How can I prevent emails from a new domain with an unengaged list from going to Gmail spam folders?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Stack Overflow recommends slowly increasing the volume of emails sent from a new domain. The marketer also advises monitoring bounce rates and spam complaints, adjusting sending practices based on feedback to avoid triggering spam filters.
Email marketer from Sendinblue advises focusing on building a strong sender reputation. Sendinblue highlights several factors: consistent sending volume, low spam complaints, and high engagement rates. They recommend segmenting your list and sending targeted emails to increase engagement and avoid spam filters.
Email marketer from Litmus emphasizes the importance of email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for improving deliverability. Litmus says proper authentication verifies your identity and helps prevent email spoofing, which can negatively impact your sender reputation and cause emails to land in the spam folder.
Email marketer from Reddit shares to start by sending emails to a small, highly engaged segment of your list to build a positive reputation. They advise monitoring deliverability and engagement metrics closely and gradually increasing the sending volume as your reputation improves.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog shares the importance of regularly cleaning your email list to remove unengaged subscribers. He explains that sending to unengaged subscribers can damage your sender reputation and lead to emails landing in the spam folder. He advises using segmentation to identify and target engaged subscribers.
Email marketer from Gmass highlights the importance of using a dedicated IP address for sending emails from a new domain. This will help establish a positive sender reputation and prevent your emails from being associated with the negative reputation of shared IP addresses.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the combination of a new domain, unengaged list, and content similar to messages identified as spam are likely sending negative signals to Gmail's spam classification algorithm. He advises to back way off to send positive signals to Gmail that your mail is trusted.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor emphasizes the importance of segmenting your email list based on engagement and demographics. They recommend creating targeted campaigns for different segments to increase engagement and improve deliverability.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum recommends gradually increasing sending volume from a new IP address over several weeks, starting with your most engaged subscribers. They also advise monitoring bounce rates and spam complaints closely and adjusting sending practices accordingly.
Email marketer from Hubspot advises to clean your email list regularly by removing inactive or unengaged subscribers. This helps maintain a healthy sender reputation, improves deliverability, and ensures your emails reach the subscribers who are most likely to engage with your content.
Email marketer from Email on Acid suggests improving email engagement by sending relevant and personalized content. They share that sending targeted emails based on subscriber interests and behaviors increases the likelihood of engagement and reduces the chances of being marked as spam.
Email marketer from DigitalMarketer explains how to re-engage unengaged subscribers through a re-engagement campaign. They advise sending a series of emails offering incentives to re-engage, such as discounts or exclusive content, while clearly communicating the option to unsubscribe. If subscribers don't respond, remove them from your list.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that if it's the first send from a new domain, it might be necessary to warm up that IP/domain pair.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that sending to recipients who haven’t been contacted before from a brand new domain is the underlying problem, as this looks like spam to Google. She suggests starting by sending to people who know you and expect your mail, as they’re more likely to get it in their inbox. If they don’t, they’re more likely to pull it out of spam, warming up your domain/IP. Addresses that recently signed up to the list should be prioritised.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that building a sending reputation involves sending consistently, authenticating your email, and engaging with your subscribers to demonstrate that you are a legitimate sender. She emphasises the importance of deliverability monitoring and maintaining a low complaint rate.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that Postmaster tools will tell you the percentage of complaints, and give you an idea of what your domain and IP reputation is with them directly, and is worth signing up for.
Expert from Email Geeks recommends that the core of the messaging should be a reminder of how the recipient signed up. At the very least you should re-introduce yourself and your company and remind them when they signed up. E.g. “hey, remember in September 2018, when you visited <URL>? you gave us an email address and …”.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that warming up an IP address is a crucial step when starting with a new domain and unengaged list. She suggests gradually increasing the volume of emails sent over time, starting with small sends to engaged users, to build a positive reputation with mailbox providers.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft explains the use of Outlook.com's postmaster tools to monitor your sender reputation and identify potential deliverability issues. They share that these tools provide insights into spam complaint rates, authentication status, and other factors that can impact email delivery.
Documentation from Gmail Help explains that senders should authenticate their email using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. They also recommend keeping spam rates low (below 0.10%) and avoiding sending unwanted mail. For unengaged users, they suggest removing them from the mailing list or re-engaging them.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records is crucial for authenticating your email and improving deliverability. They mention that these records help mailbox providers verify the sender's identity and reduce the risk of email spoofing and phishing attacks.
Documentation from Mailchimp explains the process of warming up an IP address. Mailchimp shares that starting with small sends to engaged users and gradually increasing the volume over time is key. This helps build a positive sender reputation and prevents emails from being flagged as spam.