alternative methods for sharing files or critical information.
Utilize secure download links or cloud storage platforms.
Embed images or screenshots directly in the email body.
Use hyperlinks to relevant web pages or online resources.

Conclusion

Exercising caution regarding the domains employed in links and images is vital for maximizing the deliverability and success of your emails.

Adopting this best practice enables you to bolster the reliability and trustworthiness of your communications, ultimately enhancing their chances of landing safely in the intended recipient’s inbox.

Trying to avoid the dreaded spam folder?

Though the journey can be tricky for some, Icegram Express is here to make things easier than before!

Join us to get your hands on offer spam-bot protection, inbox delivery, list clean-ups and more!

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FAQ

How do spam filters determine which emails are spam?
Spam filters utilize various criteria such as content analysis, sender reputation, and structural elements to differentiate spam from legitimate emails.

Can formatting affect email deliverability?
Yes, poorly structured emails lacking proper formatting can trigger spam filters. Using concise subject lines and relevant content aids in better deliverability.

What role does sender reputation play in email deliverability?
A positive sender reputation establishes credibility, increasing the likelihood of emails reaching the inbox instead of the spam folder.

What is the difference between delivery and deliverability?
Delivery means the email was accepted by the recipient’s mail server (it didn’t bounce). Deliverability means it actually reached the inbox — not the spam folder. You can have 100% delivery but poor deliverability if all your emails land in spam.

How can I check if my emails are landing in spam?
A few practical ways:

Use Google Postmaster Tools to monitor domain reputation and spam rates.
Send test emails to accounts across major providers and check where they land.
Monitor your feedback loops from mailbox providers for complaint data.

How can I stop getting spam emails?

- Mark spam messages as junk so your email client learns.
- Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters using the unsubscribe link.
- Never engage with suspicious emails — don’t click links or reply.
- Enable two-factor email authentication to prevent account compromise that can attract spam.