Why Emails Go to Spam: What to Do and How to Avoid It
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 5:52 am
Have you started sending your news, but it ends up in the wrong folder? According to statistics, 45.56% of all letters in the world are junk mail, and your message may be one of them. Why do letters end up in spam? There may be many reasons for this, related to the content, frequency of sending, quality of the database, and other things.
According to a TechnologyAdvice survey , 45.8% of subscribers complain about emails if they are sent too frequently, 36.4% if they have not signed up for the newsletter, 31.6% of readers if the content is not relevant to them, and 10.4% if it is not personalized.
In this article, we'll go through the full list of issues that can cause a complaint and offer solutions to ensure your ads only appear in your Inbox.
Why do emails end up in spam?
The recipient did not give permission to send information
But you send it anyway. So when a user sees an unsolicited message and realizes that they don't actually know anything about your company, they'll most likely immediately complain about the sender.
This scenario is possible if:
You automatically fill in the checkbox with consent to the processing of subscriber data and sending him promotional offers. It is better not to do this, he must check this box himself.
You send advertising to the address that the buyer indicated when placing an order on the site. This is prohibited, you must always additionally ask permission to send advertising materials.
To avoid this problem, place the consent form in a visible place and let the person fill it out themselves.
Subscription form for the Pull&Bear newsletter.
The audience doesn't understand what they're signing up for
Why do messages go to spam in this case? Perhaps your subscription north korea business email list process is too complicated and people don’t know what to expect from the newsletter. And, of course, when the first letters with unexpected content start coming, they will most likely either unsubscribe or send them to spam.
It is best to explain to subscribers what content awaits them. For example, Tinkoff Magazine indicates who the emails are intended for, their content and frequency.
Options for different email newsletters from Tinkoff Magazine.
Complicated unsubscribe process
If you turn the system into a quest, people will definitely start actively complaining about the sender. So if they want to unsubscribe from your news, give them the opportunity to do so easily.
First, make sure your email has an "Unsubscribe" button, usually in the footer. There's no need to hide the unsubscribe link or call it anything else.
An example of placing an unsubscribe link in an email from the Ounce tea shop.
How can you simplify the process:
Do not ask for authorization on the site in order to unsubscribe a person.
Avoid creating multiple different addresses so that the subscriber does not have to unsubscribe from each one separately.
You can offer to unsubscribe from a specific newsletter, rather than all messages. For example, if you have many different categories, you can ask if he wants to unsubscribe from just one or all at once.
And to make sure that the user has not unsubscribed by accident, you can use, for example, the unsubscribe manager enKod . It allows you to specify the desire to unsubscribe.
Unoptimized sending frequency
You may be sending too much information. People don't like being bombarded with promotions every day.
What to do if your emails end up in spam for this reason? Find the optimal frequency for your audience and business area.
If you look at the research , 33.3% of marketers send emails weekly, 26.67% send emails several times a month, and 13.33% send emails several times a week, daily, and monthly.
How often to send messages? You need to test. For example, deliver news once a week and gradually increase the number of sendings.
Another way is to let the subscriber choose how often they want to read the newsletter. This is what the news outlet The Bell does, where the user is asked to choose how many times a week they want to receive the newsletter.
Subscription form for The Bell newsletter
Expand
Not maintaining contact list hygiene
If you have an old database, there may be many emails that are no longer active. The more of them, the higher the probability of ending up in spam.
To avoid this, you need to clean the contact sheet. This can be done using the following methods.
Use validator services. For example, Pabbly , ZeroBounce , Mailvalidator . With their help, you can identify non-existent emails and remove them from the recipient list.
Monitor statistics. If some addresses have a lot of hard sending errors, exclude them from the list. Most likely, they are invalid and will only clutter your database.
This can also serve as a signal to the provider that your mailing is suspicious. They can block it.
Reports on clicks, openings, complaints and errors can be viewed, for example, in enKod . And also exported for further analysis.
Get rid of corporate subdomains. They are not owned by a specific person, but by a group of people or even a company. They usually look like this: info, news, support, pr, etc.
But if the emails still end up in spam, what should you do? Then you need to reactivate subscribers and delete inactive emails.
How to implement such a method:
Select contacts from your database that have not been active for a long time: they have not opened emails or clicked on links.
Send the first message and clarify the reason for inactivity. Perhaps the reader is not interested in specific information, then you can offer to unsubscribe only from a specific mailing list.
Offer a discount, gift, free trial, or other bonus for interacting with the brand. This may encourage the recipient to follow the company's news and learn about new promotions.
If none of the emails were opened, the user most likely no longer wants to receive your offers. You can remove them from the contact list.
This will take more time to clean up your database, but it will only contain those who are truly interested in your content.
Lots of photos and little text
Why does my mail end up in spam in this case? Pictures make the letter much heavier in size, and mailers begin to treat such emails with caution. This is due to the fact that spammers usually write text directly on the pictures so that special filters do not detect violations and block the mailing.
It's better to maintain a balance - don't write all the text on the picture, but put it in the body of the email and maintain a structure so that the descriptions and photos complement each other.
Email newsletter from Yves Rocher
Expand
Low engagement rate
Subscribers do not interact with your messages, which may cause the mail service to suspect spam. If there are more inactive addresses in your database than active ones, this is a bad sign for mailers.
Here are some tips to help you increase reader engagement.
Work on the topic . Create intrigue, ask a question that the user will want to know the answer to, or make a joke.
Structure your text. Break it into paragraphs, highlight all the necessary thoughts, add headings and subheadings. This will make it easier for the recipient to scan the email, and therefore understand what you are writing. Don't be afraid to use colors and creative solutions.
Even a text newsletter can be designed in a way that makes it easy to read. Look at how Bookmate does it. The message only has one picture, but all the information is presented in a way that makes it easy for the reader to digest.
According to a TechnologyAdvice survey , 45.8% of subscribers complain about emails if they are sent too frequently, 36.4% if they have not signed up for the newsletter, 31.6% of readers if the content is not relevant to them, and 10.4% if it is not personalized.
In this article, we'll go through the full list of issues that can cause a complaint and offer solutions to ensure your ads only appear in your Inbox.
Why do emails end up in spam?
The recipient did not give permission to send information
But you send it anyway. So when a user sees an unsolicited message and realizes that they don't actually know anything about your company, they'll most likely immediately complain about the sender.
This scenario is possible if:
You automatically fill in the checkbox with consent to the processing of subscriber data and sending him promotional offers. It is better not to do this, he must check this box himself.
You send advertising to the address that the buyer indicated when placing an order on the site. This is prohibited, you must always additionally ask permission to send advertising materials.
To avoid this problem, place the consent form in a visible place and let the person fill it out themselves.
Subscription form for the Pull&Bear newsletter.
The audience doesn't understand what they're signing up for
Why do messages go to spam in this case? Perhaps your subscription north korea business email list process is too complicated and people don’t know what to expect from the newsletter. And, of course, when the first letters with unexpected content start coming, they will most likely either unsubscribe or send them to spam.
It is best to explain to subscribers what content awaits them. For example, Tinkoff Magazine indicates who the emails are intended for, their content and frequency.
Options for different email newsletters from Tinkoff Magazine.
Complicated unsubscribe process
If you turn the system into a quest, people will definitely start actively complaining about the sender. So if they want to unsubscribe from your news, give them the opportunity to do so easily.
First, make sure your email has an "Unsubscribe" button, usually in the footer. There's no need to hide the unsubscribe link or call it anything else.
An example of placing an unsubscribe link in an email from the Ounce tea shop.
How can you simplify the process:
Do not ask for authorization on the site in order to unsubscribe a person.
Avoid creating multiple different addresses so that the subscriber does not have to unsubscribe from each one separately.
You can offer to unsubscribe from a specific newsletter, rather than all messages. For example, if you have many different categories, you can ask if he wants to unsubscribe from just one or all at once.
And to make sure that the user has not unsubscribed by accident, you can use, for example, the unsubscribe manager enKod . It allows you to specify the desire to unsubscribe.
Unoptimized sending frequency
You may be sending too much information. People don't like being bombarded with promotions every day.
What to do if your emails end up in spam for this reason? Find the optimal frequency for your audience and business area.
If you look at the research , 33.3% of marketers send emails weekly, 26.67% send emails several times a month, and 13.33% send emails several times a week, daily, and monthly.
How often to send messages? You need to test. For example, deliver news once a week and gradually increase the number of sendings.
Another way is to let the subscriber choose how often they want to read the newsletter. This is what the news outlet The Bell does, where the user is asked to choose how many times a week they want to receive the newsletter.
Subscription form for The Bell newsletter
Expand
Not maintaining contact list hygiene
If you have an old database, there may be many emails that are no longer active. The more of them, the higher the probability of ending up in spam.
To avoid this, you need to clean the contact sheet. This can be done using the following methods.
Use validator services. For example, Pabbly , ZeroBounce , Mailvalidator . With their help, you can identify non-existent emails and remove them from the recipient list.
Monitor statistics. If some addresses have a lot of hard sending errors, exclude them from the list. Most likely, they are invalid and will only clutter your database.
This can also serve as a signal to the provider that your mailing is suspicious. They can block it.
Reports on clicks, openings, complaints and errors can be viewed, for example, in enKod . And also exported for further analysis.
Get rid of corporate subdomains. They are not owned by a specific person, but by a group of people or even a company. They usually look like this: info, news, support, pr, etc.
But if the emails still end up in spam, what should you do? Then you need to reactivate subscribers and delete inactive emails.
How to implement such a method:
Select contacts from your database that have not been active for a long time: they have not opened emails or clicked on links.
Send the first message and clarify the reason for inactivity. Perhaps the reader is not interested in specific information, then you can offer to unsubscribe only from a specific mailing list.
Offer a discount, gift, free trial, or other bonus for interacting with the brand. This may encourage the recipient to follow the company's news and learn about new promotions.
If none of the emails were opened, the user most likely no longer wants to receive your offers. You can remove them from the contact list.
This will take more time to clean up your database, but it will only contain those who are truly interested in your content.
Lots of photos and little text
Why does my mail end up in spam in this case? Pictures make the letter much heavier in size, and mailers begin to treat such emails with caution. This is due to the fact that spammers usually write text directly on the pictures so that special filters do not detect violations and block the mailing.
It's better to maintain a balance - don't write all the text on the picture, but put it in the body of the email and maintain a structure so that the descriptions and photos complement each other.
Email newsletter from Yves Rocher
Expand
Low engagement rate
Subscribers do not interact with your messages, which may cause the mail service to suspect spam. If there are more inactive addresses in your database than active ones, this is a bad sign for mailers.
Here are some tips to help you increase reader engagement.
Work on the topic . Create intrigue, ask a question that the user will want to know the answer to, or make a joke.
Structure your text. Break it into paragraphs, highlight all the necessary thoughts, add headings and subheadings. This will make it easier for the recipient to scan the email, and therefore understand what you are writing. Don't be afraid to use colors and creative solutions.
Even a text newsletter can be designed in a way that makes it easy to read. Look at how Bookmate does it. The message only has one picture, but all the information is presented in a way that makes it easy for the reader to digest.