It’s very frustrating when your emails are not being received by the recipient because it’s been wrongly marked as spam. By taking some simple steps, you can reduce the risk of your emails being caught in spam filters.
There are many reasons why your business’s emails could be getting caught in the recipient’s spam filter. Spam filters are designed to recognise spam characteristics of emails including triggering words and unsecure links and use these to determine the likelihood that the email is spam. If the email’s spam score is higher than the recipient’s threshold, it will not be delivered to their inbox.
Although there are some things that the sender can’t control, for example, the email address or domain being blacklisted on the recipient’s server, writing your emails using best practices can reduce the risk of them being marked as spam. We’ve written a list of some of the best ways you can reduce your emails’ spam scores and increase their deliverability.
Stop Using Spam Triggers in the Subject and Content
Spam filters will look for triggering words, phrases, and punctuation in the email’s subject and content that are commonly used in spam or malicious emails. These include writing in all-caps, excessive punctuation, and emojis, and words such as ‘win’, ‘free’, or ‘casino’. This doesn't mean you can never use these elements - but overusing them significantly increases your email's spam score.
Don’t Send Too Many Unsolicited Emails
Sending hundreds of identical emails per day can appear bot-like to spam filters, especially if recipients aren't opening or engaging with them. This is a common issue for the sales and recruitment sectors - sending a high volume of irrelevant emails that get ignored or deleted can cause filters to automatically mark future emails as spam. If you want to send out a large number of marketing emails, you should use third-party platforms such as MailChimp.
Ask Recipients to Check Their Spam Folder
If a recipient has moved your email to spam before, future emails are more likely to be marked as spam automatically – whether they did this intentionally or not. If the user has access to this folder, they can move legitimate emails to their inbox. If you suspect your emails are going straight to the spam folder, it is a good idea to call the recipient to see if they can find it and move it to their inbox to reduce the risk of this happening in the future.
Make Sure You Have a Secure Signature
One of the most common reasons emails are marked as spam is email signatures that are not secure (they use http rather than https). The content of the signature such as links or hosted images can increase the risk of your email being marked as spam. Links that are not secure will indicate that your email is linked to an unsafe website, triggering spam filters. To ensure that your email signatures are secure and controlled across the business, it is s good idea to use a hosted email signature service.
By taking these steps, you can significantly reduce the risk of your email being wrongly marked as spam. If you still have issues with recipients receiving your emails, contact our helpdesk team to assess your emails.
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About Carrera UK
Carrera UK provide IT support, IT services, and telecoms to small businesses in Portsmouth & Southampton in Hampshire, and across the South of England.
We offer a complete suite of IT and telecoms service solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, including IT support, website design, social media management and cyber security.
We know how important IT is to your business and we will work hard as your trusted IT and telecom service provider to find the best solutions for you. Our IT support and solutions give you the assurance that your business technology will be robust, reliable, and cost-effective.
