Struggling with emails going straight to spam? You’re not alone. Even the best-crafted messages can land in the dreaded junk folder if you don’t follow the right deliverability practices. Let’s fix that — so your emails reach inboxes where they belong.
Table of Contents
- Why Email Deliverability Matters
- The Anatomy of a Spam Filter
- Best Practices to Improve Email Deliverability
- Technical Tips to Optimize Your Sending Reputation
- Testing and Monitoring Your Emails
- Conclusion: It’s All About Trust
1. Why Email Deliverability Matters
Think of email deliverability as the digital version of a handshake. If your messages don’t even reach the inbox, it’s like showing up at someone’s door only to be turned away by a security guard.
When you’re running a business or sending newsletters, poor deliverability isn’t just annoying — it’s expensive. You lose leads, customers, and credibility. The good news? A few smart habits can significantly improve your chances of avoiding the spam folder.
2. The Anatomy of a Spam Filter
Before we dive into solutions, let’s quickly understand the enemy.
Spam filters use a mix of rules, AI, and sender history to decide where your email goes. They evaluate:
- Sender reputation
- Email authentication
- Content structure
- Engagement rates (like open and click-through rates)
- Blacklists or complaint history
If you’ve been sending bulk emails without paying attention to these signals, you might already be in trouble.
3. Best Practices to Improve Email Deliverability
3.1 Authenticate Your Domain: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
Let’s start with the basics.
If you haven’t set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, your emails scream “I might be a scam.” These protocols verify that you are who you say you are — which ISPs (like Gmail and Outlook) absolutely require for trust.
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Specifies which servers can send mail on your domain’s behalf.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a digital signature to your emails.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): Tells email servers how to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM.
If you’re unsure where to begin, check out our detailed guide on DMARC, DKIM, and SPF to get started.
3.2 Avoid Spam Trigger Words
Spam filters are hypersensitive to language. If your subject lines scream “Free money!!!” or “You’ve been selected!!!” — prepare to be flagged.
Some words to avoid:
- “Urgent”
- “Congratulations”
- “Winner”
- “Risk-free”
- “Click here now”
Instead, write like a person, not a billboard.
Bad: “HURRY! You’ve won a free iPhone!”
Better: “A quick heads-up about your gift.”
3.3 Use a Reputable Email Service Provider (ESP)
This is your wingman in the inbox world. Services like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Brevo invest heavily in their sender reputation. If you’re sending bulk emails via your own server without proper setup, you’re more likely to be flagged.
Look for ESPs that:
- Automatically manage bounce and complaint rates
- Help with authentication
- Offer deliverability tools
3.4 Clean Your Email List Regularly
Here’s a truth many marketers ignore: not everyone wants your emails. And stale email lists hurt you more than they help.
Remove:
- Hard bounces (invalid addresses)
- Inactive subscribers
- Role-based emails like support@ or info@
You can use tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce for this.
3.5 Craft Human-Friendly Email Content
Design matters. An email with a single image and no text? Spammy. An email that looks like it came from a robot? Definitely spammy.
Best practices:
- Balance text and images
- Avoid all caps and excessive exclamation marks
- Use readable fonts and sizes
- Add a plain-text version of your email
Your content should sound like a message you’d send a friend — not a used-car ad.
3.6 Get Permission Before You Send
You must have explicit consent from your recipients. That means no purchased lists, no scraped emails, and no guessing.
Implement a double opt-in process where possible. It might reduce initial sign-ups, but it’ll skyrocket trust and engagement.
3.7 Make Unsubscribing Easy
If users can’t find your unsubscribe link, they’ll hit the “Report Spam” button — and that’s way worse.
A visible, working unsubscribe option:
- Lowers complaint rates
- Keeps your list healthy
- Shows ISPs that you respect user preferences
4. Technical Tips to Optimize Your Sending Reputation
Want to go deeper? Here are a few advanced tricks:
- Warm up your email domain before sending at scale
- Keep consistent sending volumes
- Monitor your sender score via tools like Talos or Postmark
- Avoid sending from a shared IP unless it’s managed by a top-tier ESP
- Use Custom Tracking Domains to improve deliverability metrics
If you’re seeing low open rates, check if your domain is blacklisted using sites like MXToolbox.
5. Testing and Monitoring Your Emails
You can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Before launching a major campaign:
- Use Inbox placement testers like Mail Tester or GlockApps
- A/B test your subject lines and content
- Review your open, click, and bounce rates
Over time, patterns will emerge — and that’s where optimization magic happens.
6. Conclusion: It’s All About Trust
Need help getting your email system up to best practices? Let’s talk.
At its core, avoiding the spam folder is about building and keeping trust — with email providers and your audience. When your content is genuine, your list is clean, and your setup is airtight, email marketing becomes powerful again.
So ask yourself: Would you open this email? If the answer is yes, you’re already ahead of the game.
