Here’s Why Emails Go to Spam (and What to Do About It)

Research from the Direct Marketing Association and Demand Metric found, “Email had a median ROI of 122 percent—more than four times higher than other marketing formats including social media, direct mail, and paid search.”

So it definitely gets the job done. 

But there’s an issue that all email marketers must contend with and that’s falling into the dreaded black hole that is the spam folder. 

Return Path’s 2017 Deliverability Benchmark Report discovered that 20 percent of all commercial emails wind up as spam. 

And let’s be honest. An email is almost always a goner at the point. 

I mean how many people are actually going to take the time to sift through their spam folder to see if maybe, just maybe your email was inadvertently diverted there?

My guess would be zero. 

This is hugely problematic because the average open rate is only 32 percent and even lower for certain industries.

So when you factor in emails going to spam, that number diminishes even more. 

Right now I’m going to discuss some common reasons why emails go to spam and how to ensure that yours don’t wind up there. 

The 10 Most Common Reasons Why Emails Go to Spam

1. You Weren’t Given Permission

2. The Sender Information is Inaccurate 

3. There’s No Physical Address

4. You’re Using Spam Trigger Words

5. Your Headline Is Weak

6. You’ve Included Attachments

7. There’s a Large Image with Minimal Text

8. There’s No Opt-Out Link

9. You’re Sending Emails to Inactive Addresses

10. You Have Incorrect Spelling and Grammar

The CAN-SPAM Act

First, let me briefly touch on the CAN-SPAM Act. 

This is a law that was enacted back in 2003 and sets national standards on commercial email.  

If you’re unfamiliar with it, I recommend taking a look at the CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide from the FTC. 

This highlights the main requirements and outlines non-compliance issues that can get you into trouble. It’s fairly short but will quickly get up to speed. 

Some areas it touches on include not using deceptive email subject lines, including a physical mailing address, telling recipients how to opt-out, and honoring opt-out requests.

Considering the fact that violations can carry penalties of up to $41,484, you’ll want to be knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the CAN-SPAM Act.  

Besides the ugly potential penalties, failing to comply with these requirements could get your emails sent to spam. 

So this is definitely something to be aware of, especially if you’re new to email marketing.  

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. 

1. You Weren’t Given Permission 

The first rule of email marketing is to always have permission before sending an email. 

It should go without saying, but you should never buy a list of emails or obtain them through any other unscrupulous means. 

Not only is it unethical, it’s ineffective and can potentially land you in some hot legal water. 

So email addresses should only be added when someone willingly opts-in. It’s really that simple.

Otherwise, there’s a good chance that it will end up as spam. 

Or in a worst-case scenario, you could be subject to a fine. 

2. The Sender Information is Inaccurate

Here’s what the FTC has to say about the sender information.

“Your ‘From,’ ‘To,’ ‘Reply-To,’ and routing information—including the originating domain name and email address—must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.”

In other words, you must clearly state who you are (or who your company is) and not include any inaccurate information that could mislead someone. 

For example, the sender information on my email might say “Emil from Sleeknote.”

3. There’s No Physical Address

This may be surprising to some email marketers.

But the FTC also states, “Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.”

Otherwise, you’re not following their requirements and your email could be marked as spam. 

It’s all about having some degree of traceability. 

So you’ll notice that nearly all legit businesses include their physical address toward the bottom of each email.

Here’s an example from t-shirt printing company Skreened. 

It doesn’t have to be conspicuous, it just has to be there. 

The ones who most commonly make this mistake are the small business owners who work out of their home simply because they don’t want to have their home address advertised to the masses. 

And that’s understandable. 

In this case, your best bet is to get a P.O. box that you can use in lieu of your home address.

4. You’re Using Spam Trigger Words

Automational explains, “Email spam filters still look at the content within your email to decide whether it goes into the spam folder of your customer’s inbox.” 

Saying things like “Double your income!” or “You’re a Winner!” is a surefire way to gain unwanted attention from those filters. 

If they notice questionable “trigger words,” it’s a red flag and you’re email is likely to be sent to spam even if you have the best of intentions.  

So it’s important to know which specific words to avoid like the ones listed by the Digital Training Institute. 

These are a good starting point. 

But for an even more comprehensive list, check out these 438 email spam trigger words from Automational. 

This brings me to my next point. 

5. Your Headline Is Weak

An email’s headline is everything.

Besides the name of the sender, it’s the only thing a recipient has to go on when deciding whether it’s legit or not and whether they should open it.  

Convince and Convert even says, “69 percent of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject line.”

So you need to nail it. 

Besides steering clear of trigger words, there are some other subject line best practices you’ll want to follow to keep your emails out of the spam abyss. 

These include:

• Not using excessive capital letters, which indicates that you’re shouting at recipients
• Not going overboard with exclamation points
• Not making false promises 
• Not sounding overly pushy or salesy

When coming up with a headline, I recommend putting yourself in your subscribers’ shoes.

Is there any way that someone might think that your email is spam based on the headline?

If so, tweak it until it’s presentable. 

6. You’ve Included Attachments

Attachments should be avoided like the plague for two reasons.

First, they alert spam filters and reduce the chances of your email making it to the recipient’s inbox. 

For all they know, an attachment could be carrying some hardcore virus that’s just waiting to overtake an unsuspecting victim’s device. 

Second, they can slow down the load time of the email, especially if they’re big and bulky. 

Generally speaking, there’s no need to send a commercial email with an attachment. 

All of the information, offer and CTA could and should be included right in the body.

7. There’s a Large Image with Minimal Text

Incorporating visuals into marketing campaigns has never been more popular.  

In fact, creating visual content is a top priority for 55 percent of B2C content creators. 

So it’s easy to see why many marketers would want their emails to be image-heavy. It’s simply a matter of aesthetics. 

And some of the best, most professional looking emails I see contain images. 

This one from InVision LABS is a great example. 

But Email on Acid explains that using a large image with minimal text can sometimes get you into trouble. 

Here’s what they have to say on the matter:

The idea is that image heavy emails without much text can raise a red flag for spam filters. This theory was formulated because spammers sometimes display information in large images instead of text so that the filter programs cannot ‘read’ the content.

And this makes sense, and I can see why they would be wary of image-centric emails.  

But at the end of the day, spam filters could easily misconstrue this type of email and think you’re scammer when in reality you’re simply trying to give subscribers some eye candy. 

So you need to be aware of this fact. 

Now, this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use images. That’s not what I’m saying at all.

But you should be aware of your text to image ratio and strive for 60/40, meaning that your email should be roughly 60 percent text and 40 percent image.

Stick with this formula and you should be in good shape. 

8. There’s No Opt-Out Link

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you absolutely didn’t want to receive any more emails from a particular company, but there was no way to unsubscribe?

I have and it’s super irritating. 

Best-case scenario, you annoy subscribers or wind up in the spam folder. 

Worst-case scenario, you actually get fined by the FTC. 

Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation. 

So it’s vital (not to mention legally required) to have an opt-out link like this one on a LinkedIn email. 

To learn more about how to reduce your email unsubscribe rate, read Sam’s in-depth guide.

9. You’re Sending Emails to Inactive Addresses

I think we’ve all seen a message that looks like this at some point. 

This means that the email was sent to an inactive address and therefore not delivered.

If you do this on a large scale and consistently send emails to inactive email addresses, spam filters will often penalize your domain or ISP.

In turn, this greatly increases the odds of your emails going to spam. 

The solution?

Make sure that you’re continually “cleaning” your email list and deleting inactive addresses. 

10. You Have Incorrect Spelling and Grammar

Josh Pyorre writes in Cisco Umbrella about the surprising frequency of spelling and grammatical errors that occur in phishing emails. 

He says that this is often the result of non-native English speaking hackers using translating tools to convert their text into English. And they come out sounding strange, to say the least.

So spam filters are on high alert, and spelling and grammatical errors could land your email in the spam folder. 

Not to mention, you’re going to look unprofessional in the eyes of your audience. 

So you need to be extra diligent about double and even triple-checking each email before sending it out. 

Although email spell checks are good for catching most things, they certainly won’t catch everything.

Sometimes good-old fashioned proofreading by a human is your best bet for catching issues. 

Also, I recommend Grammarly. 

It’s a Chrome extension that makes sure you’re writing is readable, and I find it highly effective at catching even the most subtle of errors.  

Although there are premium paid versions, you can use the basic version completely for free, which should be sufficient for most email marketers’ needs.  

How to Test for Spamminess

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of what not to do. 

But there’s one tool that I want to point out, and it’s called Mail Tester.

Here’s how it works.

Take an email that you plan on sending to your subscribers and send it to Mail Tester first. 

Then check your score.

From there, Mail Tester will give your email a score based on its “spamminess.” 

Scroll down just a bit, and you’ll get more details on what’s good and what could use some improvement. 

I find this to be a great way for quickly figuring out any mistakes you’re making so that you can promptly fix them.

Conclusion

So you’re not a Nigerian prince looking to share a portion of your inheritance with someone in exchange for a nominal fee. 

You’re simply a conscientious email marketer looking to connect with leads and nurture them until they ultimately make a purchase. 

But spam filters don’t necessarily know that.

And most people have very little patience dealing with any email that comes across as being the least bit spammy. 

I know I do. 

In order to get your emails read, you must first get them opened. 

To do that, it’s essential that your emails aren’t sent to spam. 

While there are a plethora of reasons why this happens, the issues I’ve outlined here tend to be some of the most common.

Fortunately, they’re preventable. 

By familiarizing yourself with the CAN-SPAM Act and understanding the logic behind spam filters as well as the thought process of actual human readers, you should be able to eliminate any spamminess.

As a result, more of your emails will end up where they’re supposed to—in inboxes. 

What techniques have you used that result in high delivery and low unsubscribes?