How an Email Marketer Can Become a Trusted Sender

These spam highlights convey the seriousness of the matter:

• According to Statista, spam accounted for around 46.8% of all emails in December 2023. This is a staggering amount of unwanted and potentially malicious emails.
• Spam costs businesses and organizations billions of dollars annually in lost productivity, infrastructure costs, and efforts to combat it.
• Spam clogs inboxes, wastes time, and creates frustration for email users. This diminishes the effectiveness and usability of email as a communication tool.
• Many spam emails are used for phishing attacks, distributing malware, or other cybercrime activities, putting users’ data and systems at risk.

There are two main contexts where you might hear this term:

1. Email marketing,
2. Personal email.

This means they:

• Only send emails to recipients who have opted in to receive them.
• Avoid spammy tactics like misleading subject lines or excessive sending frequency.
• Maintain a good reputation with email providers by following authentication protocols.

The problems that created the need for a safe senders list were:

1. Early spam filters relied heavily on content analysis and simple rules, which misidentified legitimate emails as spam. This was doubly true for emails that contained certain keywords or formatting used by spammers.
2. False positives caused individuals and businesses to miss out on opportunities, as important emails from colleagues or clients were incorrectly blocked.
3. There was a growing demand from email users for a way to mark certain email addresses or domains as safe. 
4. Spam filters were wonky at the beginning; these systems could sometimes penalize legitimate senders or incorrectly associate them with spammers. Some senders even had poor reputations due to factors beyond their control.
5. The safe senders feature allowed organizations to control and customize their spam filtering experience. They could then tailor it based on their specific needs and open up trusted email channels.

We can think of numerous scenarios where marking a sender as safe or trusted can be beneficial. 

• Emails from safe senders are more likely to bypass spam filters and be delivered directly to the inbox. This reduces the likelihood of missing important emails due to them being incorrectly marked as spam.
• Some email systems prioritize messages from trusted senders, ensuring that their messages are among the first seen.
• With important emails correctly sorted into the inbox, users can organize their emails more efficiently, applying further labels for quick access.
• When a recipient marks an email sender as trusted, they’re confirming that they recognize and verify the sender. This makes it less likely for them to fall prey to phishing and spoofing attacks.
• Some email systems provide notifications if an email from a safe sender fails other security checks (like SPF or DKIM), which can be a sign of domain spoofing or other malicious activities.
• There’s less need to regularly check the spam or junk mail folder for missed emails. 
• The incidence of false positives (legitimate emails marked as spam) decreases with accurate safe sender lists.
• Marking colleagues or vendors as trusted senders ensures the flow of email chains remains uninterrupted. This is crucial for timely decisions and operations.
• Knowing an email comes from a trusted source can increase confidence when opening and interacting with the content.

Adding a trusted or safe sender on Gmail is simple:

1. Open Gmail and click on the Settings gear icon.
2. Select “See all settings”.
3. Go to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab and then click on “Create a new filter”.
4. Enter the email address or domain to whitelist in the “From” field.
5. Click “Create filter”.
6. Check the box next to “Mark it as important”.
7. Click “Create filter” again to save the changes.

Adding a safe sender on Outlook is straightforward: 

1. Log in to web Outlook on a browser.
2. In the top right corner, click the gear icon to open settings.
3. Click on the “Junk email” tab.
4. In the “Safe senders and domains” section, click on the “Add” button.
5. Type in the email address or domain you wish to add as a safe sender. 
6. Press Enter on your keyboard.
7. Click on the “Save” button at the bottom.

Here’s the second method:

1. Open Apple Mail on your Mac and go to Mail > Settings.
2. In the new popup window, click on the “Rules” tab.
3. Click on the “Add Rule” button.
4. Set the first drop-down list to “From” and the second to “ends with.” 
5. Enter the email address/domain you want to mark as trusted in the text field.
6. In the next section, choose “Move Message” in the first drop-down list and “Inbox” in the second.
7. Click “OK” to save the rule.

The top 8 reasons mailbox providers view email senders as suspicious are:

1. Spam filters: If spam filters detect issues with email content or sending history, the messages will be marked as spam.
2. Poor sender reputation: The result of high bounce rates, spam complaints, or sending practices, a low sender score can lead to emails being blocked.
3. Authentication: Improper authentication protocols can make a sender look suspicious. SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and BIMI are essential for email deliverability. 
4. Poor email list: The quality of your mailing list can significantly impact deliverability. If you have invalid email addresses or buy lists from untrusted sources, it will result in high bounce rates and spam complaints.
5. Spammy content: ISPs look for certain keywords, excessive links, or formatting that resembles common spam tactics. 
6. Low engagement: ISPs evaluate user engagement (or lack of) to determine deliverability. 
7. Email volume: Sending too many emails in a short period or exceeding the recommended email volume can raise red flags with mailbox providers.
8. Compliance: Non-compliance with regulations, such as the CAN-SPAM Act, can result in deliverability issues and even legal consequences.

Following these ten points diligently can help you turn the situation around:

1. Analyze your email metrics: Review your email sending statistics, including bounce rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribe rates, to identify areas that need improvement.
2. Clean your email list: Remove invalid, inactive, or outdated email addresses from your mailing list. Use email verification services or tools to ensure your list is up-to-date and accurate.
3. Use a reputable ESP: Consider using a reputable ESP with robust deliverability tools and expertise to help manage your sender reputation.
4. Implement authentication protocols: Set up email authentication protocols like SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance), and BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) to validate your email server’s identity.
5. Monitor sending volumes and frequency: Avoid sending too many emails in a short period, as this can trigger spam filters. 
6. Optimize email content: Ensure your email content is relevant, valuable, and doesn’t resemble spam.
7. Encourage engagement: Include attractive CTAs and make it easy for recipients to engage with your emails. High engagement rates can positively impact your sender reputation.
8. Provide an easy unsubscribe option: Include a prominent and functional unsubscribe link in your emails, so recipients can easily opt out.
9. Monitor feedback loops: Participate in feedback loops to receive and process spam complaints appropriately.
10. Be patient and consistent: Rebuilding a damaged sender reputation takes time and consistent adherence to best practices. Monitor your metrics and adjust your strategies as needed.