How to Troubleshoot Emails Landing in Spam

When your emails consistently land in spam, follow this systematic troubleshooting process. Step 1: Check authentication Use the SPF Checker and DMARC Checker. Send a test email and check headers for spf=pass, dkim=pass, dmarc=pass. If any fail, fix the authentication issue first. Step 2: Check blacklists Run your domain through the blacklist checker. If listed, follow the delisting process (see Article 197). Step 3: Check domain reputation Review Google Postmaster Tools. If reputation is Low or Bad, your domain has been flagged. Increase warmup, decrease campaign volume, and monitor. Step 4: Check content Review your email copy for spam trigger words, excessive links, HTML formatting, or anything that deviates from plain text personal email norms. Send a completely clean test email (just "Hi, how are you?") — if that also lands in spam, the issue is not content. Step 5: Check sending behavior Are you exceeding safe daily limits? Did you ramp too quickly? Is warmup still running? Are you sending at unusual hours? Step 6: Check list quality What is your bounce rate? Are you sending to verified addresses? Are there spam traps in your list? Step 7: Check the specific provider Is the problem Gmail-specific, Outlook-specific, or universal? If only one provider is filtering, the issue may be provider-specific reputation.

Systematic elimination

Work through these steps in order. Fix each issue before moving to the next. Often, the problem is a combination of factors — fixing one may not solve it, but fixing all of them will.

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