Have you noticed an uptick in your emails going to spam?
Each ISP uses different filters, and some can be tricky or unpredictable, so inevitably this could happen from time to time.
But not to fear! By following a few simple steps, you can greatly reduce the chances of your emails being filtered.
Things you can do to improve your email delivery
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Remove inactive contacts who haven’t opened your emails in the past 12-24 months.
We have several automation recipes to help with that. Our engagement management tool also makes it super easy to remove the people from your list who haven’t opened in a long time. -
Focus on good, engaging content.
Make sure you are sending content that your subscribers signed up to receive, and not just promotional emails. -
Review your signup process and try to think like a subscriber.
Ensure your signup form clearly explains what people are subscribing to. If they expect certain content and get something different, they may mark it as spam. (Similar to Tip 2 above!) -
Send more targeted, triggered, personalized emails as opposed to batch and blast campaigns.
Batch emails (sending the same message to everyone) are more likely to be flagged as spam. Start with a welcome message after sign-up, and personalize your messaging when possible. -
Find the right sending frequency.
Don’t bombard your subscribers, but don’t go silent either. Sending a few emails a week is usually a good rule of thumb, depending on your content and relationship with your audience. -
Pay attention to the spam filter testing before sending
This feature (available on the summary step of creating a campaign) can catch any major issues that might affect delivery. -
Don’t send a single graphic/image.
Emails with just one graphic are more likely to get flagged. Aim for a balanced mix of text and images, and make sure images are optimized in size (heavy images can trigger antispam). -
Don’t use a free email address as your “from” email.
Instead of using your free/personal email address such as @yahoo.com or @gmail.com, you should use an email address for the company or organization from which you are sending an email. -
Pay attention to the links in your email.
Spam filters check the URLs that you are linking to. If you link to a domain that has a poor reputation you will be penalized. -
Don’t use link shortening services like bit.ly
Your links should be full links to the real URL. Link shortening services like bit.ly are used heavily by spammers. For the outward-facing text, it’s better to use “click here,” a short descriptive sentence, or a button. -
Send using a consistent “From” name and email address.
We do not suggest changing your “From” details often. Keeping it consistent can help build your reputation and better establish your brand. -
Check your automations.
If you have automations running, routinely do health checks. You may learn that certain contacts are getting 6, 8, 10 messages a day which is causing them to ignore everything and hurt your sending reputation. -
Don’t test using the same phrase as your subject and email contents.
If you send an email with a very similar subject and message body it will likely be filtered as spam. (i.e. having the subject set to “this is a test” with the body set to “this is a test”) You’ll also want to avoid using the same “to” and “from” email addresses. -
Make it very easy to unsubscribe
Make sure your unsubscribe link is easy to spot so that when someone no longer wants your mail, they unsubscribe instead of mark it as spam.
Keep in mind that your primary focus should be to maintain a healthy list of contacts, send content they truly want, engage your contacts, and encourage them to interact with your campaign. If you keep your focus on these items, great delivery (and deliverability) will follow!