Why Does Email Go to Spam and How to Avoid it?

As a business owner, you probably invest a lot of time and money to market your business. Nevertheless, you want your brand to reach as many people as possible, boosting maximum sales.

Even in 2021, amidst all social media platforms, email tops the digital marketing channels. As emails lay the direct road between the brand and the customer, businesses often prefer email marketing to convert leads and close sales.

But, what if your email goes to spam instead of your customer’s inbox? All your hard work goes in vain, and you are losing out on profits. So, before anything else, you first need to focus on why emails go to spam? Else, you will end up losing a significant revenue unnecessarily.

Email spam has become a huge problem on the internet. Thus, email services like Gmail and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) set up filters to automatically block spam emails before they show up in the inbox.

Though it is essential to block spam and cut down unnecessary junk emails in the user’s inbox, sometimes, even legitimate emails get lost in the spam.

So, first, let us discuss some of the common reasons why emails end up in spam. Then we will move on with some tips that you can utilize to make sure you avoid your emails going to the spam folder.

Common Reasons behind Emails go to Spam

Here are some of the reasons why your emails are not getting past the spam filters.

1. You don’t target the right audience: Often, businesses focus on adding more subscribers rather than the right kind of subscribers. Do extensive research and identify the appropriate audience who will benefit from your products/services.
2. You didn’t get permission from the recipients: Rather than buying unreliable bulk email lists, focus on building organic links. You can do so by providing an accessible subscribe button or offering a reward for joining. Those genuine contact lists will undoubtedly help your email land in the inbox.
3. Less Engagement: When you send emails to people who have shown interest in your business, they are more likely to engage positively. They will open, explore, engage and forward your email. Hence, instead of sending to random email lists, sent it to relevant people for better engagement.
4. Bad IP Reputation: Your emails could get flagged if your IP address was used for spam in the past, even if you didn’t send spam yourself. Though you cannot do much about this issue, you can work with a reputable email service provider. Thus, they don’t let spam get connect to their server’s IP address.
5. No Unsubscribe Link: Providing a visible and accessible unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email will improve your deliverability. Though it sounds weird, it is true. For the matter, people at one point would not want to receive your emails further. Offering them an unsubscribe button will allow them to exit smoothly. Else they will mark you as spam which will lower your reputation.
6. Bad Email Design: Nevertheless, a poor email design can put you at potential risk of pushing your email to spam. The email should be on-brand, like colors, fonts, images, and tone that people can recognize instantly. Also, make sure the email is mobile-friendly and desktop compatible.

Ways to Avoid Emails Going to Spam

1) Construct Your Email List Organically

An email has been the most preferred mode of business communication. Be it with your clients, stakeholders, or your target audience, emails stand first. But, what if your recipients didn’t receive the email in their inbox.

Focus on building your email list organically. The following ways are a big NO.

• Purchasing, renting or co-registering an email from a third party.
• Using a shared list with a partner.
• Scraping emails is the worst. Using a robot to collect emails is not the best practice as it will put your emails into the spam folder.

Organically building your email list will fetch you genuine and potential leads who are interested in your products/services. Of course, it takes time to construct an email list organically.

But, we want people who can give you business rather than random people who may not be interested in your products. Drive traffic from your social media platforms, websites, blogs by providing an appropriate call to action. That way, you can have reliable people who can benefit from your business and benefit your business.

2) Offer a Double-Opt-In

Authenticating and verifying recipient registration is crucial to building a healthy and sustainable email list. Using a double opt-in ensures to receive consent from the subscribers to receive your emails or newsletters.

Generally, brands send a welcome email that requires customers to act, either by clicking the checkbox or link agreeing to terms. As they complete that action, they are on your mailing list. The double opt-in method ensures the recipient’s genuine interest in your emails, keeping your engagement and delivery rates high while lowering your risk for spam traps.

3) Authenticate Your Email

Email authentication is vital to verify that you are a reliable individual/business to send legitimate emails. Email service providers trust authenticated mail over unauthenticated mail. Thus, they deliver those messages straight into the inbox most likely.

You can follow the following methods to authenticate your email and let your email service providers know about your reliability.

• Sender Policy Framework (SPF): It verifies and confirms your identity by comparing the sender’s IP (in the domain’s DNS record) with a list of IPs authorized to send from that domain.
• Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM): It ensures that email is not tampered with during the transmission or sending process.
• Domain-Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance(DMARC): DMARC leverages the power of both DKIM and SPF by requiring both to send and deliver mail.
• Brand Indicator for Message Identification (BIMI): It attaches your brand’s logo to your emails, allowing recipients to recognize your business.

If you can’t do the email authentication process yourself, you can collaborate with email expert services and get things done quickly.

4) Avoid Email Deny Lists

Put consistent efforts into the best email practices to maintain your reputation. Even the most cautious and well-intended emails end up on an email deny list occasionally.

You can eliminate the risk of ending up on a deny list by following the below practices:

• You can leverage opt-in or double opt-in to ensure engaged recipients.
• You can keep an eye on unengaged subscribers.
• Double-check the email to reduce the risk of false emails or typos in your email list.
• Always watch over your delivery rates. That will let you know of any signals that you may be on a deny list.

5) Monitor Your Email Engagement Metrics

Metrics and email performance are the tried and tested ways to know the progress of your email program. Here are some of the fundamental metrics to track your email progress:

• Open rates
• Spam Complaints
• Click-through rates
• Delivery rates

However, when you start tracking the above metrics, do not panic if you notice negative trends. But, you have to act fast and come with the appropriate solution for it. For instance, in case of dropping open rates, review your subject lines and email frequency. Yes, these two parameters play a crucial role in open rates.

When testing emails, always use real content and recipients. Senders can send test emails to small batches of recipients to understand how an ISP will respond. Plus, you can also get an idea of how your actual recipients respond to your emails.

6) Create Relevant Content

The success of email marketing relies on how the audience finds your email content. Yes, brands that focus on creating relevant and beneficial content consistently will scale more business. Sending emails for the sake of sending will not bring any benefits. It will only result in poor engagement rates. Thus, the emails you send must resonate with your audience. Else they will either ignore or send it to spam.

So, next time before you draft an email, keep a check on the following points:

• Send new, relevant, and valuable content to the audience. The audience must resonate with it.
• Maintain a consistent gap between the emails. Do not go overboard.
• Segment your email list based on demographics and needs. Send customized content for each segment instead of sending generalized content to everyone.

Feel free to experiment with new styles of copy and content until you get to know your recipients. Once you get the pulse of your audience, you can create better content that matches their expectations.

Wrapping Up

Email marketing is one of the oldest and most reliable marketing techniques that brands leverage to connect with their premium customers, retain existing customers and attract new customers.

Ultimately, as a brand, you need to take a lot of effort into building an email list organically. Often, brands should invest in dedicated marketing strategies and attract the appropriate people through several marketing channels like website, blog, social media channels, etc. Thus, you can obtain email lists of audiences who are genuinely interested in your business.

Plus, there is no one email for all. Sending the same email to everyone is irrelevant, and the recipient may often mark your email as spam. Invest time and come up with fresh content ideas that resonate with your recipients. The more relevant the content is, the better is the engagement.

You now know the reasons for emails going to spam and also some handy solutions to avoid happening. Follow the tips discussed in the blog to eliminate your emails getting into the spam folder and make the most out of your email marketing.