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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Always use the preview function in the Altcraft message editor. It is located at the top of the screen, next to the save button:
This way you can find out how your email will look on different devices, including mobile.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.