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Emails landing in spam

Members are reporting that your organization’s emails are arriving in their spam or junk folder instead of their inbox.

What’s happening

Section titled “What’s happening”

Spam filters look at several signals when deciding where to put an email. The most common causes of spam placement are:

  • DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) aren’t set up or aren’t verified, so receiving mail servers can’t confirm your organization sent the message.
  • Your organization’s From address uses a public email provider like AOL or AIM — these providers block mail relayed through third-party services.
  • Your sending reputation has been affected by a high bounce rate.
  • Email content includes patterns that spam filters flag.

How to fix it

Section titled “How to fix it”

1. Check your DNS verification status

Section titled “1. Check your DNS verification status”
  1. Go to Email > Deliverability.
  2. Check the status of all three record cards — SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
  3. Any card that shows Unverified, Failed, or Expiring is a problem. Select Verify on each failed card.
  4. If a card fails verification, check that the Host and Value in your DNS settings match exactly what’s shown on the card. A single extra character or space will cause verification to fail.
  5. If your DKIM card shows Expiring, plan to rotate your DKIM key. See Monitor email deliverability and rotate DKIM.

2. Check your From address

Section titled “2. Check your From address”
  1. Still on the Deliverability page, confirm the From address is an email at a domain you own — for example, info@yourorg.org.
  2. If you see a warning about an AOL or AIM domain, update your From address to a domain your organization owns and complete the DNS setup for that domain.

3. Send a test email

Section titled “3. Send a test email”
  1. On the Deliverability page, go to Send a test email.
  2. Enter your email address and select Send test.
  3. Check whether the test email lands in your inbox. If it still lands in spam, check that all three DNS records are verified.

4. Check your bounce rate

Section titled “4. Check your bounce rate”
  1. On the Deliverability dashboard, check the Bounce rate metric.
  2. If it’s above 2%, you’ll see a Review bounced recipients notice. Act on it — work through the bounced-recipient list and correct or remove invalid addresses. A high bounce rate tells spam filters that you’re sending to stale or invalid lists.

5. Review email content

Section titled “5. Review email content”
  1. Spam filters can flag certain patterns in content — all-caps subject lines, excessive links, or phrases commonly associated with spam.
  2. Check your recent broadcast subjects and bodies for these patterns. Keep subjects clear and specific.

If that didn’t work

Section titled “If that didn’t work”
  • If your DNS records are all verified and your bounce rate is low but emails still land in spam, individual members may need to mark your emails as “Not spam” or add your From address to their contacts. Encouraging members to do this after a welcome email is a common practice.
  • If the problem is widespread and your DNS setup looks correct, contact MapleGather support.
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