Even in this age of social media, email remains the most effective way to reach the audience for communication and for marketing purposes. Nonetheless, emails tend to get caught up in the spam mailbox or end up being filtered as spam at some stage due to striking preset signals showing it could be spam; so for the sake of avoiding detection and ensuring delivery of emails to potential inboxes, it does serve to emphasize that an email spam test should be carried out and not to leave anything to luck. So, in this piece, we will seek to answer the following questions: What is an email spam test? Why is the purpose of conducting an email spam test important? How do you perform an email spam test? And avoiding spam.
What Is Email Spam Test?
An email spam test is a procedure that defines an email that is considered to have been sent to spam by different email hosting companies and spam filters. The test attempts to verify instances of subject lines to be used, sender details, and the interlinking of content among these subjects so that there are not enough reasons to label this message as spam.
Spam filters are smart tools that analyze emails with the help of words, links, or even the senderās history. An email spam test is useful for troubleshooting problems beforehand to allow for the appropriate changes to be made before the email is sent.
Why Email Spam Testing is Necessary?
Emailing people only to have their messages marked as spam is pointless, considering it could also damage your reputation as a sender. Therefore, email spam tests should be conducted for the following reasons:
Boosts Deliverability: Since spam tests help to determine if the email sent would land in the recipientās inbox, email spam tests help improve click rates, hence engagement.
Sustains the Senderās Reputation: If a certain sender consistently has their emails flagged as spam, they would automatically receive a low sender score from email services, which would then prevent them from receiving future messages.
Recognises Areas of Concern: An email spam test will allow you to target specific areas such as excessive spam words and even validation of sender details.
Enhances Effectiveness: By testing for spam beforehand, you minimize the chances of having to re-issue emails and also resolve aspects related to the email not delivering.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting Email Spam Test
Spam email is an unwanted email received in either business or personal email accounts. It is crucial to test your email before sending it to the audience. There are several strategies that you can use for email spam testing. Let us look at the stepwise approach below to conduct an email spam test.
1. Leverage Spam Testing Tools Available
There are various tools that testers can utilize to spam test their emails. Some popular tools include the following: Mail Tester ā which sends a test email to a unique address, thus analyzing the email context; GlockApps ā which assists one in understanding how various email services will treat their email; Litmus ā which helps to examine emails against spam filters and assists in focusing on areas of improvement. All of these tools effectively test emails based on the senderās reputation, context, or even formatting.
2. Evaluation of Email Language Used
Spam filters rely heavily on language to test emails against spam. Certain words might be flagged by spam filters; for example, the words āfree,ā ābuy now,ā etc. Use only essential captions that a customer would find useful; if the content of the email contains excessive marketing captions, then spam filters are most likely to flag it.
3. Cross Check Senderās Details
Remember to proofread the senderās details as these are vital when sending out an email. For example, use someoneās name in place of a generic sender address such as no-reply@domain.com. Email recipients show more confidence in emails that have personalized sender names.
4. Verify your links as well as images
An email spam filter looks at the images and links attached to the mail you send. It is better to keep links and images in moderation and make sure every link goes to a credible website. Inactive links or inconsistent URLs tend to set off spam filters.
5. Verify your domain
Legitimate emails can be more easily identified using email authentication frameworks like SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), or DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance). Ensure that these protocols are properly configured on your domain.
Strategies to Prevent Emails from the Spam Folder
Other than carrying out a spam test, here are other strategies that would help you to keep your emails away from the spam folder:
1. Do not use spam-like wordings
Refrain from using phrases and words that would be considered promotional, or even using ALL CAPS and more than one exclamation mark. Keep it simple and make sure whatever you say adds value to your audience.
2. Cultivate a strong impression as a sender
Itās crucial to remember that to develop a good impression as a sender to the recipients, frequent sends do not work. Where possible, employ a unique IP address and donāt send a lot of emails at once.
3. Always Provide an Unsubscribe Link
This will also help those who view your email as spam. It is a general requirement in most countriesā email marketing laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the US.
4. Group Your Audience into Subsets
Creating several lists with every single one of them targeting an aspect of the āinterestsā of the audience you serve is really effective as it greatly minimizes the chances of getting a spam complaint. Audience segmentation helps with engagement but it is also good for your email lists.
5. Purge Your Lists Periodically
A great way to start is by looking for subscribers who havenāt engaged with any of your emails in the past few months or identifying emails that are incorrect. Getting too many people counting to the percentage of unused space can harm your senderās emailās reputation and will flag your email as spam.
Disastrous Practices That Get An Email Flagged As Spam
Avoiding the below pointers will assist in improving the deliverability of your email:
Sending Too Many Emails: If the audience receives too many emails from your business, they might get annoyed and flag your emails as Spam.
Changing Sender Information: If your email address and name change too frequently, you will find it a lot harder for a recipient to recognize your email.
No Recipient Focus: The tone of most emails that are standard and not catered to an individual is viewed as low quality, both by the consumer and spam bots.
Conclusion
Enrolling in an email spam test can be handy in making sure your emails go to the appropriate recipients. Also, using spam testing tools, reviewing the content of your emails, and practicing the best standards for deliverability services can improve your possibilities of landing in the inbox. Good sender reputation, relevant information in the content, and appropriate conduct with emails can make it safe for you to run email campaigns and avoid being blacklisted as spam.
