I know that frustrated feeling…
You’ve poured your heart and soul into an email. It could be an important business proposal, a valuable newsletter, or even just a simple reply. You hit ‘Send,’ and then you find out your email went straight into the dreaded spam folder.
It’s the worst. It feels personal, doesn’t it? I’ve been there, staring at my sent box and asking, “Why are my emails going to spam?“
The good news is that most issues causing your emails to go to spam are totally fixable. I’m going to walk you through the top reasons this happens and, more importantly, provide you with a quick fix for emails going to spam right now.
Let’s dive in and resolve the issues with your email not reaching the inbox.
First, how do you know your emails are landing in spam?
Signs Your Campaigns Are Flagged and How to Confirm It
How do you know if your beautifully written email campaign is in the spam folder? You can’t just feel it; you need data to confirm that your emails are going to spam. If you suspect something is wrong, here are the three biggest indicators I always check first:
1. The open rate
This is the clearest, most painful sign. I’ve seen it happen.
- The Sign: You suddenly see your open rate drop from a healthy 20–30% down to 5% or even less, seemingly overnight, and you know you didn’t change your subject line.
- What It Means: This usually means a major ISP (like Gmail or Microsoft Outlook) has started sending the bulk of your messages directly to the spam folder before the recipient even sees them. Your email engagement rate is tanking because the emails aren’t making it to the inbox.
2. Your ESP reports high complaint rates
Your Email Service Provider (ESP) is your best friend when it comes to diagnostics. They track this data for you.
- The Sign: Your ESP is flagging your account because your spam complaint rate is consistently above the acceptable threshold, usually 1 complaint per 1,000 emails sent.
- How to Confirm: Log into your ESP dashboard and look for “Abuse Reports” or “Spam Complaints.” If this number is high, you need to seriously look at your list quality and your content. People who complain are actively telling the ISP that your email is unwanted.
3. Use a Spam Checker Tool
You can often catch technical flaws before the ISP does. This is how you check your email for spam score.
- The Sign: You aren’t sure if your new template or new sending address is configured correctly.
- How to Confirm: Before sending an email to your main list, use a third-party email deliverability tool. These tools analyse your email headers, content, and authentication (SPF, DKIM) and give you a numerical “spam score”. If you score poorly, it’s a strong indication that you have issues to fix. This is part of the troubleshooting email deliverability process every expert uses.
Once you spot these signs, you know you need to stop emails from going to spam fast, and that’s when you apply the technical and content fixes we will discuss further.
What Causes Emails to Land in the Spam Folder?
It’s not usually just one thing. Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo use highly sophisticated spam filters that look at dozens of factors. You need to pass all their tests.
These are some of the causes that often trip up even the most innocent-looking emails:
1. Technical Trust Issues (Your “Digital ID”)
This is the big one, and it’s surprisingly easy to overlook. Spam filters are constantly checking if you are who you say you are. If you don’t have the right technical records set up, your email instantly looks suspicious.
- The Problem: Your domain is missing or has incorrect email authentication records.
- The Fix: You must set up an SPF record (Sender Policy Framework), a DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and a DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). These records live on your domain’s backend and tell the world, “Yes, this email is authorised to come from me.”
2. Your Email List is a Bit Dirty
You might think a huge list is a good thing, but not if it’s full of invalid email addresses. Your email list hygiene directly impacts your deliverability.
- The Problem: Sending emails to people who never open them, or worse, to spam trap addresses (emails deliberately set up by ISPs to catch spammers).
- The Fix: Clean your email list regularly. If someone hasn’t opened an email from you in six months, it’s safer to stop sending to them. I recommend a sunset unengaged subscribers policy. Quality over quantity, always.
3. Too Many Complaints and Low Engagement
Spam filters track how people react to your emails. This is all about email engagement rate and reputation.
- The Problem: Users are marking your emails as spam, or they just aren’t opening them.
- The Fix: Make sure you use double opt-in when people sign up. This confirms they really want your email. Also, ensure your content is valuable enough that people want to open it. High-low open rates and deliverability issues are a red flag for ISPs.
Conclusion
Email marketing still works, but it only works when your emails land in the inbox.
You don’t need complicated tricks. Most times it is:
- authentication
- reputation
- clean sending habits
Fix those three, and things improve.
So if you want to stop your campaigns from going to spam, take action today. You already know the next steps.
If you want a simple platform designed for deliverability, try Go-Mailer. It is built to help you send campaigns that land where they should: in the inbox.
Click here to learn more and start sending smarter campaigns: https://go-mailer.com
