How to avoid spam filters and recover if you’re already marked as spam
Many marketers believe that their work with email campaigns ends after sending the messages. However, analyzing the results of the campaign is an equally important aspect of a marketing strategy. The worst outcome is having your email land in the spam folder. In this article, we’ll discuss how email providers identify unwanted messages and how to avoid being flagged by spam filters.
Main reasons emails end up in spam
The primary reason emails land in spam is a poor sender reputation. This reputation is influenced by many factors, such as the number of hard bounce emails, the volume of spam complaints, and the performance of your previous campaigns. We’ll apply the theory to practical cases and examine specific scenarios.
Invalid email audience
This issue includes dissatisfied recipients who click the unsubscribe button and invalid email addresses. The more complaints your campaign receives and the more frequently users unsubscribe, the worse it is for your reputation. It’s even more damaging if your emails are sent to abandoned mailboxes.
The key advice for dealing with unsubscribing recipients is to focus on improving your content. Generic phrasing and impersonal texts can alienate potential buyers. To make your emails more personalized, consider creating complex marketing scenarios and using variables with customer profile data in your messages. This can help build trust and foster strong business relationships.
Variables with customer data
You should not use tricks to keep a subscriber who has lost interest in your emails. Ultimately, they may become so dissatisfied that they mark your message as spam, dealing a significant blow to your reputation. Always place the unsubscribe button in a clearly visible location. This will help you maintain your integrity with customers and preserve your reputation with email providers.
Unsubscribe button in a prominent place
If a hard bounce occurs during email delivery, the Altcraft platform automatically adds the address to a global blocklist. After this, no further emails will be sent to that address, helping you avoid further damage to your reputation.
Falling into spam traps
Spam traps are tools used by email providers to identify spammers and unwanted emails. These traps are specially created or “abandoned” email addresses. If your recipient list is improperly configured and includes one of these addresses, you significantly increase the chances of your future emails landing in the spam folder.
The most reliable way to protect against such traps is by using the double opt-in method. Double opt-in is an email subscription process that requires additional confirmation of the email address by the recipient. This ensures that the addresses in your database belong to real users. Setting up double opt-in via the Altcraft platform is detailed in this article.
Scenario for double opt-in subscription
It is also essential to regularly clean your database. Remove inactive and invalid addresses to reduce the likelihood of landing in abandoned spam traps. Inactive addresses can be identified using segmentation. For example, look for profiles that have not opened emails for three months. Try reactivating these profiles, and if unsuccessful, unsubscribe them.
Selection conditions for inactive customers
Content in the email
Mail providers can configure algorithms to filter out spam based on spam words and typos. Spam words include potentially dangerous terms such as "credit," "weight loss," "earnings," "giveaway," etc. There is no exact list, and each provider creates its own. The "safer" the language in your email, the better.
Try not to attach any files to the email. If you need to share a file, you can include a download link instead. Also, avoid using images in the email that exceed 200 KB in size, as emails with "heavy" media are less favorably received by mail providers.
Don't forget to create a text version of the email as well, for users who may not be able to load the standard version. The text version is sent by the Altcraft platform along with the HTML version of the email. If it is left blank—or does not match the HTML version—it can slightly harm the sender's reputation. However, having a text version significantly increases the trustworthiness of the email campaign.
Text version of the letter
Always use the preview function in the Altcraft message editor. It is located at the top of the screen, next to the save button:
Letter preview
This way you can find out how your email will look on different devices, including mobile.
Display the email on different devices
Check your email campaign before sending
Always perform a test send before launching a mass email campaign. You can use your own email address and the addresses of your colleagues for this purpose. In the sent emails, you can review the message headers, which contain a wealth of technical information about the campaign. From these, you can learn how your information and address are displayed, as well as the "spam rating" your email has received.
Technical letter headings
If you don’t want to manually analyze the headers in your email, you can use services like Mail-Tester or SenderScore. These services, in addition to analyzing headers, review the content of your email and check whether your domain is listed in providers’ blacklists. Mail-Tester offers three free checks without registration and 20 checks for registered users. This should be sufficient to “diagnose” your email campaign.
Mail-Tester service
The SenderScore service checks the reputation of your domain and your SSL certificate. The data is calculated based on a 30-day average and displays the rating of your IP address.
SenderScore service
How to identify issues with your email campaign
The most effective way to monitor email campaign statistics is by using postmasters. A postmaster is a service provided by an email provider that tracks email campaign statistics, including how many emails were delivered, how many landed in spam, delivery failures, the number of complaints, and more. First, it allows you to detect sudden drops in delivery or open rates. Second, the postmaster provides information on specific errors and their causes. Registering a postmaster is essential if you plan to send large volumes of emails, exceeding 10,000 per day.
A postmaster collects information only for emails sent to its domain, so it makes sense to set up postmasters for all major providers included in your campaign. To register a postmaster, you need to create an account with the service and verify your domain. Detailed instructions for setting up various postmasters can be found here.
If a decline in metrics happens only once, you can focus on improving the quality of your email content or reconsider the relevance of your audience. However, if the drop is systematic, action must be taken. The first step is to contact the email provider's support team. They can inform you about issues with your campaign, advise on how to resolve them, and confirm if you’ve been added to a spam list. In practice, the responsiveness of support teams varies — Gmail support might ignore your inquiries, whereas specialists from Yandex.Mail and mail.ru typically respond promptly.
What to do if you are blacklisted
You can check if your domain is blacklisted using external services, such as https://multirbl.valli.org. If you discover your domain is blacklisted, the first step is to pause your current campaigns and evaluate how to remove your addresses and domains from the list. Most likely, you violated some of the previously mentioned rules, and each new email will further damage your reputation. DNSBL services usually provide information about the possible reasons for blacklisting an address or domain.
To remove your addresses from the blocklist, contact the technical support team of the email provider. Clearly describe the situation and explain possible reasons for being blacklisted. You will likely need to attach one of your emails with headers. You can find such an email by selecting "View original message" or downloading it in .eml format.
Unfortunately, not all providers respond to removal requests or provide details about email campaign issues. For instance, Gmail support does not disclose reasons for spam listing or publish specific instructions for resolving the issue. The most drastic measure is to change your email domain or IP address. In some cases, even changing the sender's address can help.
Next, work on the content of your email. Improve both the content and technical aspects, such as the text version, headers, and the proper configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Engagement rates, like open and click rates, can also influence your likelihood of ending up in spam. The higher the click rate, the less likely your campaigns will face delivery issues.
Keep in mind that getting removed from a spam list is a lengthy and challenging process. It is always better to check your campaigns thoroughly beforehand than to try to fix problems afterward. There are no specific criteria guaranteeing you will avoid being flagged as spam, but the general advice is to maintain good email hygiene. Avoid purchasing databases or using clickbait language in your emails, and instead focus on proper domain configuration and content quality.