Avoiding Spam Filters And Spam Folders

Let's begin with the honest truth - there is no way to guarantee your messages are delivered 100% of the time to all intended recipients. Mail providers have broad latitude to block and filter incoming messages as they see fit, and the primary goal of these measures is to minimize the amount of delivered email that their customers might consider to be spam.

This is as true now as it was twenty years ago. The difference now is that despite what it might seem from looking at your own email accounts, the issue of spam email has actually become exponentially worse over time. Mail providers have responded by becoming even more aggressive in their filtering processes, which unfortunately also makes things more difficult for senders of legitimate mail.

As a sender, your best chance of delivery success comes from doing everything possible to look like a sender of legitimate mail. This begins with supporting DNS entries like reverse DNS (which your host handles), SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. None of these measures are actually new, but as mail providers become more stringent in filtering they become more essential to delivery success.

Additionally, mailing list operators have concerns above and beyond those of a basic mail sender. Operators must ensure their mailing list doesn't inadvertently cause DMARC violations, validate subscribers by requiring subscription confirmations, and practice good list hygiene by not continuing to message email accounts that do not exist. Messages from mailing lists should also include a footer that clearly explains how someone could unsubscribe if so desired.

Something else to consider is the hosting package you choose. While shared hosting can be very affordable, because it is shared there are other people sending their own message traffic from the same server. This means that mail providers will generally see you and your shared hosting neighbors as a single source of message traffic, and their messaging behavior will also affect how your messages are received. Your host can discuss hosting plan options to mitigate this, such as dedicated addresses or private hosting.

In the event of large-scale blocking of mail by specific providers (such as Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo), some providers have processes in place for your host to escalate and appeal the block to seek relief. However, not all providers offer such a process and even those that do will not guarantee a specific deadline for action or that the block will be removed after they investigate. As with general mail delivery itself, the success of such an appeal improves when mail senders are doing their best to look and operate like senders of legitimate mail should.

While email delivery success cannot be guaranteed, as outlined above there are specific steps senders can take to improve their delivery success. However, it's also important to accept that delivery issues will happen at times. In those situations, ensuring your mailing list handles bounces well will mitigate potential problems from unexpected delivery issues and help keep things running smoothly.