How to Vet Your Emails

A good understanding of email deliverability is essential for any organization using digital marketing. The practices you use to send emails, such as content and formatting, will directly impact the chances for your emails to end up in the spam folder. It's essential to keep track of all the different factors that can affect deliverability, such as using an appropriate "From" address and properly setting up authentication protocols like DKIM and SPF. Also, avoid words and phrases flagged by spam filters by steering clear of too many exclamation marks or promotional language.

We’ve compiled a list of tips to help you quickly clean up, segment, and reduce your chances of being flagged as spam.

01. What are DKIM and SPF?

Authentication protocols like DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) are used to verify the identity of an email sender. These protocols help ensure that the emails you receive from a domain are sent from that domain, preventing spoofing and other malicious activities. 

DKIM is implemented by adding a digital signature to the header of each email that can be validated against a public key in the sender's DNS record. SPF works differently, as it requires setting up special SPF records in your DNS that tell receiving mail servers which IPs or domains are allowed to send emails for your domain. Both of these protocols help improve email deliverability, so it's important to make sure they're properly configured on your server.

02. Tips to Avoid Spam Filters

It's important to be mindful of the words and phrases you use in your emails, as they can trigger spam filters and cause your emails to end up in the recipient's spam folder. Here are some tips on how to avoid getting caught by spam filters:

• Use natural language – avoid using terms like "free," "win," “special offer,” and excessive exclamation marks

• Keep subject lines under 50 characters and avoid using all caps

• Try to keep your content relevant to the topic of your email

• Avoid using HTML elements that can trigger spam filters, such as image maps or forms

• Don't use promotional language in the body of your email

• Don't overuse attachments, as this can trigger spam filters

• Check that URLs within the email body lead to valid websites, as broken links may cause a false positive for a spam filter

• Avoid using too many images or videos, as these can appear suspicious and trigger spam filters

• Make sure you have an unsubscribe link in your emails, as failure to do so could trigger the spam filter

• Use a dedicated IP address or domain for email sends

• Incorporate DKIM and SPF records into your emails

• Check your emails against blacklists before sending them out

• Check your content for typos and spelling errors

• Adding an unsubscribe link at the end of the email