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“Why do my emails go to spam?” This is a common question that many people struggle with. Chances are, you have dealt with the frustration of your emails ending up in someone’s spam folder as well. Here are 11 You are left wondering why your emails are going to spam despite containing useful information. Most of the time, the reasons why your emails go to spam are pretty simple.
While email is a great and convenient way to reach your clientele, especially for marketers and business owners, it can leave us confused and annoyed when many of our useful emails end up in the spam folders of our receivers.
You work so hard on writing an email from scratch, only for it to end up in someone’s spam folder. This can leave any of us infuriated.
And let’s be real, nobody ever checks their spam folder. So, you end up wasting your time and effort for no good.
In this article, we will discuss the reasons behind the question, “Why are my emails going to spam?” We will also take a look at the different ways we can potentially tackle this issue. From using convenient email lookup tools to tracing the sources behind emails, we can nip the problem in the bud and help our emails in reaching their rightful recipients.
Why Are My Emails Going to Spam?
For your emails to end up in the spam folder of your recipients, there could be many underlying reasons behind it.
Here are 10 reasons why your emails are going to spam and not reaching the intended audience.
You Are Not Targeting the Right Audience
The reason why your emails are probably going to the spam folder of your recipients is often that your recipients do not open them.
This makes them either not want to open the email or mark them as spam. Both of these lead to low engagement rates.
This can happen because you are not targeting the right audience with your emails. Your primary goal should be sending out emails to those people who can turn into potential customers and not to a completely random bunch of people.
Your Recipients Have Marked Your Emails as Spam
One of the most common reasons your emails are going to spam is that your recipients have marked them as junk/spam.
It does not matter if your content is intense, full of knowledge, and impressive. There will be times when a person will mark your email as junk just to declutter their inbox.
Another reason could be that they forgot to subscribe to your email list and simply made the mistake of marking your email as junk.
When enough of your emails get marked as spam, it can cause spam filters to flag your address and start sending your email to spam automatically after that. This means that your email will end up in junk, even for those users who didn’t mark it as spam.
You Are Sending Too Many Attachments
Large amounts of attachments are a big no-no when it comes to emails. Spam filters are quick to notice emails that contain a ton of attachments and automatically send them to a user’s spam folder.
This is because the more attachments an email has, the more chances there are that one of those attachments contains malware or viruses.
If you can, avoid sending any attachments and keep your emails in an attachment-free zone.
However, if you do need to send an attachment, make sure you keep the files to a minimum.
Another great option is to upload your files to a cloud service, such as Google Drive. From there, you can include the link to the file in your email instead of an attachment.
You Haven’t Set Up an Authenticated Email Address
Another common reason why you are always left wondering as to why your emails always end up in the spam folder is that you haven’t correctly authenticated your email address.
Before sending emails to a bunch of subscribers, authenticate your email address. It should be set up correctly through a credible service, such as GetResponse.
This way, your emails are sent through a third party. They still appear with your domain name attached despite being sent by the authentication service.
Once authenticated, your emails will no longer be in someone’s spam folder.
You Don’t Have Permission From Your Email Subscribers
According to online privacy laws, you need to have permission from recipients to send them emails. You cannot simply purchase email lists and start sending scores of emails to a bunch of people in hopes of growing your business.
Even people who have subscribed to your email list need to explicitly tell you that they want to receive emails from you. While this isn’t required in many countries, it is still good to take precautions.
With people receiving tons of emails every day, if yours appear in their inbox without prior permission, they are more likely to mark your email as spam and leave you wondering, “Why are my emails going to spam?”
Your Sender Information is Inaccurate
Inaccurate sender info can cause a lot of spam issues for your emails. For example, if your FROM/REPLY-TO information is incorrect, your email can likely end up in people’s spam folders.
You have to make sure that the email address that you are sending from matches that of the sender.
Moreover, online laws require you to include a physical address in bulk marketing emails. This could be another reason why your emails are going to spam.
Your Email’s Subject Line is Misleading
When figuring out why your emails are going to spam, the subject line is essential.
You must have heard the phrase, “First impressions are the most important.”
A subject line is your first impression of the people you send emails to. It sets the tone for the rest of the email, and your subject lines should not be misleading.
A misleading subject line will disappoint the reader. As a result, they are more likely to flag your email as spam out of sheer frustration.
You Are Using a Bad Email List
A bad email list would mean sending bulk emails to email addresses that are:
- either no longer active or
- haven’t been used in a long time
These two factors can ultimately result in low engagement. If your emails are not getting opened by most of the recipients, they could automatically start getting filtered as spam.
You Did Not Include an Unsubscribe Link
You are required by law to provide a clear link for users to unsubscribe from your mailing list.
Not providing an unsubscribe option paints your business in a bad light. It is also a surefire to frustrate people, making them mark your email as spam.
Ensure that you provide people with an unsubscribe option even though you think it may not work in your favor. As crucial as subscribers are, so is their satisfaction with your content.
You Are Using Too Many Images and Not Enough Text – (why your emails go to spam?)
Problems with spam arise when you use too many images in your emails with too little text. Images can easily trigger the spam filter and make your email end up in the spam folder of your recipients.
If you want to use images in your emails, make sure the appropriate text accompanies them to go along with them.
“Why Are My Emails Going to Spam” Solutions
There are many ways to stop your emails from ending up in someone’s spam folder. Below are a few tips and tricks to ensure your email never gets in a spam folder.
Set Up Proper Authentication
As important as the content of your emails is, there are more factors at play here. Your reputation as a sender matters a lot too.
One of the best ways to improve your reputation is to ensure you have a proper authentication set up for your emails.
Use methods like DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to authenticate your emails.
Avoid Triggering the Spam Filter
It is important that you follow the best practices while sending bulk emails to your subscribers or audience.
As discussed above, things like too many images, spammy words and triggers, inaccurate sender information, and misleading subject lines contribute to your email ending up in the spam folder.
Make sure you adhere to these simple rules to avoid any trouble with junk or spam emails.
Use Email Lookup Tools
If you want to boost your engagement rates and turn your readers into tangible customers, you can make use of several different online tools.
One of the best tools for this purpose is using email lookup services available online. Email lookup services allow you to find email addresses that are accurate and have been in use.
Email lookup tools can verify your users’ email addresses to make sure that you get the highest quality leads for your mailing list.
Employing these tools to verify your email lists will ensure that your emails end up in the right people’s inboxes.
As a result, more people will engage with your content, and your emails will never go into anyone’s spam folder.
You won’t have to spend tons of money on these tools. There are many free email lookup tools available online that will provide you with the email addresses of people from who you will benefit.
Trace Emails Before Sending Them Over
Another great practice before sending your emails to your mailing list is to trace their email addresses before you send anything over.
Trace emails tools analyze your email’s deliverability and how likely it is to end up in someone’s spam folder.
For this purpose, there are many free tools available online. A simple Google search will help you find free tools at your disposal to trace emails.
Trace email tools will also help you compare your deliverability against an industry benchmark. It will let you know how you can improve to meet that threshold.
If you want to monitor your email’s performance and increase your reputation as an email sender, these tools are your best bet at achieving that.
Keep the Engagement Rate High
As mentioned above, one of the most common issues related to emails ending up in the spam folder is the audience engagement rate.
If your audience is not interested in your emails, they won’t open them. And if they don’t open them, you will have problems with spam.
This is because low engagement triggers spam filters. As a result, your emails automatically end up in people’s junk folders, even if the content is knowledgeable.
Make Use of Mail Tester
If you are having spam issues, Mail Tester is a great online resource to tackle this issue.
Mail tester allows you to check the score of your email on a scale of spamminess. Not just that, it would give you suggestions on how you can improve your email. This will help you create an email that does not end up in people’s junk folders.
It is a great tool that you can use to analyze the spam score of your email before you send it to everyone.
The Bottom Line – (why your emails go to spam?)
There are many reasons why your emails go to spam. From not targeting the right audience to not attaching an unsubscribe link, the reasons can be numerous. And sometimes even complicated and unknown.
Whatever the reason may be, as the sender, it is important for you to employ best practices associated with sending out emails that are filled with your content.
This would maximize your reputation as a sender, and people are more likely to read your emails instead of chucking them into the spam folder.
Now you no longer have to wonder why your emails go to spam. You can just follow the tips and tricks mentioned above and transform your subscriber list along with boosting your business!