The spam filtering has become more strict over the last few years. Email service providers like Google and Yahoo made sure they create an algorithm that will only serve the interest of their customers. The problem is that the filtering process isn\’t 100% perfect, which means occasionally legitimate messages get caught in the spam filter.
There are a number of reasons why your email might end up in Gmail\’s spam folder. One common reason is that you\’ve been blacklisted by one of Gmail\’s spam filters. This can happen if you\’ve been caught sending spammy messages or if you\’ve been using dodgy tactics to try and get around the spam filters.
Another common reason for getting blocked is because your email\’s spam score is too high. This can happen if your messages are full of spammy keywords or if they contain a lot of links. Providers like Gmail use spam scores to determine whether a message is likely to be spam.
Another reason your email might get caught in spam is because the content doesn\’t match the recipient\’s interests. For example, if you\’re sending an email to a group of people who have never expressed an interest in your topic, there\’s a good chance that your email will end up in spam.
How does algorithm scoring work?
The spam algorithm procedure is similar to the spam filtering process. The spam filters receive a bunch of emails which are labeled as spam and non-spam, then the spam filter will create a model that can differentiate between spam and non-spam emails.
The Gmail spam filter doesn\’t just look at the content of your email to determine whether you\’ve sent spam or not. It also looks at other factors like how often you send emails , how many people mark them as spam , where those people are located, what kind of language you use in your emails etc.
To better understand this, let\’s take an example: if you\’re sending an email to all your subscribers but still don\’t get replies from most of them, then you should look into other areas. Areas like the age of your domain. This by itself can also impact the delivery of your emails.
New domains are assumed to be spammy, which is why they land up in spam so often. There\’s really no way around this—you just have to gain a history of emailing people without spamming them before your emails can be delivered properly.
You should also look at the design aspects of your email newsletters because it could be one of the reasons why people mark your message as spam. For example, if most people see the same image when they open up their emails and this image looks like spam, then there\’s a big chance that they will report your message as spam even though it isn\’t.
Inside of Builderall Mailingboss we have a spam filter score that can help you to verify if your email looks spammy.
Now, what is spam score?
Spam score is the spam filter\’s assessment of how likely something is spam. The spam filter calculates spam score based on several factors, including the email message contents and some technical parameters like IP addresses etc.
How can I avoid Gmail spam filters?
You should first be aware that if you send an e-mail to someone who has never asked to receive messages from you (cold people), there\’s a very high chance that it will land in spam.
- One way to avoid Gmail spam filters is to use the same language and tone in your emails and newsletters as you would if you were talking with someone in person. People are more likely to trust your message when they imagine you\’re talking directly to them.
- Make sure you make use of a double opt-in process to ensure that people want to receive your messages.
- Try sending a test message to a small group of people before you send it to your entire email list.
- Make sure your messages are easy to read and don\’t use spammy words or images.
- Format your messages correctly so they look like regular emails, not spammy ads.
- Make sure your DKIM, DMarc etc is correct and in place.
- Warm up your new domain by sending regular emails to a small percentage on your list. Small batches to around 10 people a few times a day, then steadily increasing it is the best way to go.
If you need more information and training on this subject, please join my group as I\’ve recently done training on \”Avoiding the Spam Filter\”.