Why emails get marked as spam (and what FLG does to help)

Sometimes you may find that emails aren't landing in your recipient's inbox. Legitimate emails falling into spam folders is a problem we all face.

We don't have 100% control over whether an email gets through a recipient's spam filters, but there are several things we do to minimise the chance of it happening.

Why do emails get marked as spam?

Mail servers often accept messages that they have no intention of delivering. They do this so they don't give spam servers any clues about whether their spam is getting through.

There are two points in the email system where spam may be filtered:

• When the email is accepted by the email server. Here the email is discarded immediately, without ever being placed in a spam folder. This is less common, as measures such as SPF records and DKIM (DomainKeys) are used by FLG.
• When the email reaches the user's inbox (or, more precisely, their spam folder). Preventing this type of filtering comes down to the content and context of the email. See the spam-filtering tips further down this article.

What does FLG do to help?

• We subscribe to feedback loops (FBLs). This means email service providers tell us when their recipients report FLG emails as spam. This information is available in your account (we explain how to get it below). We also monitor the ratio of emails reported as spam and take action where too high a proportion of a user's emails are marked as spam.
• Unsubscribe links are added automatically. When an email template is sent by a bulk action, workflow, or lead action and the {LEAD_UNSUBSCRIBE} variable isn't found, an unsubscribe link is automatically added to the bottom of the email. This variable is replaced at the time of sending, so it will appear in its non-substituted form when you view processed templates.
• Failed email addresses are automatically unsubscribed. Sending large amounts of email to invalid addresses can cause mail servers to blacklist IP addresses. To help keep mailing lists clean, we automatically unsubscribe addresses that fail because the email address is invalid.
• We follow email best practices. As long as you have receive and allocate email replies and bounces selected in your user/site settings, messages are signed and certified with both SPF and DKIM (DomainKeys).
• We integrate with some email clients to add unsubscribe buttons within the interface for bulk and automated emails, and we ensure all our outgoing mail IP addresses have reverse DNS records. This all means better delivery rates and greater trust for emails sent through FLG.
• We monitor over 100 email server blacklists and SenderScore regularly, and take action whenever necessary to quickly restore our reputation.

What can I do to reduce the chance of my emails being marked as spam?

• Set up Email Domain Verification to authorise FLG to send emails from your domain.
• Ask your recipients to whitelist your email address — usually as simple as saving you as a contact in their address book.
• Include an unsubscribe link in all your emails. These are added automatically if missing when you send via a bulk action, workflow, or lead action.
• Avoid spam trigger terms. Many filters look for patterns in the subject or body, flagging words such as "money", "offer", "why pay more", and "cash back".
• Keep images to a minimum — avoid a high number of images or large image files.
• Avoid excessive punctuation and ALL CAPS in the subject or body of your emails.
• Don't use a red font in your emails.
• Test your templates by running your email through an online spam checker, e.g. www.mail-tester.co.uk.
• Check whether DMARC is set up for your email domain, as this can affect emails sent from the system. If DMARC is in use, please contact the support team to discuss how FLG can accommodate this.

If all else fails, we'll do our best to help. We'll need to see a copy of the email headers for a received email that was marked as spam. The steps to get the headers are covered on this page for most email clients. Once you have them, please contact the support team.

Getting reports on spam & email tracking

Use the Email Delivery Summary Report in the reports area to see how many of your emails are being marked as spam. If you have email tracking switched on (Settings > Configuration > Email), you'll also see statistics on opens, clicks, replies, and more.

You can set up alerts based on email tracking events by going to Settings > Lead Groups > Lead Types > Edit. Here you can add actions for email-related events — for example, creating a task for the user when a recipient unsubscribes, or when someone clicks the 'spam' button. For more information, see our article on Using Email Events.