Ways to Stop Your Emails from Going to Spam

Are the open rates of your email campaigns low?  

It could be because your emails end up in your subscribers’ spam folders instead of their inboxes!

Spam filtering has become more rigorous than ever. According to a report from Return Path, spam filters send one in five emails straight to the junk folder.  

As your go-to digital marketing agency in Miami, we don't want your emails to be a part of this statistic. So, we compiled a list of reasons why your emails go to spam and some tips on what you can do to make sure they don’t.  

Why Are Your Emails Going Straight to Spam?

1. You’re not sending your emails to the right people.

Emails with low engagement rates tend to get marked inaccurately as spam.  

This is why, before you put together an email marketing campaign, you need to make sure that you’re sending them to a list of people who are interested in what you have to offer.  

If you just bought email addresses online, chances are, you’re not targeting the right audience.  

What you should do is optimize your email list. Instead of focusing on volume, think about the quality of the subscribers you’re getting. As much as possible, you want to attract subscribers who are genuinely interested in your business.

2. You don’t have consent to email your list of subscribers.

Is your email list comprised of people who gave you permission to email them? If not, chances are, your emails are going to get flagged as spam.  

Every time your email gets reported as spam, your mailbox provides records of these complaints regardless of whether or not the email was unsolicited.  

Once the complaints reach exceeds a certain limit, all future emails coming from you will head straight to the junk folder.  

Sending automated email series to people who haven't permitted you to do so is also a  violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. This can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.  

To get permission from your recipients, make sure you give them the choice to opt in to subscribe to your email list.  

3. Your recipients aren’t engaging with your emails.

If your subscribers aren’t reading or opening your emails, those emails will likely get flagged as spam.  

To fix this, you need to get your recipients to engage with your emails.  

Here are some ways you can improve your email engagement:

• Optimize your email list by targeting the right audience.  
• Always send a welcome email to new subscribers.  
• Send your emails at the right time.  

• Optimize your subject lines by leveraging curiosity, fear of missing out, and humor.  
• Use the preheader text effectively.  
• Personalize your call to action.  
• Customize your emails for each recipient.  
• Segment your recipients so you can send highly personalized email campaigns.  

4. Your email list is comprised of inactive accounts.

If an email account is rarely or never used, it’s considered inactive.

Spam filtering algorithms check the ratio of active to inactive accounts on your list. If you’re mailing a campaign to a bunch of inactive accounts, that’s a red flag.  

While you’re working on growing your email list, make it a point to also check which of your subscribers haven’t engaged with your campaigns in a while. Try to re-engage them. If there’s still no response, you can remove them from your list.  

5. Your subject lines are deceptive.

It can be tempting to use clickbait subject lines to try and boost your open rates, but that doesn’t work in the long run.

Nobody likes to get tricked or fooled into doing anything. Doing this will only infuriate recipients, leading them to distrust you.

Aside from this, the CAN-SPAM act states that it’s against the law to intentionally mislead someone with your subject line to get them to open your email.  

This begs the question: how can you tell if a subject line is misleading?  

It’s obviously problematic for an email to say that a subscriber has won a prize, even though that person never joined a contest.

However, there are instances where it might not be as easy to tell:

• Your subject line is hiding your identity or deliberately leading your recipients to believe that the email is coming from someone other than you. For example, “Did I leave my bag at your place?”
• Your subject lines make it appear like your email was being forwarded or a part of an ongoing thread to make your message look like it was from a trusted source.  
• Make your subject lines look like they're transactional emails. For example, "Order Confirmation".  
• Your subject line makes it look like your email is urgent even though it's not.  

As your leading marketing agency in Miami, we suggest that you work on optimizing your subject lines. There are many ways you can improve your email open rate without deceiving your subscribers.  

6. Your routing information is inaccurate.

When it comes to sending emails that are guaranteed to get opened, you must include a name in the "from" field that your recipients will likely recognize or remember.  

As your go-to digital marketing agency in Miami, we recommend that you make the branding in your emails memorable and match the branding on your site. This includes colors, typography, tone, messaging, images, etc.  

If your “from”, “to”, “reply-to”, and routing information isn't familiar to your recipients, they'll ignore it or send it to spam right away. As much as possible, use your company name and your name. It’s best to avoid changing it more than necessary.

7. Your email doesn’t include your physical address.

Your emails must include either:

• Your company’s physical address, which should be registered with the U.S. Postal Service
• A private mailbox registered under Postal Service regulations.  

Aside from the fact that this is a legal requirement, using a missing or invalid address can get your emails blocked as suspicious.

8. Your emails contain spam triggering words.

Some spam filters are triggered by certain words in the subject line of the body of your email, like the following:

• Amazing
• Click here
• Cancel at any time
• Congratulations
• For only ($)
• Dear friend
• Promise you
• This is not spam
• Winner  
• Great offer
• Guarantee
• Risk-free
• Special promo

• Order now

The examples above are just some of the most common spam trigger words.  

Ask your email provider for a list of what words trigger spam flags so you can avoid using them in your email copy. You can also ask them always check your emails for any spam trigger words before sending them to your list.  

Prevent Your Emails from Winding Up in Spam

Targeting the right recipients, asking permission, including your address, branding, increasing engagement, optimizing subject lines, avoiding spam triggering words, and purging your email list are some of the best practices you can follow to ensure that your emails head straight to your recipient’s inbox where they belong!  

Digital Resource is the best digital marketing agency in Miami. If you need help putting together an email marketing campaign that generates leads and boosts sales, we’re the right agency to call!

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