Are your emails being flagged as spam?
So you've come up with the perfect promotion, offering or deal and spent precious time crafting an email for your customers. It's helpful, relevant and concise, there's just one problem - your customers never saw it. Instead, it went straight to spam or, even worse, triggered a warning that it might be a phishing scam.
Why?
Email servers do there best to protect their users from phishing or scammers through the use of email filters. And it's possible you've unintentionally triggered these filters even though you're not phishing or trying to scam anyone. Luckily, there's a way around this! Read on to see how to keep your emails from being flagged as phishing.
First, what is phishing?
You might be familiar with the good old 'Nigerian prince' email scam from the 90's, which is a phishing email. These days, phishing has evolved, scammers now pretend to be trustworthy senders (like banks, couriers or suppliers) to trick people into sharing private information or transfer funds.
Most of these attempts happen over email, although phishing over the phone or 'vishing' is also a thing. To counter this, email providers like gmail, outlook and hotmail have built tough filters to help identify potential spam, which analyse EVERYTHING about your emails - imagers, sender information, language and text to image ratio - with the intent to protect their users and ensure recipients don't get targeted or fall for fraudulent or malicious emails.
While well intended, many regular well meaning emails often get sent to spam folders as they trigger these filters. So how to get around these filters?
Common mistakes that trigger spam or phishing warnings
1. Using a free email address
We get it, we also love free stuff, but sending emails from a personal address (e.g. yourbusiness@gmail.com) can look suspicious, particularly if you're sending an invoice, asking for payment or even just trying to get someone to click on a link.
How to fix this?
Use a branded email address with your business domain, this will require purchasing a domain name (if you already have this, you can skip this step), registering your domain, and setting up an email hosting service with a provider - like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. If you're low on time or resource, you can work with companies like Thryv, who can help set you up with a web domain.
2. Misleading Subject Lines
When it comes to subject lines, there's a difference between clickbait and straight up lying, so be sure to keep your subject lines relevant to the content you're sending. On that note, be wary of language that's considered 'spammy' in your subject line or the body of your email.
How to fix this?
Avoid language like: 'free', 'win', 'Urgent! Action is required.' (pressure technique used by spammers), limited time offer, act now or don't miss out and try not to over use exclamation or question marks and dollar signs.
If you have a offer that involves a free item or a competition, don't just put 'free' or 'win', provide more detail into what will be won any terms and be sure the rest of your email
3. Having no authentication
This sounds technical, but it's basically a behind-the-scenes way or proving your emails are really from you and not someone trying to impersonate you. Without authentication email clients like Gmail or Outlook may treat your messages as unverified or unsafe.
How to fix this?
If you have an IT person on board, they can help you set up authentication protocols. If not, we recommend using an email marketing platform or CRM that has email inbuilt (like Thryv) that already does this for you - or makes it easy for you to do this.
4. Overuse of links and attachments
Too many link, suspicious urls, unexpected attachments or even shortened url links scream 'phishing' to email filters.
How to fix it?
Be mindful of the links you use
Avoid shortened url links
Only include attachments if the email calls for it and reference the attachment in the email
5. Poor formatting or all caps
Emails that look messy, have typos, or lean on ALL CAPS look unprofessional - and filters take note (also let's be real, no one likes being yelled at).
How to fix it?
Stick to clear and clean formatting. If you're not sure how to layout your emails, many email providers and CRMs (like Thryv) have built in email templates that tick this box.
If you want to explore more options, really good emails is a… really good resource to check out.
Avoid 'shouting' or using all caps in emails.
Pop your email text through Grammarly, a spell checker or get someone else to review the content. When you've spent lots of time writing and reviewing an email (or anything really), you stop seeing the mistakes and a fresh set of eyes can go a long way in picking up a rogue typo (speaking from personal experience here).
6. You're missing a physical address or unsubscribe option
Businesses are required to include contact info and an easy way to opt out of their marketing emails (i.e. emails not related to a transaction you have with customers). Missing these can make your email non-compliant with spam laws as well as get you flagged.
How to fix it?
Include your business's physical address in every email and an unsubscribe or opt out link in marketing emails.
Bonus ways to build trust
Use your logo and consistent branding in your emails.
Personalise your messages with your customer’s name.
Don’t send bulk emails from your inbox — use a proper email marketing platform.
Send a welcome email when someone signs up, so they recognise your email address in future.
Being mistaken as phishing isn't just annoying, it's damaging to your business's reputation and can hurt relationships with your customers. By avoiding these 6 spam triggers you can build trust with both your customers and email spam filters, ensuring your emails are making it to your customers.
Want to learn more?
If you're looking for more ways to protect your business, check out our other blogs here.