If your emails are ending up in Gmail's spam folder, it can be frustrating and costly. In this blog post, we'll show you how to stop your emails from going to spam in Gmail. We'll also give you some tips on how to improve your email campaigns so that they don't get caught by spam filters in the first place. Let's get started!
69% of all spam emails are flagged based on the subject line (Source : Email Analytics)
Globally, 20% of marketing e-mails don’t reach the inbox (RETAILDIVE). This drastically affects the email deliverability of your campaign (sequence). So, you might be wondering, how to stop emails going to spam in Gmail?
Before getting into the question, let's first explore how the spam filter works in Gmail. This will help us understand the phenomenon better by managing expectations and making changes and corrections earlier in the sales process.
The very first thing Gmail checks is if your domain and IP address is present in any email blacklists or not. You need to show and prove that you are an authentic sender. You need to make sure your email does not get blacklisted.
Using spam words or links triggers the Gmail spam algorithm and shoots your emails to junk folder. Even grammatical and spelling mistakes can trigger Gmail spam filter. You need to make sure, you don’t use any spam words or links and avoid spelling mistakes. Use short notes or contents, less link or attached file.
Once your email passes all the above criteria, Gmail checks your user engagement. If your recipients are deleting your emails before even opening it, this triggers Gmail as a spam email. Secondly, if your email is being marked as spam frequently by your users.
New IP addresses needs to be warmed up. For the first 2-24 hours, new IP addresses are temporarily blocked by Gmail. A few emails are then delivered to the inbox after that to check the recipient's reaction. Read How to Avoid Spam Filters [30 Proven Tips] for more information.
You are sending email thinking that they are not spam. Well, it is possible that you might have sent spam emails unknowingly. Sometimes, Gmail marks email as spam for external reasons in spite of following all the standard rules of sending marketing email.
Moreover, often new email marketers make mistakes during running campaigns. They are as follows.
IP address is a unique number for an individual sender. It comes with an email. If you send a large amount of email from a new IP address, the email service marks it as spam.
Even if anyone marks any email that has come from a shared IP address, everyone gets affected. It increases spam complaints and bounce rate. As a result, emails go to spam.
Many companies run email campaigns before selling any product or service. They purchase a list of emails. It is not recommended.
It may include invalid email address. The email may go to someone who does not like your content or genre. He may mark you as spam. For this reason, it may increase spam complaints and bounce rate.
No one uses personal email address for email marketing purpose. And not warming newly created business email address or IP address, lands your email to clients spam folder. So if you are also doing the same mistake, then it is better to stop right away. Try warming up your email address first and then go for email marketing. Warmbase assures your email address is warmed up in minimum 14 days and prepare it to deliver to your prospects inbox completely avoiding spam folder.
Often Gmail and other spam filters mark your email as spam automatically only for content. According to some studies, 69% of people do not open email only for errors in the subject box.
Writing all the words with capital letters in the subject box, using too many exclamation marks triggers spam filters to block your mail. If the content is not relevant, there is a high chance that either the recipient will not open the email or mark it as spam. Spelling and grammar errors are not welcome in email. The text might be bold.
Safe email marketing is important because it will prevent your messages from getting trapped in spam filters. Spam words like- Earn $, Work from home, $$$, Free, Money, 50% off, 100% free, Terms and conditions etc are not good for your email. Such words and phrases are often recognized as spam words and can deliver your email to prospect spam folder. Avoiding these words can help you ensure successful delivery to the inboxes!
Often many email marketers send email to all of the contacts. He does not care about the receiver. He might have collected these emails from a program registration or regular communication. However, the receiver might not have interest in the email. As a result, email bounces and is marked as spam. Then, Gmail and other spam filters start blocking emails from that account.
As I said earlier, many email marketers purchase a list of emails. It may contain invalid email addresses. So, if the email is sent to invalid address, it never reaches the receiver. This increases the bounce rate in consequence.
If the email domain has a high bounce rate, it starts to end in Gmail spam. Bounce means not going mail to another email address or server. It might be because the email address does not exist. Additionally, the email server of the receiver might be down. Some organizations do not receive mail from outside. Sending mail to those organizations may increase bounce rate and damage your email reputation.
Nowadays, mailbox block mails coming with no authentication. The rate of spam mail raised to 55% in 2019. So, mail services tightened their terms to deliver mail. They do not allow you to reach the mail to the inbox without any authentication.
Attaching too much attachment, link and images is a bad habit for email marketing. Gmail often blocks email with too many links. Additionally, Gmail blocks mail with suspicious links. Many email servers block mail with attachments of large size. Email with too many images or no text and only images often gets blocked by spam filters.
It is possible that subscribers are not enjoying your content any more. They want to unsubscribe now. It is absolutely fine. Often people lose interest due to changing their area of interest. If he does not find any link to unsubscribe, then the person might marks your email as spam and block your email domain.
Following the above steps will help you land in your recipients inbox. But that won’t be enough. There are other methods you need to take care of if you want your sales emails to land in your recipients inbox. Follow the below tips and your emails will not land in your recipients spam or junk folder.
If you're planning on emailing someone you don't know very well, take some time to find a mutual connection. A mutual friend or colleague can introduce you via email and vouch for your credibility, making it more likely that your cold email will be well-received.
If you're using a personal email address (like Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail), your email is more likely to be treated as spam. Consider setting up a professional-sounding email address with your own domain name to increase the chances that your email will be seen as legitimate. And warming up your email address is a must. Warm up helps your email land in your recipients inbox instead of spam folder. And Warmbase warms up your IP address with valid emails reducing bounce rate and increasing email deliverability rate.
Make sure your subject line is clear, concise, and relevant to the email's content. Avoid using misleading or clickbait-y subject lines, as these will only result in your email being marked as spam. Include a plain text version: Some email clients can't display HTML emails properly, so it's a good idea to include a plain text version of your email as well. That way, even if the HTML version is mangled, the recipient will still be able to understand your message.
Personalized messages are more likely to avoid the spam filter than generic messages. In your email, make sure to address the recipient by name and mention something that you have in common. This could be a mutual connection, an event you both attended, or a piece of content you both enjoyed.
If you're using a lot of words that are commonly associated with spam (like "free," "win," or "guarantee"), your email is more likely to be caught by Gmail's spam filter. Try removing these keywords from your email, or rephrasing your message to avoid them altogether.
If you're not getting the response rates you want, it may be time to reevaluate your email strategy. Try testing different subject lines, send times, or content to see what gets the best results.
If someone reports your email as spam, it's more likely to end up in the spam folder for other users. To avoid this, make sure you're only sending emails to people who have explicitly signed up to receive them. And if you do get a spam report, take it as a cue to improve your email strategy.
Some email clients are more likely to mark your emails as spam. To avoid this, use an email client that's designed for business use, like Microsoft Outlook or Gmail for Business.
Too much HTML or too many links in your email can trigger Gmail's spam filter. Try removing some of the HTML or links from your email to see if that helps.
The first step is to make sure that your IP address or sending domain isn't on a Gmail blacklist. If it is, then there's not much you can do except wait for the issue to be resolved. You can check if your IP address or domain is on a blacklist using one of the many online tools, such as MxToolbox, DNSCHECKER, What Is My IP Address etc
Domain authentication is a way of proving to Gmail that you're the owner or authorized sender of the domain in question. By adding these records to your DNS, you can tell Gmail that it's safe to deliver your email. The most common domain authentication records are SPF and DKIM.
Using a consistent From name and address is one of the simplest things you can do to improve your deliverability. When your recipients see a familiar sender name in their inbox, they're more likely to open and engage with your email.
By including an unsubscribe link in your email, you're showing that you're compliant with spam laws. This can help to improve your chances of getting through Gmail's spam filter.
There are a number of laws that govern email marketing, such as the CAN-SPAM Act. Make sure you're familiar with these laws and compliant with them to avoid any legal trouble.
While images can make your emails more visually appealing, too many of them can actually hurt your deliverability. That's because images can trigger Gmail's spam filters. So, try to use images sparingly in your email campaigns.
You can warm up your email domain by following two method:
The concept of manual warm up is very simple and fruitful for warming up your email domain. But, it consumes a lot of time. Therefore if you have enough time you can manually warm up your email domain. The simple steps of manual process are given below:
This email warm up method will take 2-3 months approximately.
Since manual warming up is a lengthy process, you can easily opt in for an automatic process. To warm up your email domain in an authentic way you can sign up in warm up tools like Warmbase. Here, you don't need to know how to warm up. All you need to provide required data into the software. After providing data for the authentic domain, Warmbase replies automatically and starts the process.
Warmbase is one of the most authentic and trustworthy tools that assures you to send spam-free emails and increase the email deliverability rate. It provides the opportunity to send 50 emails in a day from each account and provide multiple warm up options. As an automatic email warm up software, Warmbase assures, your email reaches your recipients inbox.
Once your email address is warmed up, you can start sending emails to your idea customers and recipients. Read How To Warm Up Email Domain for more information.
The accepted bounce rate is 2%. If the email account exceeds it, Gmail starts sending spam.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an authentication system. It checks the IP address of the domain with a list of authorized IP addresses.
DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mails) is another authentication method. It verifies the domain of the email sender.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) is a protocol. It assists in reducing phishing emails. It also verifies that the IP address and domain of the sender is authorized with SPF and DKIM.
Email deliverability can be a complex and frustrating topic. If you're having trouble with emails going to spam in Gmail, we recommend signing up for Warmbase. With Warmbase, you can easily warm up your email domains and improve your chances of getting into the inbox.
