When a recipient marks your campaign as spam: why it weighs so much and how to avoid it

E-mail·· 47 views· 3 min read

The short answer: when someone presses «Spam» or «Junk» on one of your e-mails, their e-mail service records a complaint against the sender. It only takes a few complaints for the following e-mails, to the whole list, to start landing in spam. You avoid it with a list that asked to hear from you and an easy way out.

Why a complaint weighs so much

To the big e-mail services, an unsubscribe means «not interested any more»; a complaint means «this is junk I never asked for». The second is one of the strongest signals they have, and it counts against the sending domain, which can drag down your everyday e-mail too, such as invoices and replies to customers.

Where complaints come from

Cause How to avoid it
The person does not remember signing up A welcome e-mail straight away and your company name clearly in the sender.
A bought list, or one imported without consent Only contacts who agreed. See what to import.
They cannot find how to leave The unsubscribe link in the footer and the header. See unsubscribing.
Too many e-mails A regular, moderate pace. See how often.
Content that does not interest them Segments: each group gets what concerns it.

If your campaigns are already landing in spam

1 Stop sending to the whole list and send only to your most active contacts for a while.
2 Clean the list: inactive contacts, bouncing addresses, contacts of doubtful origin. See keeping the list healthy.
3 Check the domain: SPF, DKIM and DMARC correct. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
4 Check whether the domain is on a blacklist and ask to be removed. See blacklists.
Never ask people not to mark you as spam. It does not work and it sounds like an excuse. What works is giving them a reason to stay and an easy way to leave.
The groundwork is in the general article: e-mail marketing without burning your domain.

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SEE ALSO

Unsubscribe in every campaign e-mail: the footer link, the header link and what happens next

Keeping an e-mail list healthy: bounces, contacts who never open and a last-chance campaign

Your domain or IP is on a blacklist: how to check and how to get off it

E-mail marketing: doing it properly without burning your domain

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