Sender domain reputation, missing technical setup for sender authentication, sending to unengaged contacts, and sending to cold marketing lists are all common reasons email can be filtered out of the inbox and into spam.
Issues with Sender Authentication
SPF, DKIM, and an Envelope Domain are a part of Act-On’s technical requirements and should be in place before sending any email from your account. You can read more about how to set up SPF, DKIM, and an Envelope domain here: Required Technical Setup Overview.
Authentication failure is a major component of email messages being filtered out of the inbox and sent to spam. SPF and DKIM records and an Envelope Domain signal to receiving mail servers that your email is being sent by a legitimate source. Read more about verifying your technical setup.
Tip! Aligning and using the same domain for your From Addresses, Envelope Domain, and Custom Marketing Domain is optional but can help increase the chances your messages reach the inbox.
Sending to Unengaged Contacts
Sending to contacts who are not opening or clicking, and are otherwise unengaged or uninterested in your email, can damage your sender reputation and lead to your messages landing in spam rather than the inbox.
Best practice! Use engagement segmentation to make sure you’re sending to contacts who have opened and/or clicked on your email. It is a best practice to sunset contacts who have not recently engaged with your email messages.
Sending to Cold Marketing Lists
Sending unsolicited email to contacts who have not subscribed or opted-in to receive your email can cause contacts to mark your messages as spam and damage your sender reputation.
When working with a cold marketing list, do a complete list cleanse before your first send. Webbula identifies not only email addresses that will hard bounce when sent to, but also spam trap email addresses. Send in batches and monitor your engagement closely, while continuing to send to engaged contacts at the same time, if possible.
Need help developing a strategy to send to a cold list? Reach out to your Account Manager to schedule a consultation with our Deliverability Team.
Domain Reputation
Your sending reputation stays with you over time. If you’ve been using poor deliverability practices, it can take time and effort to remediate and rebuild your reputation.
You can help rebuild your reputation by using engagement segmentation, sending personalized and relevant information to opted-in contacts consistently, and sunsetting contacts who have not engaged with your email recently or at all.
