Hey, did you craft your email content with utmost care and even spent a lot of time to get the attention of your recipient; unfortunately, your emails are not ending up in the targeted destination, and you are wondering why my email is going to spam instead of the targeted recipient.
It’s usual to encounter the frustrating scenario when your emails end up in spam.
In this digital era, email communication plays a significant role in personal and professional fields. According to Statista, more than half of all emails are spam emails that cause the trust of people to be shattered. That’s why different email services like Gmail are more cautious towards spam.
This can create a frustrating situation when your messages are for businesses or other important communications, but they end up in spam. Almost 60% of consumers make their final decisions based on marketing emails. They said emails about products or services influence what they decide to buy.
So in this blog post, I will mention the reasons that cause emails to end up in spam and the methods that make sure your emails are not going to spam and safely landing in the recipient email box.
So without wasting your time, let’s start!
How Does A Spam Filter Work?
Before explaining the reason why your emails are going to spam. First, understand how the spam filter works.
It is the software program that scan the new incoming emails and if they find it suspicious then it will make a separate list of email called spam.
Think of spam filters as helpful guards for your emails. When your emails arrive, these software helpers check if they’re safe or if they’re trying to cause trouble.
Spam filters come in different types, but the main purpose is to keep you safe and exclude emails that could be harmful. So, the work of spam filter is to make sure you only get safe emails.
If you are wondering about the criteria of the spam filter, then spam filters use different criteria to determine whether a certain email is legit or spam.
- The reputation of the email sender
- Content of the email
- Attachments to email
- Email Format
- The behavior of the recipient
Is Email Going To Spam A Problem?
If you are an email marketer, then you may know that a huge number of spam emails are sent every day. It is estimated that from 2019 to 2023 almost 60 billion spam emails were sent to the people.
This causes problems not only for business people but also frustrates those who want to send business emails. And 20% of the emails are not even sent to the targeted recipient.
So you can see that if emails are for business and your emails are not reaching the targeted consumers, then it causes a huge loss in sales and revenue for business people.
Why Are My Emails Going To Spam?
That’s like if you sent 10 emails, but only 8 of them actually reached your friend’s inbox.
Many reasons cause the email to end up in spam. Let’s talk about the most common one.
Reasons
1. Your Emails Are Marked As Spam By The Recipient:
The first and the common reason is that your emails have ended up in spam because your recipient has intentionally or unintentionally placed them there.
As you know, recipients have the authority to mark your content as spam to clean up their inbox, even if your content is strong. Sometimes they even forget the reason for the subscription to your email.
If lots of people mark your emails as spam, it can lead to a problem. The spam filters, which are like email police, might think your email address is up to no good. They could start putting all your future emails in the spam folder automatically.
Even if your email is not marked as spam by people your email might still end up in the spam folder. This usually happens in different email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc
Moreover, even if you send a legit email and the recipient marks this as spam you cannot do anything. But you can only do that by creating top-quality email content that compels the recipient to open and read it entirely.
2. Your Subject Lines Is Containing A Spam Content:
The subject line is the first line that the user reads and gets the first impression. So, the headline must be attention-grabbing and compelling enough to urge the reader to open the email.
But if you are not honest and are just clicking baiting them, then according to the CAN-SPAM Act, your misleading subject line is against the law.
Even many people complain that they are becoming a victim of clickbait and
feel cheated and tricked. It is also the quickest way to lose the audience’s trust.
Avoid starting them with “RE” or “FW” unless you’re actually responding to something or forwarding a message. Starting with those can seem tricky and might make people unsubscribe from your emails.
Also, using subject lines that look like personal messages or asking questions might confuse the person receiving the email.
In short, whatever you promise in the subject line, your email content should match. If it doesn’t, people might not trust you anymore. So, always be truthful and keep your reputation good.
3. You Have Not Permission From Your Recipient:
You can only send emails to people who give you permission. This means you can’t buy a list of email addresses to send emails to people. It is not considered a good idea to buy an email list because in this way you cannot the generate the desired revenue becasue you are hitting the wrong consumers.
If user give you his email address on your wbesite, you still need their permission. And if you are living in Europe, then users have to confirm that they want your emails. But in the US, it does not happen and I think it is a good idea to get the confirmation of the user first, so your emails don’t go into a spam list.
4. ‘From’ Information Is Misleading:
One big reason your emails could go to spam is because of the wrong ‘From’ information. The ‘From’ line in emails shows who sent the email.
This needs to be correct and not tricky. Sometimes, tools on your website, like a contact form, might be causing the problem by sending emails that look weird and make spam filters think they’re scammers.
5. Huge Attachments In Email:
Most attachments are used for spreading malware activities and creating hidden traps. Scammers use attachments to send harmful stuff to the user like viruses or malware that harm the user’s PC and other devices.
So that is why attachments in emails cause the spam filter to guard against you and put your email in a spam list. So, when an email has certain types of attachments, it can raise alarms and make the spam filters pay more attention to it to keep you safe.
Attachments in emails are like big warning signs for spam filters. This is because viruses and malware can hide in attachment files. So, it’s best to avoid sending attachments, especially in newsletters. But if you really need to send one, tell the person first, and don’t send too many files in one email.
The safest method is to use an online Google Drive and put your file over there and insert a link in the email. This way your email will not be considered as spam.
6. No Proper Authentication Mode:
It is a bit difficult to give proof that your email is not spam but legit. Understand this with an example, when someone calls you on the phone. If you see it’s your friend’s number, you’ll answer because you know who it is. If it’s a random number, you might think it’s just a computer call or a wrong number call and might not answer it.
Emails work the same way. There are things you can do to show that your emails are real, and that makes spam filters trust you more.
7. Sender Information Is Inaccurate:
Just like in the previous reason if you send an email to the wrong contact then it also ends up in the spam list.
Using the wrong, “From” or “Reply-To” email address can create a spam issue. The email address that you use should be the same as that you showed on your authentic website or your profile website.
It is the same as your email address in a letter. In the letter you need to give your actual address. Similarly in marketing emails, you need to add an authentic and detailed location so people know more about you and trust you more.
8. Using Too Many Punctuations That Look Like Spam:
There are certain words or ways of writing that might look like spam. For example, words like “meet singles” or “online biz opportunity” can be a sign of spam.
These signs might not get your emails in trouble, but when combined with another issue, they can lead to your emails being marked as spam. Also, try to avoid certain practices that can make your emails look spam:
- writing everything in capital letters.
- Using too many exclamation marks
- Putting too many emojis (a few are okay, but don’t overdo it).
- And just like that, using bad grammar or spelling words wrong can also make your emails look like spam. This happens because some spammers use machines to write their emails, and that can lead to weird sentences in English.
So, remember to write your emails nicely and make sure they don’t look like spam messages.
9. Using Misleading Links:
Most spam emails want you to click on links they send you. There are two problems that you can face when you use a link in emails. Here are two things:
If you use a link of the website that has suspicous hsistory then it can create a problem for you. Maybe it’s connected to illegal things or has harmful software on it. Sometimes, it might look like a harmful website, even if it’s not really a suspicious website
Second, if the web address or URL you use (like https://google.com) in the email content is different from the real address (like https://abc.com), then it also creates a problem.
Generally, spammers use this trick to bait the user into clicking on the wrong link. Also, be careful with link shortener that makes long web addresses shorter.
They can also be used to fool user into clicking on the wrong links. So, it’s best to be cautious with the links you put in emails.
10. Using A Wrong Email List:
If you are sending a large number of emails, there are a few points that can send your emails to the spam list.
You didn’t get permission from your subscribers.
If your email list is full of inactive accounts, then emails will bounce back.
If your email’s open rate is very low, then ISP takes your emails as spam and your email subscribers do not want to open your email, then you can probably be marked as spam.
You are using Too Many Images:
If your email is brimming with images and text is less than images, then your email might be stuck in a spam filter.
Usually, two ways create this situation.
First, if you have a large image in your email and little text that can trigger the spam filter. Usually, spammers sometimes put all their words into one picture to trick spam filters. Because of this, when an email has only one big picture, spam filters get suspicious.
They want to make sure the words are actual and not trying to trick anyone. So if you put a lot of pictures but very few words in your email then it looks suspicious and spam filters will become active against you.
So it is considered best to create a balance between the words and pictures in your emails.
How To Fix If Emails Go To Spam?
1. Eliminate Inactive Subscribers:
People who are not interacting with your emails, exclude them. Or you can send them a warning if they don’t engage with your content, then you will exclude them. In this way, you will get quality people over quantity.
And this tactic really works. Once I am not interacting with Youtuber emails, then I get a warning message from her, then I become serious and start opening their emails regularly. And this tactic really works for her😎.
2. Asked To Be Whitelisted:
If you are starting your email listing, then ask your subscriber to whitelist you. It is the most effective way of reminding your email subscribers to add your business email to their contacts or email lists.
In this way, your emails will be away from the spam filter, and when more people whitelist your email, then your email will become reputable before spam filters.
3. Make a Professional Email Address:
If your email address is not professional, then it is up to your email subscribers to respect your ‘from’ address or not.
So information should be correct, honest, and professional as it is the legal requirement.
Understand this with an example: if your email contains a name like Jordenaaa@gmail.com, then it looks quite unprofessional. And it is more professional to use a relevant email through which your subscribers signed up for newsletters.
Moreover, don’t make your subject lines sound too exaggerated. Some subject lines can be exciting but not completely true. It’s important that what you say in the subject matches what’s inside the email. You want your subject to give a good idea of what the email is about.
4. Be Careful With Your Email Subject Lines:
Your email subject lines should be professional and proper. This means no writing everything in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS and definitely no mistakes in spelling or grammar. Use Grammarly which can help you check your writing and fix grammatical errors, so your emails don’t look like spam.
Here are some great ideas for making your subject lines strong:
- Start with action words that show doing something.
- Make people feel like they should open your email right away.
- Ask a question that’s interesting or makes people curious.
5. Prevent Triggering Spam Filters
Spam filter triggers instantly when they even detect a few promotional words or phrases like
- Free
- Cashback
- Guarantee
- Order now
- Easy money
- Full refund
- More money and many more
Although these words can be harmless to the recipient, spam filters are super sophisticated, and when they are used in abundance, spam filters will put your email into the spam list.
So while crafting email content, try to use honest words and use these words less than a few times. As we can craft the message without them, but don’t overdo it.
6. Write Correct From Information:
If the emails from your Contact Form are being marked as spam, don’t worry. Fixing it is usually easy. You just have to make sure that the ‘From’ field in the contact form settings has the right admin email for your site.
This should be the email for the person in charge. Also, if the contact form sends you emails, make sure the ‘From’ and ‘To’ email addresses are different. This can help make sure your emails don’t get lost in spam.
7. Do Not Use Too Many Attachments:
As you know, usually attachments with emails come with viruses and other malware.
Do not send too many attachments in email even if you find it necessary then add a link to your website. Other than adding a link, you can also download the required attachment and upload it to a Google Drive, then include the link in the message. This way, your email is not recognized as spam.
8. Authenticate Your Email Address:
As you know, anyone (scammer) can imitate someone’s address easily. So spam filters become triggered if your email address is not authenticated even if your content is outstanding.
So make your email address authenticated with the underlying certifications;
- DKIM DomainKeys Identified Mail:
Think of DKIM work as a seal. When you send an email, this seal makes sure that the email really comes from you and that nobody changed it while it was on its way to the recipient. This way, the recipient knows it’s truly from you and hasn’t been changed by anyone else.
- Sender Policy Framework:
This email authentication helps to protect your email from being labeled as spam and is commonly used to authenticate the email sender. This email authentication method assists in identifying the mail servers. This means this method works as a trusted messenger that checks the list of trusted messengers. If your email is present in the list, then it will send your email to the targeted recipient.
- DMARC:
This is another email authentication method that blocks emails that are not from a trusted source.
Final Thoughts:
You spent your effort and time crafting a perfect email but it ended up in spam which is quite frustrating for you. Now you know that even a minute mistake triggers the spam folder and sends your email to the spam folder.
In this article, I have discussed common reasons that mostly become the main cause of your email ending up in a spam folder. So, it is important to keep in mind the above-mentioned reasons So you can protect yourself from frustration.
If you find this article helpful, then let me know in the comment section which method becomes the root cause of your emails ending in the spam folder.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
What Is Spam Filter And How Does It Work?
The spam filter is software that is designed to detect harmful emails exclude them from benign emails and put them into another folder called spam.
This software uses a special filter method that scans the content of the email and the sender of the email. If they find it suspicious, then the spam filter flags that email as spam
Why Are My Emails Going To Spam All Of A Sudden?
If you are facing a situation in which your emails are going to spam all of a sudden then there is a chance that
- your past email recipient might report your email as spam.
- Your emails have a low opening rate
- Email content contains a particular word that triggers the spam filter.
How To Stop My Emails Going To Spam In Gmail?
If you want to reach out to your email subscriber and ensure that your email reaches the targeted recipient instead of going to spam then follow the underlying tips
- Create warm connections with your email subscriber before reaching them out
- Use a short, clear, and honest subject line
- Remove spam-triggering keywords
- Follow the CAN-SPAM laws
- Remove unnecessary HTML and URL Attachments
- Add Domain authentication record if you are using your domain to send a sales email
- If you are starting your email marketing, then test your sales email before sending it to the consumers.
