Summary
When email verification emails are not being received due to company spam filters, a comprehensive approach is needed. This includes ensuring proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), closely monitoring DMARC reports and sender reputation, and employing list hygiene practices. It's crucial to simplify email content, avoiding spam trigger words and excessive promotional language. Consider personalizing emails and requesting users to whitelist your domain. Employ testing tools like GlockApps to identify deliverability issues. Analyze delivery logs and consult with support from email service providers like Customer.io. Be mindful of the increasingly strict filtering policies of organizations like K12 schools, and encourage users to check their spam folders. If DMARC is set to reject, evaluate whether that is too strict. Using a dedicated IP can also improve deliverability by establishing a positive reputation. Finally, monitor delivery and engagement metrics to deal with false positives in enterprise filtering.
Key findings
- Email Authentication: Correctly configuring and actively monitoring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is essential to verify the legitimacy of your emails and prevent them from being flagged as spam.
- Sender Reputation Management: Maintaining a positive sender reputation through list hygiene, avoiding blacklists, and proactive monitoring is crucial for ensuring emails reach the inbox.
- Content Optimization: Simplifying email content by removing spam trigger words, excessive links, and promotional language, and personalizing messages can improve deliverability.
- Whitelisting and User Education: Encouraging users to whitelist your domain and providing clear instructions on how to do so is a simple yet effective way to bypass spam filters.
- Proactive Testing and Monitoring: Using testing tools and closely monitoring delivery metrics allows for the early identification and resolution of deliverability issues.
- Troubleshooting Resources: Utilizing delivery logs, contacting email service provider support, and engaging with recipients' IT departments can help diagnose and resolve specific filtering issues.
Key considerations
- Targeted Filtering: Understand that corporate spam filters are often highly customized, requiring tailored approaches and communication with recipients' IT departments.
- DMARC Review: If you have DMARC set to reject then relaxing DMARC policy needs careful consideration. Monitor feedback reports.
- Alternative Channels: In scenarios where email deliverability is consistently challenging, consider offering alternative verification methods, such as phone verification, especially for K12 school contexts.
- Follow RFC Guidelines: Ensuring that your email system and email creation practices fully comply with RFC 2822 ensures messages are correctly formatted.
What email marketers say
10 marketer opinions
When users don't receive email verification emails due to company spam filters, several strategies can be employed. These include ensuring correct email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), monitoring sender reputation, cleaning email lists, and avoiding spam trigger words. Testing email setups with tools like GlockApps helps identify issues. Simplifying content and requesting whitelisting are also beneficial. Personalized content is more likely to bypass spam filters. Correcting 'From' formats and relaxing DMARC settings are tactics to consider.
Key opinions
- Authentication: Properly configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to authenticate your emails and reduce the likelihood of rejection by spam filters.
- Sender Reputation: Monitor and maintain a positive sender reputation by ensuring your IP address isn't blacklisted and cleaning your email list regularly.
- Content: Simplify email content by avoiding spam trigger words, excessive links or images, and promotional language. Personalize emails to make them more relevant.
- Whitelisting: Provide clear instructions to users on how to whitelist your domain or email address to ensure your emails bypass spam filters.
- Testing: Use tools like GlockApps to test your email setup with various spam filters and identify potential issues with your content, authentication, or IP reputation.
Key considerations
- From Format: Review and correct the 'From' format in your emails, as improperly formatted addresses can trigger spam filters.
- DMARC Settings: Consider relaxing DMARC settings if they are too strict, but be cautious of potential security implications.
- Corporate Filters: Understand that corporate spam filters can be highly specific and may require tailoring your email strategy to comply with their rules.
Marketer view
Email marketer from GlockApps Blog shares that if users aren't receiving verification emails, it's crucial to test your email setup with various spam filters using a tool like GlockApps. This allows you to identify issues with your content, authentication, or IP reputation that may be triggering spam filters.
31 Mar 2025 - GlockApps Blog
Marketer view
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that failing to properly set up SPF or DKIM records can cause verification emails to be rejected or sent to spam folders. Proper authentication helps prove that your emails are legitimate.
9 Feb 2024 - Stack Overflow
What the experts say
9 expert opinions
When verification emails are blocked by corporate spam filters, experts recommend a multi-faceted approach. Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial, along with monitoring DMARC reports. If DMARC is set to reject it is worth reviewing. For troubleshooting, recipients should check with their IT departments and delivery logs should be analyzed. Contacting Customer.io support can provide additional insights. If deliverability to K12 schools is an issue, consider alternative email addresses. Monitoring delivery and engagement metrics is essential for addressing false positives. Clear instructions to check spam folders and the increasing use of two-factor authentication should be communicated to users.
Key opinions
- Authentication: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is critical for deliverability and needs to be actively monitored. DMARC feedback reports can help pinpoint authentication issues.
- Troubleshooting Steps: Encourage recipients to check with their IT departments to understand why emails are blocked. Review delivery logs from your email service provider to verify emails were sent and accepted.
- Recipient Context: Be aware of strict email policies, especially in sectors like K12 education, which might require alternative email addresses.
- Delivery Monitoring: Continuously monitor delivery and engagement metrics to identify and address false positives and other deliverability problems proactively.
- Customer Support: Leverage support from your email service provider (e.g., Customer.io) for detailed insights and assistance with resolving delivery issues.
Key considerations
- Recipient Action: Clearly instruct users to check their spam folders and highlight the familiarity with verification codes due to the rise of two-factor authentication.
- DMARC Implementation: Review your DMARC implementation. A setting of reject may be too strict, potentially blocking legitimate emails. Proceed with caution when relaxing this.
- Filter Analysis: If direct IT feedback isn't possible, identify common filtering software in problematic domains and review content for suspicious elements.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that if possible, the user should ask one of the recipients experiencing the issue to check with their corporate IT to determine if their corporate filter is blocking the emails. If that is not possible, look for common factors like filtering software in the domains where the email is being dropped and consider if anything about the content appears suspicious.
13 May 2023 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks suggests using delivery logs from Customer.io or Mailgun to confirm if the email was sent and accepted by the recipient's MX server.
25 Sep 2022 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Technical documentation suggests several key measures for improving email deliverability when users aren't receiving verification emails due to company spam filters. These include using a dedicated IP address to establish a positive reputation, adhering to standard email formatting guidelines (RFC 2822), implementing DKIM for email authentication, and understanding the anti-spam technologies used by Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP).
Key findings
- Dedicated IP: Using a dedicated IP address allows you to build and maintain a positive sender reputation, increasing the likelihood that your emails will be delivered.
- Email Formatting: Adhering to standard email formatting guidelines, as defined in RFC 2822, ensures that your emails are correctly interpreted by receiving mail servers and are less likely to be flagged as spam.
- DKIM Implementation: Implementing DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing receiving mail servers to verify that the email hasn't been tampered with and is genuinely from your domain.
- EOP Understanding: Understanding the anti-spam technologies and criteria used by Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) can help you optimize your email practices for better deliverability to recipients using Microsoft services.
Key considerations
- IP Warm-up: When using a dedicated IP address, it's crucial to warm up the IP gradually to establish a positive sending reputation. Sending large volumes of emails immediately can negatively impact deliverability.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Continuously monitor your deliverability metrics to identify and address any issues proactively. This includes bounce rates, spam complaints, and blocklist status.
- RFC Compliance: Ensure that your email system and email creation practices fully comply with RFC 2822. Pay attention to things like line lengths, header syntax, and character encoding.
Technical article
Documentation from SendGrid explains that using a dedicated IP address can improve deliverability by establishing a positive reputation. It also recommends warming up the IP address gradually and monitoring deliverability metrics to identify and address issues proactively.
3 Oct 2022 - SendGrid Documentation
Technical article
Documentation from DKIM.org explains that implementing DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to your emails, which receiving mail servers can use to verify that the email hasn't been tampered with and is genuinely from your domain. This helps improve deliverability and reduce the risk of emails being marked as spam.
9 Feb 2025 - DKIM.org
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