Investing time, effort, and creativity in email campaigns and ending up in an email spam folder is the worst nightmare for any marketing team. Surprisingly, on average, 1 out of every 5 emails ends up in the junk email folder.

But why does this happen? Why do your emails end up in spam? How can you avoid emails from going to spam?

This blog will answer all your questions.

What is an email spam filter and how does it work?

An email spam filter is a security tool that detects and filters out virus-infested, unwanted, and unsolicited emails and shifts such emails straight into the spam folder, keeping them away from the user’s inbox and assuring user safety from both inbound and outbound spam emails.

What triggers the email spam filter?

• Dubious Email Domain

The importance of an authentic email domain address cannot be emphasized enough, for a third-party email domain address might send your emails straight into the email junk folder. Moreover, an unreliable email domain address also influences the actions of your audience, deeming your email address blacklisted and your emails spam.

• Unsolicited Email Content

Most email spam filters are triggered by “spammy” words or language, putting brands on the lookout for avoiding such words and keeping the language of emails clean and professional. Corresponding the email content to standards while maintaining the interactive edge should be the priority while planning email content.

• Dismissive User Action

User interactions undeniably drive the effectiveness of any email campaign. If your emails are going to the spam folder or getting reported spam by the user, then you are at a high risk of getting blacklisted by the email spam filters.

How to avoid your emails from going into spam?

Taking into account the brainstorming and creativity that goes into email content, no brand wants its emails to end up in the email junk folder. Discussed below are the key points that can save your emails from going to spam.

Email composition

1. Run a spam test: As already discussed, certain words and phrases trigger the email spam filter and send your emails to the spam folder. Keeping a track of such words can be tedious, alternatively, run a quick email spam test online to check whether your email content is good to go or need modifications.
2. Align the subject line with the message body: Avoid click-bait or fishy subject lines at all costs if you don’t want your email address to be reported as spam by the audience. Keep the email content and subject line synchronized and authentic, while catching pace with audience engagement and creative aspects.
3. Ensure grammatical accuracy: Now if you want to emit a professional and reliable brand image, you have to keep the email content free from any grammatical or spelling errors. Double-check the accuracy of your email content, keep it easy to understand, and pay attention to the clarity of words to avoid getting caught up in spam filters.
4. Remove any extra links: Unless you’re some defrauding organization sharing some shady website links, your prime concern should be the authenticity of email content in a comprehensive format. Keep the email content comprised and do away with unnecessary external links to avoid emails from going into junk.
5. Avoid attachments: The audience is often hesitant from opening attachments from an outbound email, concerning cyber security threats. Unless utterly important, do not include any sort of attachments to the emails to stop the emails from going into spam.

Audience

1. Mention an authentic sender’s name: As much as the authenticity of email content is concerned, the legitimacy of the sender’s information cannot be ignored. Keep the sender’s information updated and authentic to stop your emails from going to spam.
2. Check for email blacklisting: Chances are that you’re doing everything right but your emails are still going to the spam folder. When a sender gets a bad reputation, their IP address gets blacklisted, sending your emails to spam. You can make use of online tools to ensure that your IP is not blacklisted and your emails are reaching the user’s inbox.
3. Get user permission for sending emails: This one is quite obvious, send emails to only those who have shown interest in receiving emails from you in the past and save yourself from getting blacklisted. Make use of subscription lists and give out the option to unsubscribe from email updates so that your emails reach the right audience and your emails don’t end up in spam as a result of low engagement.
4. Get your email address whitelisted: An effective way of ensuring that your emails don’t end up in the junk folder is by getting your email address whitelisted by the audience. Encouraging the receivers to add your email address to their email contact list will almost guarantee that your emails are reaching the target audience.
5. Remove inactive users: A rise in undelivered messages will lower the reputation of your domain, hence increasing the chances of ending up in the email spam folder. Keep track of inactive users and simultaneously update your emailing list by removing such users to increase the efficiency of your email campaigns.

Other

1. Choose the right email service provider: No matter how hard you try to slide into the inbox of your target audience if you’re using a shady or unreliable email service provider, getting caught up in spam filters is almost certain. Choose a secure and reliable email service provider for your business email processes.
2. Don’t buy third-party email lists: Building an organic email list might be a time-consuming activity but the results are worth the effort. The solution to avoid emails from going to spam is to work towards building an authentic email list with the right audience that interacts with the content you share rather than buying a third-party email list.
3. Be ethical: Most importantly, comply with the rules and regulations set up for email to stop emails from going to spam. Be ethical with your emailing practices, and ensure that your content is accurate and the information mentioned in the email is truthful.
4. Assure Authenticity of E-Mails: It is important to ensure the use of valid SPF, updated DKIM records, and MX records. Moreover, avoiding phishing complaints, domain blacklisting, bulk emailing, and wrong hitting is a must to prevent the IP reputation from declining. Lastly, a good email hosting service provider offers the feature of IP rotation that helps in maintaining the domain’s reputation.

In a nutshell

Emails play a vital role in your brand promotion but the chances of landing up in the email spam folder instead of the inbox are comparatively high. In this blog, we have discussed how an email spam filter can hurdle the way for an effective email campaign and what your brand can do to avoid ending up in email junk.

An email spam filter is essentially a security resource that keeps the user protected from unsolicited emails. It works by filtering out emails on the basis of content, sender authenticity, and user actions.

To avoid emails from going to spam, the user needs to ensure the list of factors while drafting the email content, some of these points are listed below,

• Keep the language of emails clear, grammatically accurate, and free from spammy words.
• Use a reliable email service provider and authentic email domain address, along with correct sender information.
• Remove inactive users and follow an organic email list.
• Do away with unnecessary links and attachments
• Be ethical with your email operations.