Getting your email landed in spam folders drastically limits the effectiveness of your campaign. Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid this issue by following email best practices like setting up SPF and DKIM records, avoiding triggering words, and ensuring that subscribers opt-in willingly.
Subject lines are the first thing recipients see and they’re a huge factor in whether your email lands in spam or not. So, ensure your subject lines are relevant and engaging.
Poor Spam Filtering
Spam filters are designed to sort emails into various categories based on specific criteria. These criteria can include the content of the email, the sender’s IP address, and more. From there, the filter decides whether to move it into a special folder or block it completely. Spam filters are a crucial part of the email delivery process, but they can be tricky to understand and use properly.
The spam filter’s main goal is to keep the user’s inbox free of viruses, scams, and unwanted content. It does this by analyzing the incoming email and classifying it as spam, junk, or quarantined. Emails that are labeled as spam or junk are automatically moved into the spam folder, while those labeled as potentially spam are placed in a quarantine folder until they can be verified as safe.
Generally speaking, emails that have an abundance of images and little text are considered spam by most spam filters. This is because the filter believes that the email is trying to trick the user into clicking on a malicious link, which could lead to malware infections and other problems. As a result, it is best to only use images as a visual support to the textual content of your email.
Aside from excessive image usage, a number of keywords and phrases can trigger spam filters. For example, using words like “free,” “act now,” “buy,” and “sale” is a red flag that the email might be attempting to trick users into clicking on a harmful link. Additionally, overusing superlatives such as “best,” “last chance,” and “guaranteed” can also trigger spam filters.
Another way that emails can be marked as spam is if recipients themselves frequently mark them as such. If a user repeatedly marks an email as spam, it can train the filter to think that all subsequent emails from the same source are spam and are likely to be blocked.
The last major way that an email can be classified as spam is if it is coming from a suspicious or unknown sender. This can occur if the sender’s IP address has been involved in other spam attacks or if they are using an email service that has a poor reputation.
False Positives
A false positive is an error in a test. For example, when a medical test shows you are pregnant when you are not, that’s a false positive. Likewise, when an email filter mistakenly believes a message is spam and rejects it, that’s a false positive. This type of error can have a significant impact on your business, causing legitimate messages to be rejected, and potentially damaging reputations. One great way to mitigate this is to search for discounts on emails nest.
Spam filters use various methods to detect and classify messages as spam. Some use text analysis to determine if the message is a potential threat. Other solutions use machine learning to understand and categorize email patterns in order to identify spam-like characteristics and protect against them. However, these types of solutions are often overly protective and may incorrectly classify emails as spam. This is why it’s important to balance protections with risk-based decisions.
Many sites install anti-spam filtering solutions for one reason: to eliminate spam. Unfortunately, they soon find that their solutions are actually creating a new problem in the form of false positives. A false positive is a valid message that has been identified as spam by an anti-spam solution. The most common cause of false positives is the presence of several spam-like qualities in a message. Newsletters, promotions from e-commerce sites, and joke lists all have several spam-like characteristics that can confuse an anti-spam solution.
Another important factor is the accuracy of the spam filter’s detection capabilities. Having an accurate spam filter is crucial to avoid false positives, and it requires regular tuning. Getting this right requires that you understand your infrastructure and the way in which spam-like links are clicked. If you see a high click rate on simulated phishing tests with the same IP addresses or user agents, that’s a good sign your system is not correctly identifying suspicious activity.
False positives are bad for business, but they’re also a big frustration for shoppers. They’ll feel offended if their legitimate card payment is declined, and they’ll need to invest extra time in either trying again or finding identical products at competitors’ sites. To avoid this, it’s important to balance the need for security with the need to provide a seamless, consistent experience for shoppers.
Spammy Subject Lines
Email subject lines can make or break the success of your email marketing campaigns. They’re the first thing recipients see when opening your emails, so they need to be engaging and informative while still being relevant to your audience. Otherwise, your email will be sent straight to the spam folder.
Aside from being spammy, using a misleading subject line can also violate the CAN-SPAM Act, which can lead to fines and penalties for your business. To avoid falling into this trap, take some time to browse through your own spam folder and learn what words trigger email filters.
Using spam trigger words in your subject lines can suck the life out of your email marketing efforts, leading to lower open rates and ultimately, less conversions. These spam trigger words include: -Financial terms: “Apply now” “Cash” “Debt” “Investment” -Urgent or urgent: “Save”, “Get started”
Other email subject line mistakes can be equally detrimental to your results. For instance, using excessive capitalization or punctuation in your subject line can cause your emails to look sloppy and unprofessional. They may also be interpreted as shouting or demanding, which is an instant turn-off for most subscribers. Additionally, it’s best to steer clear of emojis, special characters, and numbers in your subject line as these can be interpreted as spam triggers by email filters.
You should also avoid using RE: in your subject lines as this hints at an ongoing conversation that may not be true. It can also deceive your readers into thinking that you’re not being honest with them, which will not make you look good in the eyes of your leads.
Lastly, it’s important to remember that not all emails will be considered spam, even if they contain spam trigger words. For example, if you have your subscribers double opt-in before they receive your marketing messages, their emails will be considered valid and safe to send. This is a major factor when it comes to email deliverability and can greatly increase your chances of making it through spam filters. However, it’s always a good idea to stay up-to-date with the latest information regarding spam filters as these algorithms are constantly being updated and refined to keep up with changing threats.
Poor Authentication
Authentication protocols are vitally important for email marketers. They help to ensure that your subscribers’ inboxes see legitimate messages from you instead of spammy or malicious emails that could contain phishing attacks, malware or other dangerous attachments and links. Without email authentication and validation standards in place, your emails could be sent to spam folders or blocked altogether by mailbox providers. This is because unauthorized senders can hijack your domain, mimic your brand’s email address and then try to extract sensitive information or distribute malware from your subscribers’ computers. This can have a major impact on your email marketing program and can lead to loss of trust, revenue, and overall brand value.
Email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC check to validate that your emails come from the email address that is published on your domain’s DNS record. These protocols can also validate that the message contents are exactly as you sent them and that the email was not altered on the way to the recipients’ inboxes. This helps to increase the chances that your email will reach the inbox rather than being sent directly to a spam folder or outright blocked by the receiving server.
Unfortunately, it is possible to set up authentication standards and implement them correctly but still have your emails end up in the spam folder. This may occur if the email marketing tools you use do not support the implementation of these protocols or they are not being implemented properly. If you are using a popular email marketing tool such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact or HubSpot it should be very easy to check the status of your authentication and the results of your latest campaigns by logging into their respective dashboards, selecting the email and clicking ‘See Details’.
If you find that your authentication is not working, you should consider switching to an email marketing platform that supports the implementation of these protocols. It is also a good idea to regularly monitor your marketing metrics such as click-through rates and engagement levels to identify any issues before they start affecting your email deliverability.