If you’re wondering why your email open rates have been low recently, there’s a good probability that your messages aren’t reaching the inboxes of your subscribers. For those using Gmail, the most common reason for this is that these emails are being sent directly to the Gmail spam folder.
But why would your emails land in the Gmail the spam folder even when you’re not spamming your recipients or doing anything else unethical?
In truth, spam filters and anti-spam organizations simply base their findings on you as a sender according to how well you follow email marketing rules. Any behaviors that these organizations flag as spam-like is considered spam, whether you intended it to be this way or not.
And when your emails start landing in the spam folder, your sender reputation goes down and your email deliverability suffers.
Why Are My Emails Going to the Gmail Spam Folder?
There are many factors that contribute to your emails being sent directly to the spam folder. Whenever an email is redirected as spam, there’s a good chance that you’re breaking more than one rule in the world of email marketing.
Here are several reasons that would result in your messages being sent to the spam folder:
Reason #1: Your Email Has Multiple Spelling and Grammar Mistakes
While some scammers have a poor understanding of written English, most intentionally write their emails poorly. It acts as a filter for them, as reasonably suspicious people would read the email and move on, while likely scam victims are likely to respond to it regardless.
This tactic is why spam filters send all poorly written content directly to the spam folder. However, this unfortunately affects those who write emails poorly on accident. As such, you should always avoid spelling and grammar mistakes if you want to prevent your emails from being sent straight to the spam folder.
Reason #2: Sending from an Email Service Provider With a Bad Reputation
Choosing a reputable email marketing service is important for any marketer looking to promote their brand through email. This is because these services will share the same reputation with their users. If a user sends out spam or spam-like content, everyone who uses the service will be affected.
That’s why you should sign up with an email provider that is known for enforcing the best email practices while having a solid anti-spam policy in place.
Reason #3: Receiving Spam Complaints from Email Recipients
Using trigger words can trigger spam filters to scrutinize your emails and potentially send them to the Gmail spam folder. But even if you’ve avoided using these terms, it still doesn’t guarantee that all of your messages are safe from the spam folder.
Ensuring your email content isn’t mistaken as spam is crucial since receiving spam complaints from email recipients can significantly damage your sender reputation.
One of the best ways you can help prevent your content from being misinterpreted as spam is by showcasing your brand in your messages. This will allow people to be constantly reminded about what your brand is about, and consequently, minimize the chances of clicking the “report spam” button.
Reason #4: You Are Using Generic Short Links in Your Emails
The use of generic short links is prevalent nowadays and countless people incorporate them in various ways. But in the world of email marketing, usage of these generic short links is often associated with malicious and spam-like content that can catch the attention of spam filters.
This is because spam filters know that spammers use this type of link to deceive people and cause them to click on their content. These links are particularly tricky especially since they don’t readily indicate where it leads to.
The problem here is that, once again, genuine email marketers who simply want to make their links more organized can be flagged by these filters. Using generic short links can have emails land in the spam folder and affect your overall deliverability.
The solution to this issue is to use branded links that showcase your domain and your brand. Since no other user will be able to create links that feature your own domain, spam filters will let these slide as they are often not associated with potentially harmful content.
What To Do If My Emails Are Landing in the Gmail Spam Folder?
Knowing that your emails are being sent directly to the Gmail spam folder can be frustrating especially since it directly affects your deliverability and sender reputation. Fortunately, there are methods you can apply right away to remedy this problem.
Here are several tips on what you can do if you start noticing that your messages are landing in the junk mail folder.
Get Authenticated
Email service providers base their decision on whether or not they will allow emails to their users through analyzing email authentication protocols. This lets the providers prevent messages coming from spammers and hackers from reaching the inboxes of their users.
Messages that fail proper authentication protocols have a high likelihood of being labeled as risky and therefore be sent to the spam folder. That’s why as an email marketer, you need to spend time ensuring your emails incorporate the right authentication.
There are three main authentication methods used today: Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC).
Test Your Campaigns to Spot Issues
Email testing is another vital practice that email marketers need to add to their arsenal. Before sending emails, testing your campaigns can help you identify problems that would otherwise go unnoticed until it’s too late.
Testing your messages to see how they appear can reveal any potential issues with the design, broken links, spelling and grammar errors, improper images being displayed, and incorrect fonts use.
Email testing plays a crucial part in email marketing strategies and experts highly recommend it. You should invest time in taking this important step and test your messages regularly to ensure excellent subscriber experiences.
Check Gmail’s Bulk Mail Guidelines
Perhaps the best way to avoid the Gmail spam folder is to check and follow Google’s email guidelines. These instructions help in increasing your email deliverability by ensuring that the content of your messages is relevant to your target audience.
Here are some examples of what you can find in Gmail’s bulk mail guidelines:
- You should set up valid reverse DNS records, send all messages using the same IP address, and avoid mixing different content in similar emails to avoid Gmail sending your messages to spam.
- Make sure that the people whom you are sending messages to actually want to receive them in the first place. This increases the likelihood of proper engagement while reducing the chances of receiving spam complaints.
- Monitor how other senders in your network could be sending spam messages by maintaining up-to-date details on their WHOIS records and activity.
- Format your emails to have the highest probability of landing in inboxes. Avoid using HTML and CSS to hide content as this increases the probability of flagging emails as spam.
- Send emails by bulk gradually especially when using a new Gmail account. Also, ensure that you send emails at a consistent rate to minimize the chances of appearing suspicious.
- Follow the best IP practices such as verifying the sending server’s PTR record, monitoring your sending volume, and keeping track of your shared IP address reputation.
Make Sure Your Email’s Content Is Free of Spam Triggers
There are certain words email marketers can use that will cause them to trigger spam filters. These trigger words can draw the gaze of a particular spam filter to your messages, potentially causing them to be marked as spam.
Some of the most common words that you would want to make sure are not included in your emails are the following:
- Order now
- Risk-free
- Increase sales
- Congratulations
- Dear friend
- Click here
- This isn’t spam
Most marketers use tools that can help test their email content and see how probable they are in triggering spam filters. This is especially important when you plan to send out messages in bulk with your latest email campaign.
Ask Your Contacts to Whitelist You
Incorporating a brief message in your email content about whitelisting your email address isn’t something new but continues to stay relevant throughout the years. This is because whitelisting is a signal to email service providers, spam filters, and anti-spam organizations that your recipients value you as an email sender.
This is particularly crucial for Gmail as the mailbox provider assesses your subscribers’ actions as part of their process. When your subscribers add you to their whitelist, it sends a message to the provider letting them know that your email campaigns are valuable to their users and won’t send it to the spam folder.
Furthermore, asking your senders to add you to their “Safe Senders List” not only increases your probability of landing in their inboxes but also lets your images show up by default.
Having a Solid Sender Reputation From the Start
As you can see, having a good sender reputation is important to land in inboxes. But just like any reputation, email reputation has to be developed over time while requiring maintenance.
To help you build a good sending reputation, you should:
- Send relevant content to your audience. Emails that recipients feel are irrelevant to their needs have a good chance of being marked as spam, which reduces your reputation.
- Increase your email opens and clicks. Emails that drive users to act and engage with your content will show that people are interested in what you have to offer.
- Maintain a clean and engaged mailing list. Make sure that your list doesn’t contain fake email addresses, inactive users, or unknown contacts.
- Minimize or eliminate hard bounces completely. One of the best ways you can do this is to make sure that your approach to growing your mailing list is through organic means. Avoid buying or renting email lists as these are not only illegal, but they could also contain spam traps that can harm your reputation.
- Monitor and respond to emails from your subscribers. Internet service providers and mailbox providers favor senders who are actively replying to messages from their mailing list. That’s why you should keep track of messages and respond accordingly. You should also make sure you’re using an email address capable of receiving these replies.
The Takeaway
Landing in the Gmail spam folder is something no serious email marketer wants to happen to their emails. That’s why it’s important to follow the best practices in sending emails to recipients who use the platform to reduce the likelihood of being seen as a spammer.
Emails that land in the spam folder have a direct impact on your email deliverability and sending reputation. By following the tips provided in this post, you should have a better understanding of how you can avoid being marked as spam in Gmail.
Our tools can help you monitor you campaigns and avoid the spam folder for an improved email deliverability and inbox placement. Book a demo today!
