Why do political campaign emails go to spam?

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor answers that political campaigns should focus on permission-based marketing, where subscribers explicitly opt in to receive emails. They emphasize the importance of list hygiene and regularly removing unengaged subscribers to maintain a good sender reputation.

Email marketer from Return Path (now Validity) shares that engaged subscribers who regularly open and click on emails signal to email providers that the sender is trustworthy. Conversely, low engagement rates can lead to deliverability issues and spam placement.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that Google highly weights engagement and algorithms don’t pay much attention to content. He notes many political campaigns use purchased/old lists with low quality, rush to batch and blast sending, which are reasons why their emails may go to spam. He notes he's also worked with competent campaigns who have their act together too.

Email marketer from Litmus explains that political emails may end up in spam folders due to a combination of factors, including aggressive sending practices, low engagement rates, and the use of politically charged language that triggers spam filters.

Email marketer from Reddit shares that a campaign's sender reputation heavily influences whether emails land in spam. If a campaign is new or has a history of low engagement, their emails are more likely to be filtered as spam by email providers like Gmail and Outlook.

Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for improving deliverability. Without authentication, email providers may not be able to verify the sender's identity, leading to emails being filtered as spam.

Email marketer from SocketLabs shares that political emails should avoid excessive use of all caps, exclamation points, and spam trigger words. Using clear and concise language, and providing value to subscribers, can help improve deliverability.

Email marketer from Quora explains that political emails often end up in spam due to aggressive fundraising tactics, frequent emailing, and the use of emotionally charged language that triggers spam filters. Also people mark them as spam due to the volume and content, further hurting deliverability.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that choice of words matters, and how saying 'blast' affects attitude. An old customer said 'we do not blast our customers, we email them'. He quotes Ann Handley saying 'we must have pathological empathy for our audiences'.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that political campaigns need to focus on building a clean and engaged email list. They advise using double opt-in, segmenting audiences, and personalizing content to avoid spam filters and improve deliverability.

Expert from Spamresource.com explains that political emails are often flagged as spam due to a combination of factors, including aggressive solicitation practices, lack of permission, and content that is perceived as irrelevant or unwanted by recipients.

Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes the critical need for explicit permission when sending political emails. They share that sending unsolicited emails, even for political purposes, can damage sender reputation and result in emails being filtered as spam.

Documentation from Microsoft shares that factors such as high complaint rates, low engagement, and sending from newly created or unauthenticated domains can lead to deliverability issues, causing emails to be marked as spam.

Documentation from RFC details that implementing Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records helps verify that emails are sent from authorized servers. This can improve deliverability by preventing spoofing and reducing the likelihood of being marked as spam.

Documentation from Google Support explains that Gmail's spam filters consider various factors, including sender reputation, content quality, and user feedback (spam reports). Senders with poor reputations are more likely to have their emails filtered as spam.

Documentation from DKIM describes that DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) uses cryptographic signatures to verify the authenticity of emails. Implementing DKIM helps ensure that emails are not tampered with during transit, improving deliverability and reducing the risk of being marked as spam.

Documentation from Spamhaus details how spam filters use real-time blocklists (RBLs) to identify and block known spam sources. If a campaign's sending IP or domain is listed on an RBL, their emails are likely to be blocked or sent to spam.