Email remains the top channel for marketers because it remains one of the best and most effective ways to reach your target audience. It gives you full control over messaging, design, and timing without relying on ever-changing search algorithms or fluctuating ad pricing.
However, email has its flaws
It’s no longer as simple as hitting “send.” The email will be subject to spam filters—there’s no guarantee it will make it to the recipient’s inbox or display correctly in their email client.
To make your email marketing effective, review Best Practices for Bypassing recommended practices on how to avoid spam filters and significantly increase the chances of your messages being delivered and presented correctly.
How Email Spam Best Practices for Bypassing Filters Work
When spam filters were first deployed, they were simple and used mostly keywords to identify emails that were likely spam. Since then, Internet service providers have made significant changes to their email filtering protocols to increase inbox protection against unsolicited messages.
Today, spam filters use more advanced technologies to distinguish good email from spam, including email authentication protocols such as DKIM, SPF, and DMARC, as well as sender reputation and user behavior indicators.
Email senders whose messages are guatemala email list 490124 contact leads opened and clicked a lot generally receive better scores and more emails in the inbox. On the other hand, senders whose email communications are deleted, unopened, or designated as spam receive lower scores and higher spam placement rates.
How to Avoid Spam Filters When Sending Email
Given the different factors that spam filters evaluate to differentiate between legitimate messages and spam, email senders must adopt a sophisticated approach to their email marketing plans in order to successfully pass the most stringent spam filters and get their messages into recipients’ inboxes.
The following are recommended practices for sending environment configuration, email creation, and monitoring that can significantly increase the chances of your emails avoiding spam filters:
Configure your sending environment.
Mail servers look at these basic infrastructure settings to verify that emails are being sent on behalf of your domain. These asia mobile number library allow email receivers to determine if the sender of an email is allowed to use a specified domain and whether the email is likely spam.
Most of these configurations are done by the email service provider and do not require any adjustments on the sender’s side. However, in some cases, you need to make the necessary settings to pass the email authentication check.
The basic infrastructure setup you need to have in place to avoid email spam filters includes:
– Publish an SPF record for your domain .
Email service providers typically provide the values to include in your SPF record.
– Enable DKIM signing for your messages . DKIM is usually configured by your ESP and you just need mobile list it on for outgoing messages.
– Publish DMARC records for your domain . You can easily create DMARC records using GlockApps DMARC Analytics.
– Set up a custom return-path domain . Some ESPs allow senders to use their custom email domain as the return-path. This helps with SPF alignment and DMARC authentication.
– Configure reverse DNS records . This is required if you are configuring your own mail server for sending email. Reverse DNS records allow the sending IP address to be resolved to the sending domain and back.
– Warm up your new IP address . If you plan to use your own dedicated IP address for email marketing, take some time to warm up, starting with a small number of emails and gradually increasing the volume, building a reputation for your IP address and recommending yourself as a good marketer and sender to your ISP.
- Create attractive emails.
Email spam filters use behavioral signals to Best Practices for Bypassing determine the level of engagement of recipients. Good engagement is measured by opens, clicks, replies, forwards, and not spam marks. Deletions without opens and spam reports are signs of poor engagement and that the email is likely spam.
Therefore, to successfully bypass modern email spam filters, it is important to create emails that interact with them. Here are some basic suggestions for creating emails.
#1. Design your brand Best Practices for Bypassing template.
Once you come up with a good template, you will be able to create different email campaigns based on that template. This will familiarize your recipients with your brand and make it easier for them to recognize your messages in their inbox. Consider the following best practices to create a good template for your brand:
- Create emails in MIME format, which contain both HTML and plain text versions;
- Use HTML tables as the structure of your email. For more complex designs, use nested tables;
- Use a maximum width of 600-800 pixels so that the email fits in the preview pane in the email client;
- Use inline CSS styles;
- Create responsive templates so that messages adapt to different devices and screen sizes;
- Use standard fonts, such as Arial, Verdana, or Times New Roman, to make emails readable in different browsers and email clients;
- Include a logo that reflects your brand.
#2. Commit to quality content.
The content of an email can influence a recipient’s willingness to accept or decline an offer. Unreadable text, broken links, suspicious domains, missing buttons, junk text — these elements, if ignored, can trigger email spam filters and severely undermine the user’s experience and interaction.
Check this list of suggestions to ensure the email will pass through email spam filters:
Send relevant content that matches recipients’ preferences;
Don’t include different types of messages in one email, i.e. don’t send a promotional message in a transactional message;
Don’t make your copy too long;
Avoid keyword stuffing;
Write a good subject line to entice opens;
Include a call to action in an email;
Include links from trusted sites;
Add ALT text to the image;
Create a copy that can be read without loading the image;
Use capitalization and punctuation judiciously;
Add a “View in Browser” link so readers can Best Practices for Bypassing open your email in a web browser if their email client can’t render your email properly;
Add an unsubscribe link in a prominent place.
- Test thoroughly.
Once you hit “Send,” you can’t undo an email you’ve sent. That’s why it’s crucial to allocate time for thorough testing to ensure everything is perfect before the email goes out.
The following is a list of Best Practices for Bypassing recommended tests:
- Check the validity of your domain’s SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records;
- Check the sending IP address against a blacklist (for dedicated IP addresses);
- Test your design in different email clients and devices;
- Test your HTML support on various platforms;
- Check email spam scores using popular spam filters such as Barracuda or SpamAssassin;
- Test your email placement with different providers to estimate your inbox placement and spam placement ratios.
Use a third-party tool like GlockApps to test your emails and ensure they successfully pass through email spam filters. GlockApps’ Inbox Insight test allows you to test your sending environment, spam score, HTML support level, and email location by sending mail to a seed list – you’ll receive a detailed report on your email performance.
