{"id":7225,"date":"2019-03-19T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T19:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/?p=7225"},"modified":"2022-04-25T21:23:06","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T21:23:06","slug":"improving-email-deliverability-resistance-to-spam-filters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/improving-email-deliverability-resistance-to-spam-filters","title":{"rendered":"Improving Email Deliverability (Resistance to Spam Filters) especially on Gmail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nobody wants to send or receive spam. Unfortunately spam-blockers, especially the Gmail blocker, over-reach and block legitimate messages the recipient wants to receive. This post provides detailed steps that B2B digital marketers can take to shield marketing email messages from spam blockers. It zeroes in on avoiding blockage by Gmail and Google Suite and discusses Google Postmaster.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"deliverability\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Advice from Experts on General Deliverability<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advice from three expert sources (1) (2) (3) includes these steps to sharply reduce spam detector blockages and other reasons for email not reaching the inbox. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table1_new.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7250\" src=\"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table1_new.png\" alt=\"Table\" width=\"975\" height=\"341\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"gsuite\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Delivering to Gmail and Google Suite<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Half of all Marketo\u2019s billions of email messages go to Gmail, half to personal Gmail and half to Google Suite (2). Gmail does not report on messages on which the recipient clicked Spam (2).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SendGrid processes over 22 billion email messages a month on behalf of tens of thousands of customers. About 35% of that traffic, almost 8 billion messages a month, are addressed to Gmail or Google Apps recipients.\u201d (9)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are RightWave\u2019s comments on the Gmail-deliverability steps recommended by Michelle McKinley (4):<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table2_new.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7253\" src=\"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table2_new.jpg\" alt=\"Table\" width=\"975\" height=\"1005\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><span id=\"postmaster\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Google Postmaster<\/span> <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To aid legitimate email marketers in reaching Gmail and Google suite customers, Google introduced a set of tools in 2015 called Google Postmaster (5), (6). (7) that allow senders to learn more about Google\u2019s filtering algorithms and how their marketing messages have been assessed. The tools require that the marketer:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Register a domain<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provide proof of ownership of that domain by imbedding DNS TEXT or a DNS CNAME on the website for that domain<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once the domain has been verified, the marketer will have access to the following dashboards:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spam rate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Domain and IP reputation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feedback loop<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Authentication<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Encryption<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Delivery Errors<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luke Martinez and Paul Kincaid-Smith at SendGrid laud the information provided by the tools (8, 9) because it is:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Actionable<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helps identify unwanted mail<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Allows prioritization of anti-spam efforts<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RightWave strongly encourages the use of Google Postmaster and is willing and able to assist. <a href=\"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/contactus\/\">Contact RightWave<\/a> for more information.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"summary\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Summary<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email marketing remains the most cost-effective tool for B2B marketing (10). That effectiveness is increased by ensuring that most messages are delivered. Unfortunately many spam detectors block legitimate messages that the addressees want to receive. Understanding how spam detector algorithms work and taking steps to avoid them is well worth the effort. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Caplan, Bryan. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classy.org\/blog\/spam-proof-email-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Spam-Proof Your Email Marketing<\/a>\u201d. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Classy<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Unknown Date ~2016<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketo Deliverability and Compliance Team. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/engage.marketo.com\/Email-Deliverability-101-4-Tips-to-Inbox-Success-Registration-Page.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Email Deliverabiliity 101: 4 Tips to Inbox Success<\/a>\u201d. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketo Webinar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, January 23, 2019 <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kugler, Andrew. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/act-on.hubs.vidyard.com\/watch\/nsDVuoppYQWkG9QCLVeaC4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Email Deliverability Success or Failure Begins Here<\/a>\u201d. &nbsp;<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acton Webinar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, January 31, 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/success.act-on.com\/acton\/attachment\/9883\/f-f5619fbf-a2b4-454f-b24f-10b954906573\/1\/-\/-\/-\/-\/email%20data%20and%20deliverability%20Webinar.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Video<\/a>&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/success.act-on.com\/acton\/attachment\/9883\/f-f5619fbf-a2b4-454f-b24f-10b954906573\/1\/-\/-\/-\/-\/email%20data%20and%20deliverability%20Webinar.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slides<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McKinley, Michelle. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arrowshade.com\/5-ways-to-improve-gmail-deliverability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5 Ways to Improve Gmail Deliverability<\/a>\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arrowshade<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, February 2016 <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plemel, Melinda. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.returnpath.com\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gmails-new-postmaster-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everything You Need to Know About Gmail\u2019s New Postmaster Tools<\/a>\u201d. &nbsp;<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Return Path<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, July 14, 2015 <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/gmail.com\/postmaster\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Be a Better Sender<\/a>\u201d Google website, Unknown Date<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gmail Help. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/mail\/answer\/6227174\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Postmaster Tool<\/a>\u201d. Unknown Date<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Martinez, Luke. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/sendgrid.com\/blog\/gmail-postmaster-tools-what-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gmail Postmaster Deliverability Tools: What You Need to Know<\/a>\u201d. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SendGrid<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, July 15, 2015<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kincaid-Smith, Paul. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/sendgrid.com\/blog\/google-postmaster-tools-wish-list\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dear Gmail: Our Google Postmaster Tools Wish List<\/a>\u201d. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SendGrid<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, December 23, 2015&nbsp; <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fernandez, Mary. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/optinmonster.com\/email-marketing-vs-social-media-performance-2016-2019-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Email Marketing vs Social Media Performance (2016-2019 Statistics)<\/a>\u201d. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OptInMonster: <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">onversion Rate Optimization Blog<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, January 7, 2019<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nobody wants to send or receive spam. Unfortunately spam-blockers, especially the Gmail blocker, over-reach and block legitimate messages the recipient wants to receive. This post provides detailed steps that B2B digital marketers can take to shield marketing email messages from spam blockers. It zeroes in on avoiding blockage by Gmail and Google Suite and discusses&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":77951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-welcome","category-3","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77952,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7225\/revisions\/77952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}