Why are my Salesforce Marketing Cloud emails going to spam after switching to a private domain and what can I do to fix it?

Email marketer from DigitalMarketer advises against bombarding subscribers with too many emails. Find the right sending frequency for your audience and avoid sending too many emails in a short period. Excessive sending can lead to subscriber fatigue and increased spam complaints.

Email marketer from EmailGeek Community Forum suggests checking your domain's reputation using Google Postmaster Tools. This provides insights into your spam rate, IP reputation, and authentication status, helping you identify potential issues affecting deliverability.

Email marketer from StackOverflow mentions the importance of setting up feedback loops (FBLs) with major ISPs. FBLs provide you with information about spam complaints, allowing you to identify and remove problematic subscribers from your list.

Marketer from Email Geeks mentions that Inbox Monster works with many SFMC customers to help address and remediate deliverability issues and offered to discuss further. They can see old spam traps and can help with DMARC RUA issues.

Email marketer from Reddit highlights the importance of list hygiene. Regularly remove inactive or unengaged subscribers from your list to improve your sender reputation and engagement rates. Sending to a large number of unengaged recipients can signal to ISPs that you are sending spam.

Email marketer from SendGrid suggests monitoring your sending IPs and domains for inclusion on blocklists (also known as blacklists). Being listed on a blocklist can severely impact your deliverability. Use tools like MultiRBL or MXToolbox to check your status.

Email marketer from Kickbox suggests verifying email addresses before sending. Cleaning your list of invalid or non-existent email addresses is essential for maintaining a good sender reputation. There are many services offering this function to ensure you aren't sending to invalid addresses.

Email marketer from EmailOnAcid suggests reviewing the email content for spam trigger words, such as 'free,' 'guarantee,' or excessive use of exclamation points. Avoid using these words in your subject lines and body copy to minimize the risk of being flagged as spam.

Email marketer from Mailjet recommends using dedicated IPs. Sharing IPs with other senders can impact deliverability, especially if those senders have poor reputations. A dedicated IP allows you to build your own reputation and maintain more control over your deliverability.

Email marketer from Gmass recommends that if you're sending campaigns in bulk or via transactional messages ensure you are fully authenticated (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).

Email marketer from Email Marketing Tips Blog advises monitoring your key engagement metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and complaint rates. A sudden drop in open rates or a spike in complaints can indicate deliverability problems. Investigate the cause of these changes and take corrective action.

Expert from SpamResource emphasizes that switching to a private domain without proper setup and warming can severely damage your sending reputation. This reputation damage will persist even after fixing the initial issues, making it harder to regain inbox placement. Monitoring your reputation through tools like Google Postmaster Tools is crucial.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that list bombing is an attack where a large number of spam and subscription emails flood an email account. While you may not be a perpetrator, such attacks cause aggressive filtering by mail providers which can result in your email being misclassified as spam.

Expert from Email Geeks recommends steps for SFMC clients facing deliverability issues, including reviewing Salesforce stats, testing Yahoo/Google compliance with AboutMyEmail, fixing compliance issues with Sender Authentication Package, inbox testing with tools like Inbox Monster or Glockapps, and potentially hiring a consultant for a deliverability audit.

Expert from SpamResource explains that authentication issues are a key reason why emails go to spam. Ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are correctly set up for your sending domain. Incorrect or missing authentication records can lead ISPs to flag your emails as spam, especially after a domain change.

Expert from Email Geeks initially was suspicious about switching a sending domain without a warmup. Expert from Email Geeks later suggests domain warming might be necessary. While historically domain warming wasn't as crucial as IP warming, the new Yahoo/Google requirements indicate skipping it entirely can cause problems. Chunking up sends across a few days for a few weeks may help recovery.

Expert from Word to the Wise notes that low subscriber engagement (low open rates, click-through rates) is a major factor in deliverability problems. ISPs use engagement as a signal to determine whether your emails are wanted. Focus on improving engagement by sending relevant content to a targeted audience and cleaning your list of unengaged subscribers.

Documentation from Salesforce Help emphasizes the importance of high-quality content and subscriber engagement. Avoid spam trigger words, ensure proper HTML formatting, and maintain a clean and engaged subscriber list. Low engagement rates and frequent spam complaints negatively impact your sending reputation and deliverability.

Documentation from Salesforce Help recommends a gradual IP warming process when introducing a new private domain, even within SFMC. Start with low volumes to engaged subscribers and gradually increase sending volume over several weeks to build a positive sending reputation with ISPs. Sudden large-volume sends from a new domain can trigger spam filters.

Documentation from Litmus highlights the importance of email testing. Before sending any campaign, test your emails across different email clients and devices to ensure they render correctly and avoid triggering spam filters. Tools like Litmus can help you identify potential issues.

Documentation from Salesforce Help explains that proper domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for deliverability. Ensure your private domain is correctly configured within Salesforce Marketing Cloud's Sender Authentication Package (SAP) or Private Domain setup. Incorrect or missing DNS records can cause emails to land in spam folders.