Why Your Emails Land in Spam—And How to Fix It

You can write the perfect cold email — an email so compelling you could sell sand in the desert.

But if you can’t get that email into your prospects’ inboxes, it will go unseen and unread, lost to the digital abyss that is the spam folder.

But don’t worry, we’re going to share why your emails land in spam, and how to fix it. First, let’s discuss the fundamentals of cold outbound emails.

How not to sound like a scammer, spammer, or spoofer

You’re probably sending a lot of outbound emails every day, but do you understand the mechanisms behind email sending?

Benny Rubin, CEO and Founder at Senders, recently shared the three key components to cold outbound.

• Sendability: How many emails can I send? 
• Deliverability: Will my emails reach my prospects’ inboxes?
• Efficacy: Can I conduct email outreach in a way that doesn’t waste resources? 

If you don’t pay attention to these factors, especially deliverability, your emails will likely end up in spam.

Benny saw this happen firsthand. 

He was running a high volume of cold outbound sequences and needed to scale quickly. He started by creating multiple inboxes to evade Google Workspace limits. While this solved his sendability problems, it created deliverability issues, and most of his emails ended up in spam. 

“I realized I was missing something very, very fundamental in my desire to evade restrictions placed on my sending. I had stopped acting like a legitimate business sender and started acting like a spammer, spoofer, or scammer,” shares Benny. 

So, what can you do to make sure you don’t look like a spammer, spoofer, or scammer? Keep reading to find out.

5 ways to improve your email deliverability 

1. Carefully select your domains  

If your domain isn’t set up properly, you risk getting sent to the spam folder. 

Using new domains can make you look like a spammer. You should use domains that are 30 days or older. The longer you hold a domain, the more credible it looks.

Think about your credit score. When you opened your first credit card, your score was probably pretty low. Then, once you built up credit over time, your score likely increased, making you look more legitimate. An email domain is no different.

Another way to look like a spammer? Spelling mistakes.

When creating new domains, choose ones that are similar to your primary domain and make sure you avoid spelling errors.

For example, “bankofamericas” looks a little fishy, don’t you think? The content in your email should also match the domain. If you’re sending an email from Bank of America, the body of the email should contain relevant banking and financial information. 

Lastly, consider using subdomains. Subdomains take on the age of the original domain and are an efficient way to add more domains, without spending more money.

2. Practice email warming 

When getting set up with a new domain, you need to practice email warming. If you send a high volume of emails at once, without warming the domain, you risk looking like a spammer. 

Email warming helps prove a domain is legitimate. This process involves sending emails in batches to people who will support your deliverability efforts. 

Apollo email warming sends emails on your behalf to other people who also use Apollo and have opted in to email warming. It’s an automatic email warm-up tool that mimics human behavior to ensure your email activity appears authentic.

Once you opt-in, we automatically send, open, mark as important, remove from SPAM, and reply to a percentage of the mail-warming emails we send via your mailbox.

“You need to create a stream of legitimate email traffic between you and another mailbox,” shares Josh Garrison, Head of Customer Education at Apollo. 

🚀 Want to learn more about how Apollo can help with your deliverability efforts? Sign up for your free account to see it in action!

3. Set up authentication

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are email ID systems. They are forms of domain authentication and are coded into the backend of wherever you host your domain records. 

When you send an email, the email server looks at where the email came from and searches for reasons to reject the email (misspelled domain, new domain, redirect links in the email copy, etc.). Then, they ask the sending email server if anything looks off. If you don’t supply your ID, your email likely isn’t ending up in your recipient’s inbox. 

When you cross the border, you need a passport to show you have the right credentials. Proving the credibility of a domain is no different. 

💡For more information on setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC in Apollo, check out these resources.

• Set Up Sender Policy Framework (SPF) Records to Authorize Your Emails
• Set Up Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) to Authenticate Your Email
• Set Up Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) to Authenticate Your Emails

4. Respect the rules of the sender platform

One of the number one rules of outbound?

“Don’t abuse the infrastructure,” says Benny. 

Regardless of where you send from (Google, Outlook, Sendgrid, etc.), you need to make sure you don’t violate the rules of the sender platform.

To avoid appearing as a spammer, spoofer, or scammer, familiarize yourself with the relevant acceptable use policies.

For example, consider how many emails you are sending, and how often. If Google sees a sudden increase in email sends, they may flag you as a spammer. Be mindful of relevant guidelines and your deliverability will improve.

5. Consider your email copy

When it comes to reaching peak deliverability, it matters what’s included within the email body, too.

When crafting outbound emails, it’s okay to include links, but use only direct links. Redirects, links to Google Drive, or too many links, can look spammy. You also want to avoid spam red flags like using all capital letters or symbols. Keep your emails engaging, but professional.

Lastly, email signatures are a great way to show your credibility. Including details like your full name, title, and company adds a level of legitimacy because this is exactly the kind of information that spammers don’t want to include. 

Staying out of the spam folder—for good

If you are struggling with email deliverability, go through the above and take a look at our deliverability checklist.

If you use Apollo sequences to send outbound emails, you’ll get automatic alerts about any domain problems and how to resolve them. 

If you’re still having deliverability issues, here are a few final tips to get you back on track:

• Stop using a damaged domain immediately. Put it in artificial warming until it’s healthy. 
• Rotate in a warmed domain that is aged 30+ days. 
• Scale up sends slowly (25 emails a day), and send the emails to receptive audiences. 
• Confirm you are only emailing verified leads. Data cleaning and enriching is a good way to ensure your email list is ready to go.

Now that you know why emails end up in spam, and how to fix it, you’re ready to reach out to your prospects with confidence.