Do you have low email opening rates?

 This could simply mean that your sent email is somehow getting declined by spam filters.

In general, Email has an inbox placement rate of about 85 %. That’s pretty good.

But while evaluating all the mails, it shows that one out of every five emails you send either gets declined as a spam mail. And sometimes it doesn’t get flagged, but block the mail completely.

Every recipient server differs from one another and maybe it is applying various spam filtering criteria for the messages that you receive. 

Basically, the recipient servers do not offer any information about spam filtering to the sender that was filtered in most of the cases. 

Spam filters are continuously changing to adapt to different types of spam messages. So you never know what you are receiving in the inbox today could have a high chance to land up in the spam filters tomorrow.

To avoid this problem we have come up with tricks that could solve the problem of mail delivery. But before that, it is important to know why is the issue emerging.

Why Emails are landing up on Spam instead of Inbox?

 One of the main reasons that your mails are sent directly to the spam folder is because the filtering options of spam have become more precise this day. Most webmail providers like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo are trying to crack down on spam.  Now they all are using engagement-based filtering to encounter spams.

This implies that the more recipient interacts with your emails by opening,  reading and replying, the more engagement you will see in the audience. And moreover, you have a high chance of going into the inbox.

Engagement is a crucial part: 

It is because the webmail providers go through observing a pattern. They start by monitoring your engagement level and behavior of the recipient. Once they understand the pattern, they will fix which mail goes to the inbox.

There are different factors that is causing this issue. And we will guide you to prevent your mails from getting flagged and landing up in the spam section.

Let’s have a look at why your mails are going to spam instead of inbox.

Why are my emails going to spam? Top 5 reasons

1. You could acquire permission to email

When it comes to email marketing, the basic rule is to get permission to email first. There are many who buy a bulk of email addresses, but let me tell you that it is violating the CAN-SPAM Act and moreover you could face penalties up to $16,000.

To get permission, you have to get a handy opt-in form on your site and it should clearly imply that your visitors are subscribing to your email list. 

Never try to add emails manually on your own or send it to someone without their permission. It is because you may think that, to the ones you have sent the mails would be thankful for the newsletter but it could be the opposite also.

This can also violate the CAN-SPAM Act. 

You can start with an email drip campaign and personal email to give your subscribers a chance to opt-in to your newsletter.

2. You might have low-engagement rates

Leading webmail providers have already said that they monitor mail opening rates and how many emails are getting deleted without reading as a crucial factor in spam filtering decisions. Your emails can get flagged as spam if you have lower-open rates.

The average mail reading rate in the industry is about 25 % on average. And to avoid lower-open rates, you have to make sure that you send the emails at the right time, have an appropriate subject line and have a fresh list. Adapt good mail writing to increase your mail-open rates

3. Your IP address was used for spam

Even though you never send spam content, there is a chance that someone else have used your IP address for spam and that’s the reason your emails are getting declined.

Now, suppose that you take the help of an email marketing service to run and promote your campaigns and in this case, your mail is delivered using their servers. So, if any other individual customer sends any spams, it could impact your mail delivery too.

However more or less every email marketing service is careful while marketing on your behalf and sending mails and run promotions. They usually run by strict protocols to prevent this type of issue.

4. Are you using Spam-trigger words?

You must know that there are several words that can trigger some spam filters. Email providers use a built-in tool that checks spam trigger words before sending the mail. You can get a free tool that will do your job and even score you on email deliverability.

Few of Spam trigger words are given in the list below: 
  • Click Here
  • Amazing
  • Congratulations
  • Dear Friend
  • Cancel at any time
  • Great Offer
  • Free or toll-free
  • Increase your sales
  • Guarantee
  • Special promotion
  • Winner

And especially “This is not spam

These are the words that can trigger your spam filters while sending emails to your subscribers. Try avoiding these few words to have better responses.

How to avoid Emails from landing up in Spam?

Now when you knwo all the factors that are flagging your mail and putting it in spam box instead of inbox, the next thing you should learn is to prevent your mails form going to spam box.

 

  • Ask your customers to whitelist your emails

 

When you are planning to send welcome emails to your customers, ask them politely to whitelist your emails. Having more people on your email whitelists while definitely grow up your reputation and inbox delivery rates.

 

  • Teach your subscribers to keep your emails organized in a specific folder

 

In the era of digital marketing, it is obvious that apart form you there are other companies that have been sending mail to the customers you have. So, to avoid confusion you must tell your customers to organize your mail and keep it in a specific folder.

How to keep your emails organized:

  • Make a special folder to archive emails after you have gone through them.
  • Make sure that your emails don’t automatically land up into the special folders or there is a chance to miss something.
  • Once you have read an email, just make sure you manually move it to the special folder.

Coming to the last point.

 

  • Request your Gmail users to Drag Emails from other tabs to Primary Inbox

 

Make sure that your mail doesn’t land up in promotions or Social tabs. Even if your email doesn’t reach the spam folders, it will be confusing for your users to find your mails. Provide them with information on how to drag emails directly from other tabs to the Primary tab.

Your turn to takeover

I really hope, discussing Why are emails going to spam has enlightened you on the insight of why is this happening and what are the steps to prevent and stop it.

Once you know it all, you can yourself take care of this situation and prevent your mails from getting flagged to spam filters.