It is annoying when newsletters end up in the spam folder. We give you tips on how you can prevent this from happening. There can be several reasons why a mail is classified as spam. We will tell you what measures you can take to significantly reduce the risk of this happening.
Alt tag for images
All images used in the newsletter should have an alternative text (alt tag) that is meaningful and describes the image. If images do not have an alt tag or contain “spam-prone” descriptions, this increases the risk of the email being classified as spam.
Authenticity
There are various procedures and protocols that allow a mail server to check the identity of the sender of a newsletter. These include Sender ID, SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance).
If your provider or e-mail system works with an SPF query (Sender Policy Framework), you should store an SPF record there. This prevents emails from being sent via unauthorized mail transfer agents (MTAs).
Subject
There are a few things to bear in mind with the subject line. You should avoid attention-grabbing formatting such as words in capital letters or the excessive use of special characters such as exclamation marks or question marks. Certain words and characters such as “free, free, %, €, Euro, offer, new, current, hot, top, inclusive, attractive, profit, attention, test” should also be avoided. The subject line should be interesting. Standard names such as “Newsletter July” are not recommended.
Use of links
If possible, you should only use links that refer to your own domain. All links should have the same spelling, e.g. always with a leading “www”.
Instead of URLS, use link texts that are descriptive and self-explanatory, such as “www.mission-om.de” or “learn more”. The “http://” or “https://” should be omitted in order to avoid a phishing warning.
Use of images
When designing the newsletter, care should be taken to use images sparingly. Use as few images as possible. If possible, the ratio of 70 percent text to 30 percent images should not be exceeded. Large images increase the loading time considerably and are therefore blocked by some e-mail clients for security reasons.
Whitelists
There are so-called whitelists on which senders who are identified as non-spammers are listed. The Certified Senders Alliance (CSA), for example, maintains such a whitelist. By joining the CSA, you undertake to comply with certain quality criteria. This ensures that your newsletters are accepted by the most important mail clients.
Blacklists
In addition to whitelists, there are also so-called blacklists on which IP addresses and domains are listed that are suspected of sending spam emails. If an IP address ends up on such a list, all emails sent from this address are intercepted and blocked.
So-called DNS-based Blackhole Lists (DNSBL) are blacklists that can be queried in real time. It is advisable to check this in good time.
Spam tests
It is advisable to carry out a spam test within your own newsletter software before sending a newsletter. The newsletter is checked for various critical criteria. The result is a spam score, which provides information on the probability of the newsletter being classified as spam.
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