You’ve spent years building relationships with your audience, and they have repaid the favor by subscribing – and sharing – your newsletter. And then, for no apparent reason, crickets: You don’t hear from them. Or sometimes you do, with a direct email or social post complaining that they no longer receive your newsletter.

Nothing is more frustrating than emails that are not delivered.

Unfortunately, the cat-and-mouse game between spammers and the spam filterers has taken on a completely new level. Legitimate double opted-in communications are prevented from reaching their recipients, all in the service of preventing an ever-growing deluge of spam. So what to do?

Here are 14 specific things that can make a difference:

1. Has anything changed? If it has, consider going back to the old way of doing it, at least temporarily, until you can sort out what the issue was.
2. Do you have permission to send? Beyond the legal requirements in different jurisdictions, making sure that you have explicit permission to send emails will mean it is far less likely for people to mark your email as spam. When they do this, it sends a signal to their email service provider (ESP): too many of these signals and practically anything you send will be auto-filtered to spam. Requiring a double opt-in for all subscribers will help.
3. Remind users to check their spam folder and click “not spam”. This also sends a signal to your ESP.
4. Are you on any blacklists or blocklists? Most ESPs rely on blacklists and blocklists of known spammers. If your IP, domain, or hostname is on these lists, it could impair deliverability. Here’s a site that can help: https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx. (Speak to your tech support if this is an issue.)
5. Spammy text. Some spam filters use algorithms that are very sensitive to email messages that contain “spammy” text. As these algorithms are constantly changing, the best defence is to both write for “real people”, but also test for a spam score through the many such services that are available. Google “Spam Assessment” for a wide selection of testing sites.
6. It may be that your email address has been flagged as a spam sender: If this is the case, try sending from a different “to” address. Eg: Instead of coming from “randall@“, have the emails sent from “manager@“. If possible, try sending from a different domain.
7. The “Trust score” is low since you’re not in their contact list: Ask people to whitelist your name; or at least put it in their contact lists
8. Flagged signatures: Since most people will rarely change their email signature, it is used by a number of spam services as a flag to identify senders. It may be that this is what is identifying you as a spam sender. Change your footer to be something else: different format, different text
9. Your IP Address has been identified as a source of spam: change your “sending” IP address. This often means speaking to your ISP to change the PUBLIC IP address of your office. (Which is different than just “renewing the lease” of your computer’s IP address.)
10. Your email service provider’s IP address has been identified as a source of spam: Either pay for a private IP address, or change your ESP.
11. Your email service provider has a low trust score, and you’re being penalized for it: Again, change your ESP.
12. Poor list quality: Re-examine how names are added to the list, and be more specific with people about what they will receive when they subscribe.
13. Source is not authenticated: Most ESPs are no longer forwarding email from systems that are not properly “authenticated”; many corporate email systems are likewise requiring this. Ensure that your email sender is appropriated configured with DMARC, DomainKeys (DKIM), and SPF records.
14. Preference Centre: Too often, the only easy alternative that people have when they no longer wish to receive your emails is to click the “spam” button. While most jurisdictions require a “click to unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email, it is either so obscure as to be invisible, or it is ignored. As an alternative, improve the ability for people to “gracefully” unsubscribe: set up a preference center, IN ADDITION TO the unsubscribe link. And make it prominent. If they’re not interested in receiving your information, it doesn’t matter if they unsubscribe; you just don’t want them identifying you as a spammer on the way out.

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