Emails might seem like a traditional marketing approach, but it still works, especially for online businesses such as Magento stores. Nonetheless, one of the biggest concerns of the store owner is how to avoid spam emails in Magento.
Here in this blog, we will guide you through why your email is marked as spam, a process, and useful tips to protect your emails from the spam box within the Magento framework to enjoy maximum deliverability and visibility.
How Does a Spam Filter Work?
Table of Contents
First, let us describe to you shortly what is spam filter and its operating principles. Spam filters, in technical terms, are algorithms that detect incoming dangerous emails from attackers or marketers which is identified to be unsolicited, harmful, or infected content. Spam email can clutter up your inbox, consuming valuable space and concealing important emails, and spam filters, as a result, are designed to protect users from unwanted messages, information stolen, and cyber-attacks executed using emails.
Spam filters play a crucial role in the functionality of email service providers (ESPs) which is used to deliver only relevant emails to the primary inbox. Emails that arrive in Magento are filtered according to preset criteria. These parameters assign a positive or negative influence on the email’s rating, ultimately determining its classification as spam. Several typical variables that determine spam include:
Content Filters
Content filters, as the name reveals, analyze the text included in an email and determine whether it is spammy or not. If your content contains any spam-triggering words that are relative to some basic objectives like offering deals, promoting explicit material, or tap into human emotions, such as happiness or fear, then they will not wait to mark your email as spam. The way how to avoid spam emails in Magento is to remove some words connected to money, such as “discount,” “limited time,” or “offer” and inappropriate language of a sexual nature that could indicate explicit content.
Blacklist Filters
Besides the whitelisted filter – the domain that has a green signal, and certifies authentic senders, the spam filters also have a list of blacklisted domains and IP addresses and block the emails by senders that have been put on the blacklist. Normally, spammers can change email addresses effortlessly, this filter is also updated on a regular basis, so you do not miss a spot. If a spammer changes email domains, the emails may still pass through the filter until it is changed and the sender’s emails are flagged as spam once more.
Language Filters
Normally, users are more likely to receive emails in languages which they are using and fluent in. The email is, therefore, written in a different language has the possibility to be spam, under the language filters.
Header Filters
Header filters examine your email header to identify if it comes from an illegitimate source, or embed inconsistent and falsified information. Some factors that are under the control of header filters such as the number of recipients; inconsistencies in the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) transaction; the legitimacy of the email domain and IP address to find out spammers.
Machine Learning
Another method of spam filtering is to use machine learning to classify emails into spam or non-spam by looking for techniques and patterns to further analyze emails. When an email has been sent to the recipient’s inbox, the machine-learning system will analyze word probabilities against all words in the email. If the percentage is high enough, the email will be considered spam. The accuracy of spam filtering by machine learning is up to 98% and it can be trained to learn new spam words, so it works almost perfectly to block spam emails.
Rule-based Filters
Rule-based filters allow users to set up specific rules that can be applied to all emails coming into your inbox. Emails that contain words, enders, or even phrases that are in the “banned list” will automatically be sent to the spam folder. Rule-based filters are highly adaptable to user’s needs and preferences, but spam emails that do not include the triggers of the rule-based filters won’t get blocked.
How to Avoid Spam Emails in Magento?
Step 1: Keep Your Domain Reputation Clean
First and foremost, you need to build a clean domain reputation since it makes spam filters and ESP believe in your authenticity and gives better email delivery. So, what do you need to do to have a good domain reputation? Here is the process:
Comply with the CAN-SPAM ACT: It is undeniable that when it comes to sending emails in Magento, you have to obey rules and regulations, and the CAN-SPAM Act is a law governing emails designed to ensure all email-sending activity is happening within ethical boundaries. So, before sending an email via Magento, remember these requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act to make sure your email will be sent to the inbox of recipients:
- Nothing false or misleading in the information
- View the message as an ad
- View the sender’s location
- Respect the rejection of receiving emails from the recipient
- Keep an eye on how people represent you.
Use a good age domain: If you are using a completely new domain, then using a good domain is your right choice since its stability and longevity will help to leverage your positive reputation and improve the opportunities to land in the primary inbox.
Limit the number of emails per domain: Every email service provider provides users with limited sending emails. You need to build a plan on how to send your email under the allowance. If the number of sending emails exceeds the limit, it can lead to a negative influence on your domain.
Use an exclusive domain to perform small activities: By creating functional domains, you can personalize your activities, streamline your workflow, manage queries based on that domain, and build a good reputation over a period of time. For example, it is ideal to have separate domains for customer service, general informative conversations with your customers or cooperation partners. This kind of customization eliminates any possibility of confusion for your consumers and aids in better email domain management.
Step 2: Configure Server and IP
Have a dedicated IP address: Always keep in mind that wrong emails can block the IP address. So, at all times, it is better to have a dedicated IP, rather than a shared IP. Using shared IPs puts your email reputation at risk by exposing you to spammers. A dedicated IP is the safest option to protect your email deliverability from being affected and optimizes your Magento conversion rates.
Set your email authentication, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC:
- SPF (stands for Sender Policy Framework) plays a role as an essential layer that prevents spoofing by verifying emails coming from your domain with your IP address.
- DKIM means DomainKeys Identified Mail which contains a private key, public key, and signature in the domain’s DNS record to verify the sender.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is a protocol executed by the SPD and DMARC records to deliver your email to the primary box. SPF checks the authority of the sending IP to send emails on behalf of the domain. DKIM, on the other hand, uses cryptographic signatures to authenticate the integrity of the message content.
SMTP Server: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol allows you to send email on Magento through a specific third-party SMTP provider. Thanks to it, you can deliver emails from one server to the other with ease such as Gmail, Amazon, Microsoft, or any other mail server account.
Once the server is configured, now you can move to step 3.
Step 3: Build Appropriate Email Structure for Magento Emails
This is a recommended email structure to avoid spam emails in Magento.
Plain Text Part: The fact that Magento sends only the HTML part of emails, instead of the text part, making the email to get a higher spam score. To ensure compatibility and accessibility, you must create text parts manually for each e-mail template or automatically based on the HTML version.
Quote-Printable Line Length: The maximum quote-printable line length is 998 characters to adapt the RDC 2822 specification and improve the readability of the sending email. However, Magento’s default line length for print-quotable is limited to 200 characters but it is possible for you to change this value if needed.
Embedding Images: An email without an image can increase the risk of spam classification. To enhance email security, it is better to add at least 1 image into your email message. Still, the image that comes from external sources is inappropriate.
Use Valid HTML Structure: Collaborate with an experienced HTML developer to create well-structured HTML for your email body. Avoid complex CSS3, just stick to simple HTML and tables.
These were the main ideas on the format of emails. Let’s move forward to the next step of how to avoid spam emails in Magento – e-mail content.
Step 4: Email Content Recommendation for Magento
Valuable Text: Ensure that your email provides valuable information which your readers are really interested in. Earlier, it is important to divide your audience into different categories and deliver specific useful messages to each particular segment.
Avoid Spam Trigger Words: One of the biggest red flags of spam email is spam-triggering words. People tend to use trigger words such as “free”, discount”, “buy now” to create buzz and attract others’ attention, but somehow, it brings backwash effects as a spam alert on your email. Instead, use a tailored strategy to help recipients relate to and understand your material.
Avoid Link Shorteners: Shortening links makes your URLs better look. Nevertheless, when it comes to email, it may undermine trust and increase the likelihood of your emails being treated as spam. So, do not strive to change the length of your links, embed full descriptive links to deliver transparency and authenticity to your recipients.
High resolution and related images: It is recommended that the Magento store only should add images into the email – but not a single image and not a bunch of images, just a sufficient amount. Single-image e-mails are mostly treated as customers’ spam messages while too many images can miscommunicate the main message. Thus, only add images to enrich the value of your content, do not overuse them.
Step 5: Testing e-mail messages
Acquire third-party services: Conduct an experiment before sending email is a must. By using third-party services, you can evaluate the email’s spam score, and get email previews on different platforms and devices. These services also give you some suggestions for your email’s HTML coding improvement.
Review With Your Team: After creating a Magento email, do not forget to send it to your staff and teammates for real feedback and innovate if necessary to enhance the quality and effectiveness of your email content.
Ensure Mobile Compatibility: Magento’s responsive design is decisive in engaging with a broader audience, especially in the era of smartphone. Test the email on mobile view to ensure a seamless user experience.
More Tips to Avoid Spam Emails in Magento
Email Recipient Segmentation: As mentioned above, we recommend you to send emails exclusively to your subscriber, who have willingly opted to receive them. Sending unsolicited emails can be extremely harmful to your domain reputation, and once multiple recipients marked you as a spammer, you have fallen under the blacklist.
Avoid Mass Buy Email: Buying an email list is not a good decision since you can not check the authenticity of the email addresses. The high volume of unverified and inauthentic emails can have a negative influence on your email deliverability and increase your bounce rate.
Respond to Grievances and Unsubscribes: Provide an unsubscribe option in your emails and put the link in the footer or at the end so recipients can quickly opt out in order to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
Install CAPTCHA to Prevent Spam: Use CAPTCHA to prevent spam bot registrations on your Magento 2 store. Users must solve easy riddles or tasks as part of this Magento security mechanism to demonstrate that they are human, not an automated bot.
More over don’t forget to check out other Magento-related articles from BSS Commerce below:
Magento Extension for No-Spam Email in Magento
NoBots
To shield Magento sites against spam and undesirable bots, the plugin makes use of a cutting-edge spam verification and detection mechanism. Additionally, it prevents spam from being created via custom forms, spam reviews, and contact from communications.
Follow Up Email
With follow-up emails, you may stay in touch with your consumers on a variety of occasions, including birthdays, special occasions, automobile abandonment, the introduction of fresh collections, and more. By using the plugin, you can ensure that none of your crucial communications end up in your spam folder and go unread by your clients.
MailGun
With the plugin, sending, receiving, and tracking emails is simple. If you want to prevent your emails from ending up in spam folders, you may configure the Magento dashboard to track who opens and clicks on them.
FAQs
1. Is It Effective To Use A Magento Extension To Increase Email Deliverability And Protect Against Spam?
Of course, third-party Magento extensions were created to improve email deliverability. We have suggested some extensions above, make sure to choose the one that matches your server well.
2. What Are Protocols I Should Consider To Prevent My Email From Being In The Spam Box?
To minimize the risk of emails being marked as spam, support authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC need to be utilized.
3. Should I Use Shortened Links in My Emails?
No. Your link needs to be full and descriptive unless the system may treat your email as spam. The shorter the link is, the less transparent and authentic your email is (as the spam filter evaluates)
4. How Magento Extensions Can Prevent My Emails From Being Marked As Spam?
Magento Extensions allow users to test and fix deliverability issues; track and analyze customer actions with the provided reporting tools, create personalized emails, and protect your emails from unexpected issues that result in poor subscriber experiences and lost trust which are the main reasons of spam filters.
5. How Can I Make Sure My Emails From My Magento Store Aren’t Considered Spam?
Yes, by building a clean domain reputation, adhering to email authentication protocols, using a dedicated IP to build trust, and creating friendly content without trigger words.
Conclusion
To learn how to avoid sending spam emails in Magento, you need to take proactive measures and configure servers and IPs to achieve optimal email deliverability. We hope that the above comprehensive guide and tips provide you with a deep understanding of spam filters on email and to make your email go straight to the primary inbox.
If you have any questions about sending emails or other aspects of Magento’s online business such as Magento 2 development or Magento 2 extension, feel free to reach out to the BSS team, and we will help you conquer success in Magento.
Thank you for reading!
