Can an email template trigger spam filters and cause deliverability issues?
Summary
What email marketers say6Marketer opinions
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that a poorly optimized email template can trigger spam filters due to factors like excessive use of spam trigger words, broken HTML, or a high image-to-text ratio. Keeping templates clean and balanced is crucial.
Email marketer from MailerLite responds that a poorly coded or designed email template can hurt deliverability. Using clean HTML, optimized images, and avoiding spam trigger words are essential for inbox placement.
Email marketer from StackOverflow shares that using too many images and not enough text in your template will almost certainly cause it to go to the spam folder. Use Alt tags and provide context in text.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that email templates with bloated or messy HTML code are often flagged as spam. Keeping the code clean, using inline CSS, and optimizing images can help improve deliverability.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that the content, design and HTML mark-up of your email can lead to issues with deliverability. Following best practice can help with this.
Email marketer from EmailOctopus shares that an email template’s design, code, and content significantly influence whether it lands in the inbox or spam folder. A clean, well-coded template is crucial.
What the experts say9Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that high open rates indicate there might not be a catastrophic deliverability issue despite what GlockApps suggests, assuming the opens mean the email reached the inbox.
Expert from Email Geeks questions the accuracy and maintenance of probe accounts used by GlockApps and similar inbox testing tools.
Expert from Email Geeks agrees with Laura that GlockApps doesn't have any special sauce and questions the probe accounts they use.
Expert from SpamResource explains that variations in how an email template renders across different email clients can inadvertently trigger spam filters. This is because the altered rendering might introduce code or formatting that resembles spam.
Expert from Email Geeks concludes that there may not actually be a spam issue present.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that a poorly designed email can damage your sender reputation, and cause deliverability issues. Use tools to check the basic elements of the template.
Expert from Email Geeks states that content can indeed trigger spam filters, and the email template significantly influences the distinctive features of the content.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that lower open rates are typical for emails landing in the promotions tab compared to the inbox. A 28% open rate might be normal for the promotions tab.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that lower email open rates during Christmas/New Year might be because people are busy with family and not checking their email.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace explains that Google's spam filters evaluate many aspects of an email, including content, formatting, and sender reputation. Using a poorly coded template, or one that contains elements commonly found in spam emails, can negatively affect deliverability.
Documentation from Mailjet explains that email content, including the template structure and design, significantly impacts deliverability. Spam filters analyze content for suspicious elements, and a poorly designed template with excessive use of images or improper HTML can increase the likelihood of being flagged as spam.
Documentation from SendPulse shares that certain keywords commonly associated with spam can trigger filters. Also, a template with a high image-to-text ratio, or broken HTML code, can increase the chances of the email being marked as spam.