Why is Gmail spam analysis failing in Pardot?

Key findings

• Comprehensive analysis: Pardot’s spam analysis tool is a preliminary check. It doesn't always reveal the full picture of why Gmail specifically flags an email, as Gmail’s filtering is dynamic and personalized.
• External tools: While Pardot provides an internal tool, using external email testing services can offer a deeper dive into deliverability issues, including insights into specific content or header problems. Sometimes, company firewalls or security policies may block access to these external services, complicating troubleshooting efforts.
• Hidden content: Spam filters, including Gmail's, can identify problematic links or even hidden content within email HTML, which might not be immediately obvious in a visual inspection. Ensuring clean HTML is crucial.
• Authentication issues: Even if an email passes basic Pardot checks, underlying email authentication issues (like SPF, DKIM, DMARC) can lead to Gmail flagging emails as spam or even rejecting them outright.

Key considerations

• Content quality: Review email content for common spam triggers, such as excessive use of caps, exclamation marks, suspicious phrasing, or problematic links. Ensure your content provides clear value to the recipient.
• Sender reputation: A clean sender reputation is paramount. If your domain or IP address has been associated with past spam complaints or unusual sending behavior, it can affect Gmail deliverability, even if individual emails appear clean. This is why Gmail might send mail to spam folders.
• Email authentication: Verify that your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured for your sending domain within Pardot. Inaccurate or missing records are a common reason for Gmail flagging emails.
• Link structure: Check all links within the email (Knak suggests troubleshooting common issues) for redirects or unrecognised domains. Malicious or suspicious links are a primary indicator for spam filters.

Key opinions

• Tool limitations: Marketers frequently find that Pardot's built-in spam analysis, while helpful, isn't always comprehensive enough to diagnose specific Gmail deliverability failures.
• Need for external testing: There's a strong desire among marketers to use external tools for deeper analysis, but corporate security policies sometimes hinder this, adding another layer of complexity to troubleshooting.
• Content and code review: Many marketers initially suspect issues with email content or HTML code when Gmail flags their messages, indicating a common starting point for self-diagnosis. (This is mentioned in a Litmus check discussion on Trailhead Salesforce).
• Community reliance: Marketers often seek advice from peers and online communities (like Email Geeks) when encountering persistent deliverability issues, as shared experiences can provide valuable insights.

Key considerations

• Isolate the issue: Before diving deep, marketers should try to isolate whether the issue is specific to Gmail, Pardot, or a broader deliverability problem affecting all ISPs. Sometimes, emails go to spam despite good authentication, suggesting content or reputation.
• Check corporate security: If external testing tools are blocked, engage with IT or network administrators to understand why. This could reveal internal network configurations impacting email sending or testing.
• Test systematically: Vary email content, subject lines, and sender profiles systematically to pinpoint specific triggers. Removing elements one by one can help identify the problematic component.
• Review Pardot settings: Ensure that Pardot's email sending settings are correctly aligned with your domain's authentication records. Often, a mismatch can cause issues, especially with DKIM failing when sending from Salesforce.

Key opinions

• Beyond content: While content can trigger spam filters, experts often point to issues like sender reputation and authentication as more critical factors for Gmail deliverability. A perfect email can still land in spam if the sender's reputation is poor.
• Authentication importance: Proper configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is non-negotiable for Gmail. Experts frequently highlight these as foundational elements for passing Gmail’s checks. Sometimes emails land in spam despite passing authentication, suggesting other factors.
• Bounce management: High bounce rates, especially hard bounces, signal list quality issues to ISPs like Gmail and can negatively impact sender reputation. Efficient bounce management is key.
• Engagement metrics: Gmail heavily weighs user engagement (opens, clicks, replies) in its filtering decisions. Low engagement or high complaint rates can quickly degrade sender reputation, leading to blocklisting or spam folder placement.

Key considerations

• Monitor sender reputation: Utilize tools like Google Postmaster Tools to track your sending domain’s reputation with Gmail. This provides crucial data on spam rates, IP reputation, and authentication status.
• Implement DMARC: Moving to a DMARC policy of p=quarantine or p=reject helps enforce proper authentication, reducing the likelihood of spoofing and improving trust with Gmail. Understanding DMARC reports from Google and Yahoo is vital.
• Clean your list: Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive subscribers, invalid addresses, and known spam traps. Sending to a high-quality, engaged list significantly boosts deliverability.
• Review email headers: Analyzing full email headers can reveal specific reasons for Gmail’s filtering decisions, such as a low spam score assigned by Gmail’s internal systems. Stellastra highlights this as a first step to preventing Salesforce Pardot emails going to spam.

Key findings

• Authentication standards: Documentation consistently stresses the need for correct SPF and DKIM configuration within Pardot to authenticate sending domains. These are critical for mailbox providers to verify sender identity and prevent spoofing.
• Content guidelines: Official guides often provide specific recommendations for email content, including avoiding spammy phrases, proper image-to-text ratio, and clear calls to action, which are all part of Gmail's spam detection.
• Permission-based marketing: Salesforce Pardot documentation reiterates its strict permission-based marketing policy. This means all recipients must explicitly opt-in to receive emails, a fundamental requirement for maintaining a good sender reputation and avoiding blocklists.
• Monitoring tools: Gmail’s official resources, like Google Postmaster Tools, are highlighted as essential for monitoring email performance, spam rates, and authentication errors, providing direct feedback from Google’s perspective.

Key considerations

• Pardot deliverability wizard: Utilize Pardot’s built-in deliverability wizard and spam analysis tool as a first step. While not always definitive for Gmail, it can catch common errors within the platform's configuration.
• Sender policy framework (SPF): Ensure your domain's SPF record correctly includes Pardot's sending IP addresses or domains. An incorrect SPF record can lead to soft failures or emails being marked as suspicious, contributing to a failed spam analysis.
• DomainKeys identified mail (DKIM): Verify that DKIM is properly set up and that the cryptographic signature generated by Pardot matches your domain’s public key. DKIM failures can severely impact deliverability to Gmail.
• DMARC policy enforcement: Progress towards a DMARC policy of p=quarantine or p=reject to protect your brand and improve deliverability. This signals to ISPs like Gmail that your domain is authenticated and trustworthy.