Summary
Emails from new .uk domains often go to spam due to a confluence of factors. Primarily, these domains lack an established sender reputation, making ISPs cautious due to the potential for spam and phishing. The 'newness' of the .uk TLD can also contribute to skepticism from email filters. Technical aspects like absent or misconfigured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records raise red flags, while high spam complaint rates and sending to unengaged recipients further damage deliverability. Building a positive reputation involves gradually warming up the domain, ensuring proper authentication, maintaining a clean email list, sending valuable content, and continuously monitoring sender reputation.
Key findings
- Lack of Sender Reputation: New domains have no sending history, making ISPs cautious.
- New TLD Skepticism: New TLDs, like .uk, may be viewed with suspicion by email filters.
- Importance of Authentication: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is essential for establishing legitimacy.
- Impact of Engagement: Sending to unengaged recipients and high spam complaint rates negatively affect deliverability.
Key considerations
- Gradual Domain Warm-up: Warm up the domain slowly by sending to engaged subscribers and gradually increasing volume.
- Authentication Configuration: Ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured.
- Email List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged or invalid addresses.
- Valuable Content: Send relevant, valuable, and engaging content to minimize spam complaints.
- Reputation Monitoring: Monitor your sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and address any issues promptly.
What email marketers say
8 marketer opinions
Emails from new .uk domains often land in spam folders due to a combination of factors. Primarily, new domains lack established sender reputations, making email providers cautious. New TLDs, like .uk, may face initial skepticism. Lack of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), high spam complaint rates, and sending to unengaged recipients are also contributing factors. Warming up the domain gradually, sending valuable content, and actively managing your email list are crucial for improving deliverability.
Key opinions
- New Domain Reputation: New domains lack sender reputation, causing suspicion from email providers.
- TLD Skepticism: New Top-Level Domains (TLDs) like .uk may face initial skepticism.
- Authentication Importance: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for establishing trust.
- Engagement Matters: Sending to unengaged recipients increases the likelihood of spam classification.
Key considerations
- Domain Warm-up: Gradually warm up the domain by sending low volumes of emails to engaged subscribers.
- Authentication Setup: Ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured.
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged recipients.
- Content Relevance: Send valuable and relevant content to increase engagement and reduce spam complaints.
- Reputation Monitoring: Monitor your sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that new TLDs often face skepticism due to a lack of data and inherent risk. TLDs carry reputation, with some considered riskier based on the amount of malicious activity originating from them.
14 Sep 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that spam filters analyze various factors, including sender reputation, email content, and authentication. To avoid spam filters, they advise using a dedicated IP address, warming up your IP/domain gradually, and monitoring your sender reputation. They also stress the importance of CAN-SPAM compliance.
24 May 2025 - Email on Acid
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Emails from new .uk domains frequently end up in spam folders due to a lack of established sender reputation and skepticism towards new TLDs. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are wary of unknown senders, leading to aggressive filtering to protect users from spam and phishing. Building a positive domain reputation requires consistently sending legitimate emails that recipients engage with. Warming up the domain, implementing authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining list hygiene, and carefully monitoring deliverability metrics are critical.
Key opinions
- TLD Skepticism: Filter operators are skeptical of new TLDs, sometimes even blocking them.
- Poor Reputation: New domains lack a history of sending legitimate mail, resulting in poor reputation.
- Engagement is Key: Reputation is built through consistent engagement with legitimate emails.
- Comprehensive Factors: Deliverability is affected by sender reputation, authentication, list hygiene, engagement, and content.
Key considerations
- Domain Warm-up: Warm up the domain by sending to known recipients and asking them to mark emails as 'not spam', especially important for Microsoft.
- Authentication: Implement authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
- List Hygiene: Maintain a clean email list.
- Monitor Deliverability: Closely monitor deliverability metrics.
- Avoid Purchased Lists: Avoid purchasing email lists.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) explains that a new domain's reputation is built over time by consistently sending legitimate emails that recipients engage with. To improve domain reputation, implement authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), avoid purchasing email lists, and monitor deliverability metrics closely.
25 Jan 2023 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource (John Levine) explains that new domains often suffer from poor reputation because they haven't built a history of sending legitimate mail. ISPs are cautious of unknown senders. Therefore emails are filtered more aggressively to protect their users from spam and phishing.
3 Apr 2025 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
3 technical articles
Emails from new .uk domains can end up in spam folders due to factors outlined in email deliverability documentation. Proper email authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is essential for proving sender legitimacy. Maintaining a low spam complaint rate, avoiding unwanted emails, and ensuring the domain isn't on any blocklists are also critical. Monitoring sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools is recommended.
Key findings
- Authentication is Key: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are crucial for improved deliverability.
- Reputation Matters: Sender reputation significantly impacts spam filtering.
- Engagement Impacts Deliverability: Recipient engagement (or lack thereof) affects deliverability.
- Spam Complaints Hurt: High spam complaint rates negatively impact deliverability.
Key considerations
- Implement SPF: Specify authorized mail servers to prevent email spoofing.
- Use Postmaster Tools: Monitor sender reputation with Google Postmaster Tools.
- Avoid Blacklists: Ensure your domain isn't on any blocklists.
- Address Spam Complaints: Use Junk Email Reporting Program (JMRP) to address spam complaints.
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft details that factors contributing to spam filtering include sender reputation, email content, and recipient engagement. They recommend using the Junk Email Reporting Program (JMRP) to identify and address spam complaints. Ensuring your domain is not on any blocklists and following best practices for email authentication are also important.
6 May 2022 - Microsoft
Technical article
Documentation from RFC defines the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) standard. SPF allows domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of their domain. This helps prevent email spoofing and improves deliverability by verifying the sender's authenticity.
22 Mar 2023 - RFC
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