Best Practices To Prevent Your Emails from Ending up in Spam

In this article, we will review some best practices for email deliverability. There are several factors that can affect how mailbox providers (such as Google, Yahoo, etc.) make decisions to either flag your email as spam, or allow them to arrive at inboxes.

Check out the terms and tips below for best practices for your emails:

Sending Internal Mail

If you are sending a message to the same domain that the message is coming from (i.e. sending from john@exampledomain.com to john@exampledomain.com), it may go to spam. That is because a mailbox provider can see that it appears to be receiving a message from itself. This could mean the mailbox provider thinks it is being spoofed, and thus the message will be sent to spam.

Solution: If you must send internal mail to test your messages, you may want to use a free service, like gmail. If you’re sending internal mail outside of testing purpose, the manager of the domain will need to whitelist the IP address of your SMTP provider.

DMARC

Does the domain you use for sending mail have a DMARC policy? (DMARC stands “Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance”. It is an email authentication, policy, and reporting protocol used to improve protection of a domain from fraudulent emails. You can learn more about DMARC here: https://dmarc.org/)

If your domain uses a DMARC policy but you haven’t verified the domain with your SMTP provider, your messages could be marked as spam.

Solution: Check with your SMTP provider for instructions on how to ensure your messages passes DMARC.

Sending From a Public Domain

If you’re sending messages from a free domain such as gmail.com, yahoo.com, or outlook.com, your messages may end up in spam.

Solution: Send email from a domain that you 0wn which matches your branding. E.g. instead of sending from mybusiness@gmail.com, send from firstname@businessdomain.com

Best Practices for Subscriber List Health & List Collection

This is important but we highly recommend making sure you’re all set with the aspects above before spending time here. Here’s a few key factors to check:

Ensure everyone on your list has subscribed to your communications. (Make sure they have given you permission to send email marketing to them.) You can add subscription information to forms on your website, and more, to explicitly ask for permission to send email communication to contacts.
Make sure your contacts have multiple options to opt-out/unsubscribe if they are no longer interested in receiving your emails (check out our Unsubscribe Link tutorial for the how-to.)
Clean/scrub your cold subscribers from your communication lists to improve your deliverability.
- This means removing contacts who are unengaged from your mass communications. Within , consider creating a smart list to tag contacts based on “last activity” and select a time frame such as >90 days or > 3 months, to filter out the cold leads. Choose the timeframe that is right for you!
Secure your forms with reCaptcha or double opt-in.
- The easiest way to do this is to set up a double opt-in system. When a user signs up for your email marketing, you need to send a follow up email to confirm their subscription. This helps ensure contacts are opted in if they actually want to be opted in to receive your communications.
- This can be done in using a trigger or a workflow. When a subscription form is filled out, a confirmation of subscription email is sent. When the link in the email is clicked, then the contact will be added to the marketing list.

Best Practices for Words to Consider Before Using

Below are some words and phrases that spam filters often view as red flags. Context will also assist, if you utilize only one or two of the words or phrases below, have a low bounce rate, and take other actions to ensure your emails comply with non-spam policies, you’ll be all set.

Words that make promises too good to be true:

#1
100% more
100% free
100% satisfied
Additional income
Be your own boss
Best price
Big bucks
Billion
Cash bonus
Cents on the dollar
Consolidate debt
Double your cash
Double your income
Earn extra cash
Earn money
Eliminate bad credit
Extra cash
Extra income
Expect to earn
Fast cash
Financial freedom
Free access
Free consultation
Free gift
Free hosting
Free info
Free investment
Free membership
Free money
Free preview
Free quote
Free trial
Full refund
Get out of debt
Get paid
Giveaway
Guaranteed
Increase sales
Increase traffic
Incredible deal
Lower rates
Lowest price
Make money
Million dollars
Miracle
Money back
Once in a lifetime
One time
Pennies a day
Potential earnings
Prize
Promise
Pure profit
Risk-free
Satisfaction guaranteed
Save big money
Save up to
Special promotion

Words that may pressure or create urgency for your leads:

Act now
Apply now
Become a member
Call now
Click below
Click here
Get it now
Do it today
Don’t delete
Exclusive deal
Get started now
Important information regarding
Information you requested
Instant
Limited time
New customers only
Order now
Please read
See for yourself
Sign up free
Take action
This won’t last
Urgent
What are you waiting for?
While supplies last
Will not believe your eyes
Winner
Winning
You are a winner
You have been selected

Words that may seem shady or lead to unethical behavior:

Bulk email
Buy direct
Cancel at any time
Check or money order
Congratulations
Confidentiality
Cures
Dear friend
Direct email
Direct marketing
Hidden charges
Human growth hormone
Internet marketing
Lose weight
Mass email
Meet singles
Multi-level marketing
No catch
No cost
No credit check
No fees
No gimmick
No hidden costs
No hidden fees
No interest
No investment
No obligation
No purchase necessary
No questions asked
No strings attached
Not junk
Not spam
Obligation
Passwords
Requires initial investment
Social security number
This isn’t a scam
This isn’t junk
This isn’t spam
Undisclosed
Unsecured credit
Unsecured debt
Unsolicited
Valium
Viagra
Vicodin
We hate spam
Weight loss
Xanax

Words that are often seen as jargon or legalese:

Accept credit cards
Ad
All new
As seen on
Bargain
Beneficiary
Billing
Bonus
Cards accepted
Cash
Certified
Cheap
Claims
Clearance
Compare rates
Credit card offers
Deal
Debt
Discount
Fantastic
In accordance with laws
Income
Investment
Join millions
Lifetime
Loans
Luxury
Marketing solution
Message contains
Mortgage rates
Name brand
Offer
Online marketing
Opt in
Pre-approved
Quote
Rates
Refinance
Removal
Reserves the right
Score
Search engine
Sent in compliance
Subject to…
Terms and conditions
Trial
Unlimited
Warranty
Web traffic
Work from home

Check out our “Email Deliverability 101” article for more tips and best practices on email deliverability.

Keyword Lists retrieved from: https://www.activecampaign.com...