Overview
Using tips from multiple websites including OptinMonster, Inside Real Estate has gathered tips and tricks that you can use to make your emails more deliverable. These are items that you can control when you are building out emails and email lists to improve your deliverability rate. Some of these items described will take some time to have an effect, but the sooner you change your email practices the more robust your lead and sphere engagement will be!
Please Note: It’s strongly recommended that IRE manages your DNS to avoid emails from going to spam! Have questions? Please reach out to the IRE support team for assistance!
Why Emails Go to Spam
Tips, Tricks & Helpful 3rd Party Tools
If IRE Manages Your DNS - Recommended
The IRE Implementation team sets up a few important records - No action needed from you!
SPF
DMARC
DKIM - The DKIM record is specific to the platform / system you use to send email. The DKIM record we generate will cover emails sent from your BoldTrail platform.
IMPORTANT: If you are sending emails from another system than BoldTrail, such as Google or Outlook, you will need to follow your provider’s instructions to generate this separate DKIM record.
ACTION NEEDED: It is important that you provide this record to our teams so we can set it up in your DNS Zone.
How to Stop Email From Going to Spam
1 - Tell your subscribers to whitelist your emails
2 - Tell your Gmail users to "drag" your emails from other tabs to their Primary inbox
3 - Check your email domain
It's strongly recommended to use an email address that is tied to a custom domain
Email addresses using a custom domain not only help prevent issues with spam but also allow you to create specific email branding.
Spam issues are more likely to occur when using a public email address.
4 - Check your DNS records for your custom domain
Please Note: You must have a custom email to take advantage of this step
If you're hosting your own DNS for your email address, you'll want to add an SPF record and include the following:
include: sendgrid.net
5 - DKIM record
Please Note: You must have a custom email to take advantage of this step
Reach out to the InsideRE Support team for assistance!
The process for this varies depending on the service powering your email.
We recommend reaching out to your email service provider if any assistance is required!
6 - DMARC record
Add the following DMARC record to your DNS records:
_dmarcCNAME->"v=DMARC1; p=none;"
7 - SPF Records
When you send an e-mail from the system, it's important that your DNS settings allow the system to send emails. You need to have an SPF TXT record -- you may already have one that looks like this "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"
Inside of the record, you'll need to ensure it has include:sendgrid.net
example: "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:sendgrid.net ~all"
Please Note: There is no need to list each of your IP addresses if you add include:sendgrid.net to your SPF, as all IP addresses will automatically be included.
Spam Filter Testing and Spam Checkers
Still worried that your emails might go to spam? If you follow all of the above tips, and you’re still having a problem with emails getting sent to spam, here are some spam checkers that you can use to test your emails for issues.
Litmus
Litmus is a suite of email optimization tools that includes a spam checker. Here’s how it helps you keep emails going to spam:
Scans your emails by all the major spam filters before sending, to make sure that they pass.
Checks your reputation by looking at any domain names used in your email, and checking them against known blacklists. (If any of them could affect your delivery, you’ll get a notification.)
Verifies that your email authentication, such as DKIM, DomainKeys, SenderID, and Sender Policy Framework, is set up properly.
Gives you a spam score, which advises you on why you got that score and how to improve it.
Mail-Tester
Mail-Tester is a free spam checking tool that gives you an easy-to-understand score out of 10 on a scale of spammyness. You’ll have to check each email manually, but it checks to see if you’re blacklisted, DKIM, and the quality of your message, as well as doing a SpamAssassin check.
IsNotSpam.com
IsNotSpam.com is a free spam checker that you can try if you don’t have the budget for Litmus.
You’ll have to check each mail manually, and it doesn’t have a comprehensive testing capability, but it will check your Sender Policy Framework, SenderID, and DKIM to make sure they are set up properly, and it will do a SpamAssassin check to score your email content.
Have more questions? Please reach out to Customer Support via the blue chat bubble to the right or by emailing support@insiderealestate.com!