Summary
When critical product-related emails, unlike regular CRM communications, consistently land in spam folders, it signals a significant deliverability challenge. This issue is particularly concerning when the emails are essential to your product, such as event tickets. While it may seem intuitive to suspect IP problems, the root cause often lies elsewhere, specifically in domain reputation, sending patterns, and recipient engagement.
Key findings
- Domain reputation: For major inbox providers like Gmail, domain reputation is generally more critical than IP address reputation in determining email placement. Understanding and improving your domain reputation is paramount.
- Sending patterns and volume: Rapid increases in email volume, especially for unengaged recipients, can severely impact deliverability. Internet service providers (ISPs) view sudden spikes as suspicious, often leading to spam placement.
- Recipient engagement: If recipients are receiving emails (e.g., event tickets) from a domain for the first time, and they haven't explicitly opted in or engaged with the brand, these emails are at a higher risk of being flagged as spam.
- Content type: While plain text emails can be deliverable, the absence of engaging elements (or the inclusion of attachments like PDFs) can sometimes contribute to spam filtering, particularly if other sender reputation factors are weak.
- Authentication issues: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is foundational for good deliverability. Missing or misconfigured records can lead to emails being marked as suspicious, even for legitimate senders. Learn more about DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
Key considerations
- Separate sending infrastructure: For critical transactional emails (like product delivery or event tickets), it's often best practice to use a dedicated IP address and subdomain separate from marketing or CRM email sends. This isolates the reputation of your crucial communications.
- Sender reputation: ISPs assess sender reputation based on many factors, including spam complaints, engagement rates, and blocklist presence. A poor sender reputation is a primary reason for emails going to spam. For more insights, refer to Mailgun's guide on preventing emails from going to spam.
- Onboarding process: For users who haven't explicitly engaged with your brand, consider a warm-up period or alternative delivery methods for the first communication to establish trust, especially if high volumes are expected.
- Content optimization: While product emails may be plain text, ensure they clearly communicate their value and purpose. If sending attachments like tickets, explore sending secure links instead to reduce spam filter triggers.
- Monitoring and diagnostics: Regularly monitor your email deliverability metrics. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools provide valuable insights into your domain's reputation, spam rate, and authentication status. You can also use a deliverability diagnostic approach.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often face complex deliverability challenges, especially when dealing with different types of email sends from a single domain. Product-related emails, despite their importance, can encounter spam filtering if they deviate from established sending norms or recipient expectations. Many marketers emphasize the critical role of domain reputation over IP address, the impact of sudden volume spikes, and the challenges of engaging new recipients.
Key opinions
- Domain vs. IP: Many marketers observe that domain reputation holds more weight than IP reputation for inbox placement, especially with major providers like Gmail.
- Scaling challenges: Rapidly increasing email volume from a domain, particularly when sending on behalf of others (like an ESP), is a common trigger for spam filters.
- Engagement matters: If recipients are unengaged or receiving emails for the first time, even crucial product emails can be flagged. Engagement signals are key to deliverability.
- Content and attachments: While plain text emails are not inherently bad, certain content formats, especially attachments, can cause deliverability issues. Consider alternatives like links instead of attachments.
- Transactional vs. marketing: It's widely recommended to separate transactional and marketing email streams, often on different IP addresses or subdomains, to protect the deliverability of critical messages.
Key considerations
- Throttling sends: For sudden volume spikes, implementing throttling can help warm up the sending domain and prevent deliverability issues. This means sending emails in smaller, controlled batches rather than all at once.
- List validation: Even if lists are perceived as 'good,' basic email list validation before sending is crucial to prevent hitting spam traps or invalid addresses that can harm sender reputation.
- User experience: If recipients are not engaging or recognizing the value, consider adjusting subject lines or content to improve recognition and open rates. Think about follow-up strategies for purchasers to confirm receipt.
- Monitoring tools: Utilizing tools like Google Postmaster Tools provides essential data for diagnosing and resolving deliverability problems, particularly for Gmail deliverability.
- Review authentication: Ensure all email authentication protocols, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, are correctly configured and aligned. A common reason emails go to spam is missing or improper authentication.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the domain's reputation is generally much more important for email placement than the IP address, with only a few exceptions. They also query whether the email is cold or if recipients should already be engaged.
Marketer from Email Geeks states that changing IP addresses rarely helps and should only be considered as a last resort in extreme situations, as other causes need to be ruled out first. They also mention that plain text content might be an issue if it doesn't offer enough engagement.
What the experts say
Email deliverability experts consistently highlight that a multi-faceted approach is required to tackle spam placement, moving beyond simple IP blacklisting concerns. They often point to domain reputation, proper technical configuration, and recipient engagement as primary drivers of inbox placement. Their advice frequently includes detailed steps on authentication, content optimization, and strategic sending practices to maintain a healthy sender reputation.
Key opinions
- Authentication is key: Experts emphasize that proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are fundamental. Missing or misconfigured authentication is a primary reason emails fail to reach the inbox, even for legitimate senders.
- Domain reputation over IP: While IP issues can occur, the consensus is that a domain's reputation is often the more significant factor in email delivery decisions by major inbox providers.
- Warm-up for new senders/volumes: Sudden increases in email volume or sending to unengaged lists can trigger spam filters. A gradual warm-up of sending volume helps build trust with ISPs. This is particularly relevant for new dedicated IPs and domains.
- Content matters: Even for plain text emails, engagement is critical. Content that doesn't encourage interaction or is not recognized by recipients can lead to spam folder placement.
- Separation of email streams: Using different sending setups for transactional versus marketing emails is a strong recommendation to protect the deliverability of high-priority communications.
Key considerations
- Proactive monitoring: Regularly check your sending domain and IP addresses against common blocklists (also known as blacklists) and monitor postmaster tools for feedback. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools provide insights into domain reputation.
- Address engagement gaps: For product emails sent to unengaged recipients, strategies to improve recognition and foster interaction, such as clearer subject lines or pre-delivery notifications, are vital.
- Sender reputation management: Focus on maintaining a strong sender reputation by minimizing spam complaints, bounce rates, and blocklist appearances. This involves diligent list hygiene and content relevance.
- Technical hygiene: Ensure PTR records are correctly set up for your sending IP addresses and emails are encrypted (TLS) where possible. These technical details contribute to trustworthiness in the eyes of ISPs.
- Strategic sending: Avoid sending attachments directly; instead, link to secure downloads. This practice is highlighted in deliverability best practices for improving inbox placement.
Expert from Email Geeks notes that Gmail places less emphasis on IP reputation and much more on domain reputation. This suggests that a poor sending domain's standing is a more likely cause for emails landing in spam than the IP itself.
Expert from Email Geeks advises that changing IP addresses is a solution seen only in extreme circumstances. They stress the importance of exhausting all other potential causes before considering an IP change to fix deliverability issues.
What the documentation says
Official documentation and research into email deliverability provide the foundational understanding for why emails land in spam. These resources consistently highlight the importance of sender reputation, adherence to authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and compliance with various anti-spam guidelines. They also shed light on factors like content quality, recipient engagement, and volume management, offering systematic approaches to diagnose and resolve deliverability issues.
Key findings
- Sender reputation: ISPs primarily rely on sender reputation to filter emails. A low reputation, often caused by high spam complaints, bounces, or blocklisting, leads to emails being routed to spam. Recovering a damaged reputation is a gradual process.
- Email authentication protocols: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are crucial for verifying sender identity and preventing spoofing. Failure to implement or align these protocols significantly increases the likelihood of emails being marked as spam. For more, see the guide to fixing common DMARC issues.
- Content quality and relevance: Spam filters analyze email content for suspicious keywords, excessive links, or poor formatting. Content that is not relevant or engaging to the recipient can trigger filters.
- Recipient engagement signals: Opens, clicks, and replies positively impact sender reputation, while deletes without opening or moving to spam negatively affect it. ISPs track these interactions closely.
- List hygiene: Sending to invalid or stale email addresses, or hitting spam traps, can severely damage sender reputation. Regular list cleaning is essential.
Key considerations
- Adherence to ISP guidelines: Each major ISP (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) publishes specific sender guidelines. Compliance with these, including DMARC policies and proper handling of abuse reports, is crucial for inbox placement.
- Segmenting email types: Separating transactional, product-related, and marketing emails onto different subdomains or IPs is a recommended practice to insulate critical communications from potential issues with other email streams.
- Transparent opt-out: Providing a clear and easy unsubscribe mechanism is vital. Failure to do so leads to higher spam complaints, negatively impacting sender reputation, as highlighted by Twilio's deliverability tips.
- Monitoring deliverability metrics: Using postmaster tools and analyzing reports on spam rates, IP/domain reputation, and authentication failures helps identify and address underlying issues preventing inbox delivery. You should review Google Postmaster Tools V2 Spam Rate Dashboard.
- Content optimization: Even for seemingly plain emails, ensure proper formatting and avoid common spam triggers. If sending sensitive information like tickets, linking to them securely on a trusted domain is preferable to direct attachments.
Documentation from Klaviyo Help Center states that while inbox providers do not report specific reasons for spam placement, it's generally due to a low sending reputation. This reputation is often impacted by sending to unengaged lists or accumulating spam complaints.
Documentation from Mailgun states that a poor sender reputation is a leading cause of emails ending up in the spam folder. This reputation can be damaged by previous sending practices that triggered spam filters or caused low engagement.
