how to stay out of spam filters

Why do your emails hit spam?

It’s a frustration we see again and again – brands create these gorgeous, personalised emails with clear CTAs and irresistible offers – yet they still get blocked by a spam filter. Here’s our quick guide on how to stay out of spam filters, including tips that you can action right now. 

4 ways to avoid spam filters

There are dozens of techniques you can use to ensure your emails end up in the inbox, not in spam! Here are 4 things we always tick off our checklist before starting a new email campaign. Check them out:

1. we send emails in chunks

First and foremost, we refrain from sending mass emails to avoid the spam filter – instead, we separate the data into chunks and fire the campaign out across several days. This entirely depends on the number of contacts you are sending to, of course – but we’d recommend sending in chunks if you have over 500 contacts in your campaign data list. 

2. we choose our words wisely

If you’re running a brilliant offer or giving away a freebie – you want to be able to share it with your prospects and customers. While marketing a service as `free`, or asking for people to `buy now` will win you customers, it’s also a speedy route to the spam box. Instead, try:
 
Stripping out spam words for your first send and including them in a resend or non-opener send;
 
Swapping spam words for softer terms – for example – use `complimentary` instead of `free`.
 
Spam words are flagged by content filters. Many email marketing tools will highlight which spam filter words to avoid and if you need to rethink your language before sending your campaign out. 


"using words like `free`

are a speedy route to the spam box."

3. we are careful with coding

We’ll go ahead and say it – this one is annoying. We build these slick templates out of PHP, HTML, and the other types of cool code – only for half the content to get blocked or not even make it past the spam filter. Argh! You’d think a well-branded HTML would look less spammy than plain text, and while they can do – spam filters enjoy flagging certain components within them. You know, just to make our job extra fun. Our advice? Always create a text-only version of your beautiful template and get ready to send a version if you can’t bypass the spam filter. 
 

4. we don't hammer our data

It makes sense that constant contact can trigger spam filters – the literal definition of spam is getting hammered with emails about something you don’t want or need! There isn’t a magic number of sends that you should be doing per week – it depends on too many variants. We’d recommend being sensible about it and leaving at least 24 hours between each email. 
 
Did you enjoy this help guide? Get in touch with our expert email marketing team today – we’re happy to give you further tips over the phone for free.
 
 

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