My email is going to spam
Why your business emails land in recipients' spam or junk folders, and what can be done to fix it.
There's nothing more frustrating than sending an important email and having it disappear into someone's spam folder — especially when you don't find out until much later. This is a deliverability problem, and it's usually fixable.
Quick summary
Emails end up in spam because the receiving server doesn't fully trust where they came from. The fix involves adding or correcting authentication records (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) on your domain — technical settings we can handle. Contact us with examples of what's going to spam.
Step 1 — Identify exactly what is going to spam
Not all spam problems are the same. Different causes have different fixes.
Ask yourself:
- Is it your regular business email going to spam? (e.g., from your
you@yourcompany.cominbox) - Is it email notifications from your website (form submissions, order confirmations)?
- Is it your email newsletter or marketing emails?
Each of these has a different solution. Let us know which type is affected.
Step 2 — Ask the recipient to check their settings
Sometimes the problem is on the recipient's end, not yours.
Ask the recipient to find the email in their spam folder.
Ask them to mark it "Not spam" or click "Report not spam."
Ask them to add your email address to their contacts. This tells their email service to trust you.
This won't fix the underlying problem for all recipients, but it helps the specific relationship immediately.
Step 3 — Check your domain's email authentication records
Email authentication records are settings in your domain's DNS (the internet's address book) that prove your emails are legitimate. Three records work together:
| Record | What it does |
|---|---|
| SPF (Sender Policy Framework) | Lists which servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain |
| DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) | Adds a digital signature that proves emails weren't tampered with |
| DMARC | Tells receiving servers what to do if SPF or DKIM fail |
If any of these are missing or incorrect, receiving servers may treat your emails as suspicious.
Go to mxtoolbox.com — a free email diagnostic tool.
Run an SPF check by entering "spf:" followed by your domain name (e.g., spf:yourcompany.com).
Note any errors or warnings in the results.
Share the results with us. We'll review your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records and correct or add any that are needed.
Don't edit DNS records yourself
DNS records control how email and your website work. An incorrect change can take down your email entirely. Contact us and we'll make the changes safely.
Step 4 — Check your sending reputation
Spam filters also look at your domain's reputation — a score built up over time based on whether recipients mark your emails as spam.
Signs of a damaged reputation:
- You recently sent a large batch of emails to an old or unverified list
- You've had high complaint rates (many people marking your emails as spam)
- Your domain or IP address appears on a blocklist
Check your domain against blocklists at mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx.
If your domain or IP is listed, contact us. Removal requests vary by blocklist — we'll guide you through the process.
Website form notification emails going to spam?
This is a common and separate issue. Emails sent by your website (like contact form notifications) are sent by the web server, not your email account — and web servers are often not trusted by email providers.
The fix is to configure your website to use a dedicated email-sending service (SMTP). See I'm not getting form notification emails for details.
Common questions
Related guides
- I'm not getting form notification emails
- Why your emails land in spam
- SPF records explained
- DKIM records explained
- DMARC records explained
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