This article will explain why spam emails are being sent to your mailbox instead of your inbox. It will also show you how to improve your inbox placement.

Let’s start with email spam basics. It is also known as junk mail and is spam that is sent repeatedly.

ISPs monitor a variety of email addresses to see their open rates and inbox placements to provide spam-flagging services.

The following email statistics will help you understand how important email marketing is. 

In 2020 3.9 Billion people used email to communicate.

• Return Path just conducted a study showing that 83% of inbox placements for 2020 are average. This includes emails sent out to companies.

• 86% of Business professionals prefer email to communicate with clients.

• Around 49% of companies use some form of email automation.

• The United States would see its email marketing budget increase from 2.07 billion dollars in 2014, to 3.0 billion in 2020.

Email marketing can be a great way for customers and businesses to grow.

There are still many people who have issues with email marketing. Some complain that they are being treated like spam. This article will explain why.

I hope you find it useful. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

Enjoy your time!

A journey through an email;

Emails are sent over the Internet to their destination.

Emails are often deemed doubtful or untrustworthy based on certain features.

Many of these emails are blocked by the gateway. Users consider emails that pass through the gateway to be highly valuable and contain relevant content.

Let’s talk about why your emails end up in spam rather than in your inbox.

1. Problems with your email spam filter

Mailbox providers can use both outbound and inbound emails to prevent spam. Email senders, however, are more concerned about inbound filters.

Spam filters employ algorithms and metrics to filter emails. After filtering, a numerical score is calculated that indicates how likely it is that the message has been spammed.

Gateway Filters

Large businesses and organizations use Gateway email filters like Barracuda and Mimecast to determine whether an email should continue.

Hosted Filters

Companies who have created their spam detection system based on content or sender reputation use hosted filters like Cloudmark.

Desktop filters

Desktop Filters are created by the user and can be difficult to find. 

2. Your Sender Score is Low

The sender scoring algorithm ranks outgoing mail servers’ IP addresses. This is related to the reputation of the sending IP and the domain.

Some metrics such as spam reports and unsubscribes determine the sender scoring.

This indicates the sender’s reputation, from 0 to 100. If your sender score is lower than 90, you may be rejected by your ISP and your email will not reach your inbox. 

3. A Reputable IP address is not required

An address in your domain’s IP system is used to send emails on behalf of your domain. Email marketers have the option to use dedicated or shared IP addresses.

This can be assigned to a specific sender or used to send multiple emails by multiple recipients.

Maybe you have just received a new IP address, but you didn’t heat it properly. It is important to establish reliability before you send too many emails.

It’s important to establish a reputation for your IP. Mailbox providers say that they filter out spam if there is a spike in volume.

Use the Sender Scoring Tool to check how your IP reputation is displayed online.

Mail-Tester can be used to verify if your email address is not spammy to other email servers. (Never lower than 5/10 ).

If another company uses your IP address to send spam, your emails will be flagged as spam.

A new or reputable IP address may increase your email’s deliverability.

Sending emails from multiple IP addresses is also a bad idea. 

4. Your Domain Authentication Matters

Authentication allows the recipient to verify the identity and sender. 

Domain authentication records are simply a record that shows the state of the communication between your computer and the target computer.

You can check your authentication records with the GlockAppsspam tool.

There are three primary methods for authentication:

1. The Sender Policy Framework verifies that the message was sent from an IP address authorized for sending messages to the specified domain.

2. DKIM: This authenticates email using public-key encryption. A signature that is difficult to forge proves that the message was sent from the specified domain.

3. DMARC: This ensures that all email messages are authenticated according to established DKIM/SPF standards. It also blocks fraudulent activity from legitimate domains.

5. Your Domain Reputation is Important

Listen carefully to your audience. Subscribers who are unable or unwilling to unsubscribe may consider your email spam.

Domain reputation is critical in this instance.

Mailbox providers use domain reputations to filter emails.

Its reliability is dependent on:

• Placement rate for inbox
• Spam placement rate
• Rate of complaint
• Rate “This isn’t spam” 
• Hard bounce rate

What Is Hard Bounce

(To determine the rate for your domain, visit Mailmonitor.

The worst variable rates include high spam complaint rates. This happens because spammers often receive unsolicited emails. If the issue is not resolved, this can result in the blocking or rejection of emails.

Other factors can also affect domain reputation

• The year that the domain was registered. Newly registered domains may be suspicious.

• It was classified online (e.g. industry, education, finance, gambling span>

To check your domain reputation, you can use the Talos tool from Cisco.

6. You Didn’t Give Your Customer Permission

Ask your customers for permission before you ask. Customers won’t be interested if you offer special discounts or products unless they know you.

Sending random emails is illegal and ineffective Many business owners and marketers make the error of purchasing an email list.

A list of email addresses purchased from another source is ineffective. It’s important to identify your target audience and turn them into loyal customers.

Add the email address of someone who opts into your mailing list

7. No need to set a frequency of email sends.

Your email may be flagged as spam. 

Do not send emails to customers at inappropriate times Once you have got to know your audience, you can set a frequency for your emails.

If they would prefer it, you can send them an email once a week.

78% of customers unsubscribe due to too many emails.

You don’t have to send spam to be considered a spammer. If your IP address gets flagged as spam, it could put your reputation at risk.

MailerLite is an important metric. It allows you to send emails via their servers. Spammers can send you spam messages, which can affect your reputation as well as deliverability.

To avoid such situations, I recommend you use a reliable and reliable email service provider.

8. There are low engagement rates

A low email opening rate can lead to your emails being considered spam.

Remember the first condition to email open rates:

The reader lets images be displayed in full view or preview in an email.

This is the second condition:

The email includes a link the reader can click.

Open rates are calculated by the Email service provider. Open rates are calculated by taking the number of people who opened an email and subtracting it from the number that were not opened. 

Send 100 emails, 20 bounce and 10 open, and your open rates would be 12.5%

MailChimp reports a 20.81% average open rate across all industries.

These are some tips:

• Use Engaging Language
• Select the right time
• Keep your email list current
• Segment Your Email List

9. Your email list is not fresh

1 in 1000 people will misspell their email addresses and you won’t get any further communication from them. 

The code inventory is used to protect your customers’ email addresses from being incorrect, extra, missing, or switched.

• It will suggest if it sees something suspiciously similar to a typo.

• The function returns an empty string if it does not find typos.

If they are involved in your email marketing campaigns, you could lose a customer.

Emails may also become inactive due to various reasons.

• It is possible that you have lost touch with them or that they are not interested in your emails.

• Some people might quit their jobs to make sure their business mail addresses don’t work.

Regular cleaning of email lists is essential for high-quality emails. 

Update your email list and remove inactive subscribers who have not been active for six months or more.

Get some help and compare email list cleaning services.

10. Neither an Unsubscribe Link nor an Opt-out Link is available.

It is best to use double opt-in forms to avoid spam complaints. This allows you to collect real data and provide valuable services to people who need them.

Send confirmation emails to all subscribers to confirm your subscription. This will enable you to confirm your email address and establish a subscription agreement.

Sendloop offers pre-made templates for email that include opt-out links.

To manage opt-out requests, you can use GroupMail Subscriber Plugin. This tool allows you to exclude recipients from your opt-out list.

11. Sender information is incorrect

If you don’t provide correct information about your routing information as well as the domain or email addresses, this could cause problems.

You should provide accurate sender information to identify yourself and your company.

12. You didn’t include your physical location address

The Federal Trade Commission states that a valid address must be provided. Companies and marketers should be transparent and easily traceable.

Include your street address as well as a U.S. Post Office Box. A private mailbox registered with a commercial mail-receiving agent under Postal Service regulations.

13. Your subject line is misleading

35% of email recipients read the subject line. This is why your subject lines should not exceed 50 words. Customers should be prompted to act immediately.

Asking compelling questions can generate curiosity and help you to write personalized email subject lines 

This is an example of a compelling subject line for an email:

14. Spam Trigger Words You Have Used

If you get sent spam terms, you may have spammy terms. You can find out more by checking it out.

15. Grammatical or Spelling Errors

Many spammers don’t speak English fluently. If you take a look at their emails, you will notice many grammar errors.

Spam filters detect and block errors in email messages and block them. Email marketing is serious.

Professionalism is essential in B2B communications.

Grammarly is my preferred choice in this situation. For best results, make sure to proofread all emails before hitting the “Send” button.

13. Audience wants HTML-format emails

Maybe your segmented audience prefers HTML email and your emails don’t have HTML formatting.

You should in such cases.

• Keep your HTML code simple and understandable. 

• Email images only, no text. Reduce them to the size you prefer.

• It is important to use fonts that work across all platforms. Fonts that are not known will not work on all platforms.

• Mobile responsive emails are essential.

Summarized – How to Prevent Emails from Going to Spam

1. Your sender’s reputation is very important (low: below 90). You have a better chance of reaching your target inbox folder.

2. You can authenticate your domain using the Zoho Campaign tool.

3. It is important to have a good reputation for your domain name and IP

The rates you have given above can be kept perfect by using

• Inactive email addresses should be removed from a list 

• To reduce complaints, create relevant content

• Keep consistency in your email volume, frequency, content, and design.

• Set appropriate expectations when you send your subscribers a welcome email.

• Email campaigns should be encouraging your audience to engage in the subject.

Talos allows you to check your IP reputation as well as your domain. This will give you a reputation of either Good, Neutral, or Poor. The majority of your emails will not reach their destination.

• It is best to get a bad result and create a new email address. You can also warm it up to build your reputation.
• You can improve your sending workflow if your result is negative.

4. Get permission from your customers to receive emails

5 Your customers’ needs and wants can be used to set the frequency of your emails.

6. Increase your rate of return with:

• It is important to use engaging language (both in the subject and content)

• Choosing the best time to reach customers

• Keep your emails current and active.

• Segmenting email lists based on the needs and desires of your target audience

7. To gather real data and provide value to those who require it, you need to use a double opt-in form

8. Sender information must be accurate. It should not contain spammy words.

9. Emails with poor grammar and spelling must be very detailed. Spam filters won’t tolerate spam that contains errors in grammar or spelling.

10. Your HTML code should not be complicated. 

11. Mobile responsive email is a must.

This article will discuss common issues and provide practical solutions to improve email marketing results.

The golden rule of email marketing? Get people to open your emails