How to Prevent Emails from Ending up in the Spam Folder

There are steps you can take to prevent your emails from ending up in your recipient’s Spam folders. We’ve listed some of the best practices you should follow –

Maintaining the Reputation

IP Address Warming

• Spammers often create new IP addresses and send large volumes of unwanted emails. To safeguard against this, Inbox service providers (ISP) treat mail received from new or ‘cold’ IP addresses with suspicion and are also sensitive to initial email volume.
• When you start to use LeadSquared’s email campaigns feature, the IP addresses assigned to you have never been used to send emails before. To build up a positive sender reputation, ensure better email deliverability, and prevent your emails from ending up as spam, it’s essential to warm up your IP.
• To warm up your IP, start by slowly and methodically sending small volumes of email, and then gradually ramping up to moderate and higher volumes. The objective is to build up approximately 30 days of sending history and data to familiarize ISPs with emails coming from your new IP address.

Follow a Consistent Schedule and Email Volume

• Email service providers (ESPs) and spam filters monitor sending behavior. Sudden spikes in email volume can trigger spam filters, especially if you haven’t been sending regularly. These spikes can be suspicious and lead to your emails being sent to spam folders or even blocked.
• Consistent sending patterns help them identify you as a legitimate and reliable sender, ultimately improving your sender reputation. This means your emails are less likely to be flagged as spam and more likely to reach inboxes. Monitor the health of the domain and IP reputation regularly.

Purge Your Lists

• Keep your email lists clean. Remove old and unverified email addresses.
• Regularly purging your list helps maintain a clean and up-to-date database of active subscribers. This ensures your emails reach real people who are interested in your content.
• While purging your list might seem counterintuitive, it’s essential for long-term success. Remember, a smaller list of engaged subscribers is far more valuable than a large one with many inactive or uninterested recipients. By regularly purging your list, you can ensure your emails reach the right people, improve deliverability, and maximize the impact of your email marketing efforts.

Segmentation of Lists

By segmenting your list, you can tailor your emails to specific subscriber interests and demographics. This leads to more relevant content that resonates better with recipients.

Send Emails Only to Interested Users

• While buying mailing lists is an obvious no-no, you should also be careful about emailing people who didn’t give you explicit permission to do so.
• When users receive emails, they didn’t sign up for or no longer want, they are more likely to mark them as spam. This negatively impacts your sender reputation, making future emails more likely to be filtered as spam for everyone on your list, even those who want your messages.

Avoid Spam Traps and Blacklists

• Negative Impact on Sender Reputation –
  • Spam Traps – These are email addresses specifically designed to catch spammers. Sending emails to them signifies poor list hygiene and potentially unethical practices, leading to a damaged sender reputation. This can significantly lower the deliverability of your future emails, even for legitimate recipients.
  • Blacklists – These are lists of IP addresses or domains identified as sources of spam. Getting blacklisted can severely hamper your email deliverability, potentially causing emails to be blocked entirely. This can significantly disrupt your communication and marketing efforts.
• Increased Risk of Filtering and Blocking – Both spam traps and blacklisted addresses are used by email service providers (ESPs) and spam filters to identify suspicious senders. If your emails hit even a few spam traps, it can trigger filters to flag your future emails as spam, sending them to spam folders or even blocking them altogether.

Clear Information about Unsubscribing

If someone is frustrated and can’t find an Unsubscribe button, they’re more likely to just mark your email as spam. This hurts your sender reputation with email providers like Gmail and Outlook, which can then start filtering your emails to spam folders for other recipients as well. An easy unsubscribe option gives them a clear path to opt-out, reducing the chance of a spam complaint.

Always add the Mailing preference link. This lets recipients choose exactly what kind of communication they want from you and how often they receive it. Everyone appreciates control, and offering this option can keep subscribers engaged for much longer.

Focusing on Infrastructure

Authenticating with DKIM | SPF

• The DKIM record allows LeadSquared to digitally sign your emails for your domain. Without this record, LeadSquared’s email provider still adds this to your emails, but it’s signed for the sending party’s sending server instead of your domain. For more information on this, see Email Link Domain and DKIM/SPF Settings for LeadSquared.
• When you add the SPF record to your domain, that allows receiving email servers like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, and others, to verify the identity of your emails for the SenderID authentication. If somebody else such as LeadSquared is sending Emails on your behalf, then that SPF record explicitly gives permission to LeadSquared to send email on your behalf.

Use Double Opt-in

• Spammers often use fake email addresses. With double opt-in, only confirmed addresses make it to your list, minimizing bounces.
• Double opt-in confirms a subscriber’s genuine interest. People who take the extra step to verify are more likely to be engaged with your content, leading to higher open rates and click-through rates.

Shared versus Dedicated IP Address

• Shared IP for Low Volume – Shared IPs are a good starting point for low-volume senders or those with a good reputation established elsewhere. They’re cost-effective and don’t require initial reputation building.
• Dedicated IP for High Volume and Control – If you send high volumes of email or prioritize maximum control over reputation, a dedicated IP is the way to go. It allows you to build your sender reputation from scratch and avoid the risks associated with other users’ actions.

Please reach out to support@leadsquared.com for assistance in upgrading to a dedicated IP.

Content Optimization

Use Branding and Personalization

• Branded and personalized emails are more likely to resonate with subscribers, leading to higher open rates and click-through rates. Email providers track these metrics, and consistent engagement signals that your content is relevant and wanted.
• Please ensure that mails can be sent with Sender name like “Shibani from LeadSquared” or “Team Leadquared” instead of lead owner names for the user to identify the mail and act on it. Avoid using no-reply in the email or sender name.

Send Welcome Email

If someone signs up for your list but never receives a welcome email, they might forget why they subscribed and end up marking your future emails as spam. A welcome email clarifies who you are and what they can expect, reducing confusion and the likelihood of spam complaints.

Keep the subject of the email relevant

The subject line is the easiest way to get your email filtered as spam. Keep it short and simple. Avoid heavy usage of emojis. Don’t use spammy words.

Send Relevant Content

• If your content is consistently relevant and subscriber-focused, it helps build a positive sender reputation. This good reputation translates to your emails being less likely to be filtered out by spam filters.
• If subscribers consistently receive emails that don’t align with their interests, they’re more likely to mark them as spam. A rise in spam complaints can significantly hurt your sender reputation and deliverability.

Making Optimized Content

• Include a text version of your email – Including a text version of your email in HTML emails is the easiest way to avoid emails ending up in the spam folder. You are greatly reducing the chances of your email being filtered as SPAM.
• Avoid spam trigger words and phishing phrases – Some phrases like “Once in a lifetime opportunity“, “Click here“, “Make billions“ and so on would easily catch the attention of spam filters. Also avoid too many exclamation marks and using all caps.
• Avoid large attachments and certain attachment types – Avoid executable attachments such as .exe, .zip, .swf, etc. As a general rule, you shouldn’t send attachments to people on your list that aren’t expecting them. You can instead include a link in the email to download the file/attachment.
• Code your HTML email properly – If your HTML Email code is bad, you appear as a spammer. Broken images, missing tags, and non web-safe colors are some of the things spam filters look for.
• Maintain a good text to image ratio – Usually spam filters cannot identify images, and so if you include more images, it is likely to end up in the Spam folder. Optimal Text to Image ratio is 60:40.

• No use of shortened URL and no broken URLs.
• Be compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act: The CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. Here are a few points to help you stay compliant –
  • Don’t use false or misleading header information.
  • Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
  • Identify the message as an ad.
  • Tell recipients where you’re located.
  • Tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future emails from you.
  • Honor opt-out requests promptly.
  • Monitor what others are doing on your behalf.

Any Questions?

We’d love to answer your questions or hear your own unique use cases. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below.