Here's How to Keep Important Emails Out of Your Spam Folder
Every morning, you wake up and go through your routine before heading into the physical office or home office to start your day. When you get to your desk, you log into your computer and open your email. While sorting through your mailboxes, you notice that essential emails such as an RFP you were expecting, an invoice you’ve been waiting for, or important messages from vendors and partners are sitting in your spam folder. You might ask yourself, “how did these end up in here?” - a question that gets asked more frequently than you would expect. Missing these emails is not only frustrating, but it can also affect your business’s bottom line.
Why Are Emails Marked as Spam?
In most cases, organizations want to protect their users from email phishing by incorporating spam filters - which have become more rigorous over the last few years. Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Outlook and Gmail, are cracking down on spam to serve their customers better. However, the spam filtering process isn’t 100% perfect, meaning that sometimes legit emails go to spam due to a few reasons:
Your Engagement with the Email
Your interaction with the emails you receive matters. If you immediately delete an email from a company, you will stop seeing those emails in your inbox after a while. While those emails are still being sent to you, your internet service provider has determined that you do not want to see them and places them in your spam folder.
Components of the Email
Suppose there is an email located in your spam folder that does not belong. In that case, it could be because there are too many images or images that did not download correctly, the email uses spam triggering words, does not include a physical address, or does not have an option to unsubscribe.
How Can You Improve Email Deliverability?
Below are tips you can do to improve email deliverability and keep important emails out of your spam folder and at the top of your inbox.
Opt-in to Receiving Emails
Give the organization permission to send you emails. By opting into a list, you willingly provide your contact information to a business. Opting-in states that the emails received are not unsolicited and should not be marked as spam. Many organizations will allow you to choose what content you want to receive so you don’t receive irrelevant communications.
Mark Email as “Not Spam”
As ISPs evolve their spam monitoring, you will eventually have essential emails slip through the cracks. However, those emails are not forever lost to the black hole known as the spam folder. Instead, ISPs provide you with the ability to move an email with just a few clicks of your mouse, giving you the freedom to control your inbox.
Whitelist the Email Address
Whitelisting is the process of adding an email domain to an approved senders list. This tells your email client that you know and trust the domain and never move an email from the sender to your spam folder. Whitelisting is different for each ISP, so be sure to research the process before attempting it in your email client.
According to Statista, phishing mails were a leading point of entry for ransomware in 2020. As email phishing becomes a more frequent issue, monitoring your inbox activity is crucial to preventing attacks. By utilizing the tips above, you can regulate the emails and senders flooding into your inbox, eliminating the uncertainty around legitimate emails and phishing attempts.