Why Your Emails Are Going to Spam and 3 Steps to Fix It!

Step-by-Step Online Business for Coaches & Consultants

At least weekly, I receive an email from a fellow coach or consultant asking, “Why do my emails keep going to spam?” or “How can I make sure my audience actually sees my emails?” 

It’s a frustrating issue, especially when you’ve spent time crafting valuable content or critical updates for your audience, only to have it hidden in the dreaded spam folder. 

👉The good news is, getting your emails out of spam and into your audience’s inboxes isn’t as mysterious as it might seem. With the right strategies, you can improve your email deliverability and ensure your messages reach the people who need them most.

I’m going to break down the steps you can take to escape the spam folder and build trust with email service providers (and your audience). 

As always, here it is, step-by-step...

#1 Stop Sending Emails Only When You're Selling

Low engagement or spam complaints from your audience can flag your emails. 

THE PROBLEM: You likely have a freebie form on your website. A visitor fills out the form with their name and email, then receives a freebie PDF via email. 👉The problem is that most people stop here. 

Or worse, they follow up with several emails that pretty much say "buy my stuff" without providing any valuable content to the reader. 

Of course those emails are all going to fall into the spam folder, because they are. 

The solution is to welcome the reader into your world by sharing links to resources (a few popular blog posts, your most downloaded podcast episodes, your most popular YouTube videos, or your most engaged Instagram posts). 

You're welcoming the new email subscriber into your world and allowing them to get to know you so they can see that you're clearly the person who can help them with their problem.

Without engaging the reader before asking for the sale, they're going to ignore your emails, meaning they're not going to open or click which is going to hurt your overall deliverability. 

When lots of your subscribers ignore your emails, then future subscriber emails will also land in spam. It's a vicious cycle. 

Spam Avoiding Solutions:

• Design a clickable welcome sequence following the freebie with links unrelated to "click here to go to the sales page". 
• Read your emails out loud and ask yourself if it sounds like the way you talk. If it comes across like a salesman or that AI wrote it, revise. 
• Every quarter or every six months, set up an engagement campaign to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers. 
• Avoid buying email lists, as these are often riddled with fake or uninterested recipients.
• If all your emails come across as "buy my stuff", of course it's going to land in the spam folder. If instead, the email included valuable content that teaches the reader something, following by the benefits of joining your program, it would be less likely to go to spam. You could always write WE'RE HAVING A SALE on the sales page. Writing "SALE" inside an email just makes it go straight to spam (because it is).

#2 Stop Cutting and Pasting Directly From Chat GPT

Spammy-sounding content can trigger spam filters or cause unsubscribes. I see this a lot when using AI to write emails for you. 

Chat GPT and Gemini are there for guidance and absolutely should not be writing the emails for you, cut and paste. If you read the email, does it sound like something you'd say out loud or does it comes across like a salesman?

Spam Avoiding Solutions:

• Personalize your emails with the recipient’s name.
• Read the email out loud. Does it sound like you or does it use phrases like "unleash your potential" or "foster relationships" or "clear and concise" - these are just some examples of emails that scream AI.
• Simplify subject lines - short and sweet!
• Avoid spam words and excessive punctuation like "FREE!!!" 
• Don’t use all caps or excessive exclamation marks in subject lines or body text.
• Limit the number of links or images per email to maintain a healthy text-to-link ratio.
• More spam word examples (used in either subject line or in the body of the email): Free, Congratulations, Winner, Urgent, Limited time, Act now, Click here, Buy now, Discount, Guarantee, Risk-free, 100% satisfied, Big sale, Offer expires, Special promotion, Amazing deal, Lowest price, No obligation, No hidden costs, Satisfaction guaranteed, Free trial, Gift certificate, Once in a lifetime, Unlimited, Don’t delete, This isn’t spam, Order now, Save big, Subscribe now.

#3 Encourage Engagement

Positive interactions signal email providers that your emails are valuable.

Spam Avoiding Solutions:

• Ask subscribers to reply to your emails (Hit reply and let me know your thoughts).
• Add a call to action button to encourage clicking (add links to resources). If you only send emails with the action being "buy my stuff", over time all emails will go to the spam folder.
• When sending an email (or on the thank you page after filling out a form), include a note asking the website visitor to whitelist your emails.
• Google for a platform that you can run your email through that checks for spam triggers. The platforms usually provide a spam score as well as identifying accidental broken links.
• Authenticate Your Domain, which proves your email is legitimate, reducing the chances of it being marked as spam. From Kajabi, send a broadcast email to just yourself. Once you receive it, open the email and click the 3 dots in the upper right, then select "Show original". It will open up some information about SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. You want all three to be "PASS". 

Staying out of the spam folder is all about building trust and keeping things simple. It may take a little extra effort, but it’s totally worth it to make sure your emails land your subscriber's inbox. 

👉WHAT one item from above are you going to implement tomorrow? 

Need help writing emails? I'm here for you. Reach out anytime.

Best Wishes & Much Success to You,

Virginia Stockwell, Business Coach & Kajabi Tutor