How can I effectively avoid spam filters when sending emails?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email on Acid recommends regularly checking if your IP address is on any blacklists and taking steps to get removed if necessary, as being blacklisted can significantly impact your email deliverability.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that avoiding the use of spam trigger words (e.g., 'free,' 'guarantee,' 'urgent') in your subject lines and email body can help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce explains that avoiding the use of URL shorteners in your email content can help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam, as spammers often use them to mask malicious links.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests testing your emails with different email clients and spam filters before sending them to your entire list to identify and fix any potential issues.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that regularly cleaning your email list by removing inactive subscribers and those who have unsubscribed helps maintain a high engagement rate and improves your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor recommends using a double opt-in process to ensure that subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails, which helps reduce spam complaints and improve your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares that authenticating your email using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial for improving deliverability and avoiding spam filters.
Email marketer from SendGrid explains that gradually increasing your sending volume and maintaining a consistent schedule helps build a positive sender reputation and avoid triggering spam filters.
Email marketer from Omnisend shares that sending email previews to different email addresses and testing different subjects allows you to see how the message looks and what headers or other data is provided by the receiving servers.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that ensuring your emails are mobile-friendly and responsive improves the user experience and can positively impact your deliverability rates.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that Litmus has a spam checker to identify and fix issues causing emails to be blocked by email clients.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that cleaning your email list by removing invalid and inactive email addresses is an important step toward deliverability, therefore avoiding spam filters. Also important is to target active users and avoid sending to those who haven't engaged with your content.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that maintaining a good sender reputation by sending relevant content to engaged subscribers is vital for avoiding spam filters. They also recommend monitoring your IP address and domain reputation to identify and address any issues.
Expert from Email Geeks shares a method to avoid spam filters: create a highly stylized version of a link in your signature file.
Expert from Email Geeks responds, there are delivery consultants that recommend stylized links in signature files to cold emailers.
Expert from Word to the Wise recommends implementing feedback loops to monitor spam complaints and identify potential issues with your sending practices. Addressing these issues promptly can help improve your sender reputation and avoid spam filters.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that sending relevant and personalized content to your subscribers can significantly improve engagement and reduce the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam. It's important to tailor your messaging to your audience's interests and needs.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft shares that using a dedicated IP address, monitoring bounce rates, and promptly removing invalid email addresses from your list are essential practices for avoiding spam filters.
Documentation from RFC explains that setting up a reverse DNS (PTR) record for your sending IP address can help verify your identity and improve your email deliverability.
Documentation from SparkPost shares that segmenting your email list based on subscriber engagement and demographics allows you to send more targeted and relevant emails, which can improve deliverability and reduce spam complaints.
Documentation from AWS explains that using SPF and DKIM records help to authenticate your emails and verify that you are the actual sender, which improves trust with email providers.
Documentation from Google Support explains that Gmail's spam filters consider factors like sender reputation, email content, and user feedback to determine if an email is spam.