Why Are My Salesforce Emails Going to Spam? An In-Depth Troubleshooting Guide - Mystrika

Is your inbox missing the salesforce emails it needs, and only getting the spam it doesn’t? End the salesforce emails going to spam madness now!

This comprehensive guide walks through how to troubleshoot and resolve salesforce emails going to spam for good. Learn why it happens, how Salesforce settings impact deliverability, actionable tips to get back on track, and when to call in reinforcements.

Equip yourself to get your salesforce email into the inbox where it belongs. Let’s crush this spam problem once and for all!

Page Contents

Understanding What Causes Salesforce Emails to Go to Spam

Getting your Salesforce-generated emails automatically sorted into spam is frustrating, but the good news is there are some common factors that cause this to happen. Understanding the root causes can help you troubleshoot and resolve the issues. Let’s explore some of the key reasons Salesforce emails mysteriously end up in junk folders.

Sender Reputation Issues

One of the main drivers of spam filtering is the reputation of the sending IP address or domain. If Salesforce doesn’t have a solid reputation for your specific shared IP or domain, recipient mail servers are more likely to assume the worst. There are a few factors that can lead to reputation problems:

IP address or domain has poor reputation – Shared Salesforce IP addresses send emails for thousands of organizations. If some send spam or have poor engagement metrics, it drags down the reputation for everyone. The same applies for custom sending domains.
Low volume of emails sent from Salesforce – Sporadic and low email volume can look suspicious to filters. Regular, consistent volumes are ideal for building good sender reputation.
Lack of email authentication like SPF, DKIM – Mail servers use SPF and DKIM to verify emails truly originated from your domain. Without proper authentication, it’s easier for rogue senders to spoof your domain.

Let’s look at an example of how reputation issues could cause deliverability problems:

Say your company Acme Inc. recently started using Salesforce for marketing emails. You send a couple of email blasts two weeks apart from your new [email protected] email address.

The low volume coming from this new domain triggers spam filters on recipient mail servers. They don’t have enough data yet to establish acmeinc.com as a trusted sender.

Additionally, your admin hasn’t set up SPF and DKIM authentication for the domain. Recipients have no way to verify this unfamiliar sender is legitimate.

Given these reputation red flags, it’s no wonder recipient servers start routing your emails to spam as a precaution!

Email Content Factors

The content of your emails themselves can also raise red flags with spam filters:

Spam trigger words – Using certain words associated with spam like “free,” “act now,” etc. can increase spam scores.
Mismatched content and subject line – If your subject line promises one thing but content delivers something completely different, filters may see it as a tactic spammers use. Match them up!
Too many links or images – Numerous links and images overload filters, making emails seem more promotional in nature.
Attachments – Attachments are high-risk for malware, so filters tend to block any emails containing them.

Imagine you sent a marketing email with a subject line “Free consulting session!” Then the content talks about your consulting services and pricing with little mention of a free session.

This mismatch might get flagged as deceptive. Throw in a few too many calls to action to “Sign up now!” and you’re fully in spam territory.

List Quality Issues

Who you send emails to greatly impacts deliverability as well. Spam filters will detect list quality issues:

Irrelevant recipient addresses – If you’re emailing totally random, purchased lists there’s a good chance they flag it. Relevance is key.
Inactive or unengaged recipients – Only emailing users who have recently opened or clicked emails keeps your list “warm” and engaged. Inactive users signal potential spam.
Lack of consent from recipients – Did recipients willingly opt-in to your emails? Consent helps indicate wanted mail vs unwanted spam.

For example, say you purchased a generic email list of “marketing managers” and start emailing them cold offers. If the recipients don’t recognize you or give consent, their mail servers will start blocking as potential spam.

Segmenting your lists by interest and engagement helps avoid this fate. Only emailing those who affirmatively opted in is ideal.

So in summary – issues with reputation, content, or lists can all cause Salesforce emails to mysteriously spammed. Check for any red flags in these areas when troubleshooting. But don’t worry, with some tweaks you can get your important emails into the inbox where they belong.

How Salesforce Email Deliverability Settings Impact Spam Likelihood

Salesforce provides a number of email deliverability settings that can help prevent your emails from being labeled as spam. Optimizing these settings makes it much more likely your emails reach the inbox. Let’s explore some of the key options.

From Email Address

The from email address itself influences spam filtering in a couple important ways:

Using salesforce.com versus custom domain – Using the default Salesforce shared domain (like @salesforce.com) signals you’re sending from a shared platform. Using your own custom sending domain (like @acmeinc.com) gives a more professional customized look.
Role email addresses versus Org-Wide addresses – Role addresses (like [email protected]) provide context on who sent the email. But Org-Wide addresses (like [email protected]) let you brand a specific email purpose.

For example, let’s say you stick with the basic Salesforce [email protected] as your from address. Recipients might be suspicious of the unfamiliar salesforce.com domain used by many companies.

But if you set up a custom Org-Wide [email protected] address, it builds recognition and trust with your list. They know specifically who it’s coming from and why.

Reputation Management

Salesforce provides some powerful reputation management tools to help establish your sending credibility:

IP Warming – This slowly ramps up email volume from new IP addresses to build reputation and avoid sudden spikes that look like spam.
Domain authentication – As mentioned above, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authenticate your custom domain so recipients know emails truly came from you.
Engagement monitoring – Salesforce tracks critical engagement metrics like opens, clicks, bounces, and more. Monitoring this helps identify potential spam red flags.

Imagine Acme Inc. has a new dedicated IP and custom domain for an upcoming email nurture campaign. Instead of blasting a huge volume immediately, the IP is warmed up with smaller volumes over several weeks to avoid being flagged as spam.

Authentication settings are enabled to align with the new domain, confirming Acme Inc. as the sender. Engagement rates are closely watched to spot any suspicious spikes in bounces or spam complaints.

These best practices help establish Acme Inc. as a trusted, professional sender using Salesforce for email.

Content Compliance

You can also optimize several content-related settings to improve deliverability:

Spam filter compliance – Salesforce helps you review emails for issues before sending through their spam checker. This identifies any problematic content upfront.
Unsubscribe links – Clear unsubscribe links in your emails show recipients they have control. Lack of unsubscribes can cause spam filtering.
Address list management – Features like one-click unsubscribe, inactive user pruning, and consolidation help maintain clean, engaged lists. Poor lists contribute to spam likelihood.

For example, before each nurture email campaign is sent, Acme Inc. runs their templates through the Salesforce spam check. They quickly identify and change some scammy “Sign up now!” calls to action in their content that could hurt deliverability.

Acme also makes sure to prominently feature unsubscribe links, and regularly cleans their lists of inactive addresses. This keeps their mailing lists tight and further builds trust with recipients.

Optimizing these types of settings goes a long way towards improving deliverability by avoiding common spam red flags.

So in summary, pay close attention to your from address, reputation factors, and content compliance for the best shot at landing in the inbox. Configure your Salesforce email settings with deliverability top of mind.

Troubleshooting Steps to Get Salesforce Emails Out of Spam

If you find your Salesforce emails constantly landing in spam, don’t panic! Here are some concrete troubleshooting steps you can take to diagnose and resolve the problem:

Check Deliverability Settings in Salesforce

First, log into Salesforce and review your overall email deliverability settings. Navigate to Setup > Email > Deliverability to find the main options.

Access Level – Ideally this should be set to “All Email” or “System email only” to avoid restrictions. “No access” severely limits deliverability.
Available Email Services – Make sure options like Compliance BCC and Email Insights are enabled.
Sender Profiles – Verify you have an active sender profile set up. Inactive profiles can cause emails to fail.
Sender Authentication – Sender policies like SPF and DKIM should be configured here for your domain.
Spam Filter Settings – Adjust spam filter aggressiveness level as needed.
Bounce Management – Set bounce options and manage hard vs. soft bounces.

Check that these settings align with email best practices and are not too restrictive. Loosen up areas if needed to improve deliverability.

Review Any Available Spam Filtering Reports

Dig into Salesforce’s email logs and reporting to identify specific spam filtering issues:

Email Logs – Check for error types like “Bounced as Spam” or “Marked as Spam by Recipient” to pinpoint problems.
Email Insights Reports – Enable the “Spam Complaints” report to see if particular recipients or IP addresses have high complaint rates.
Inbox Monitoring – Use inbox placement tools to determine if your emails hit the inbox vs. spam folder.

Parsing this data can help you isolate certain recipients, content issues, or sending domains that may be triggering aggressive spam filtering.

Test with Different From Addresses

Try swapping the from email address and rerunning your campaigns to see if spam complaints change:

Switch between role addresses vs. org-wide addresses.
Rotate between different org-wide addresses.
Check if salesforce.com domain has fewer issues than your custom domain (or vice versa).

Isolating the from address behavior provides clues on whether your domain, IP, or certain addresses are getting flagged.

Reduce Links, Images, Attachments

Simplify your email content to remove any unnecessary components that could trigger aggressive spam filtering:

Limit links – Stick to only absolutely essential links in the email content. Avoid including too many links.
Reduce images – Use only a single logo image or hero image when needed. Extra images can hurt.
No attachments – Avoid sending any attachments, as these are high-risk for malware.
Shorten content – Keep your email copy tight, concise, and scannable for readers.

These tweaks can help reduce red flags in your content that overzealous spam filters key in on.

Warm Up IP Address with Gradual Volume

If you have dedicated IPs, try warming up new IPs slowly over several weeks:

Week 1 – Send 1,000 emails the first week.
Week 2 – Increase to 5,000 emails.
Week 3 – Ramp up to 10,000 emails.
Week 4 – Gradually increase volume after reputation is established.

Building volume gradually gives receiving servers time to establish your IP as trusted. Be patient and take it slow.

Ensure List Accuracy and Permission

Scrub your email lists to ensure accuracy and opt-in consent:

Prune inactive subscribers – Remove recipients who haven’t opened in 6+ months.
Delete spam complaints – Take out any recipients who complained about spam.
Review purchased lists – Don’t import purchased lists unless they are highly targeted and qualified.
Confirm opt-in consent – Make sure all recipients specifically opted in to your emails at some point.

Solid list hygiene ensures you are only emailing accurate, engaged, willing recipients and avoiding spam traps.

Use Authentication like DKIM, SPF

Enable sender authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for your domain:

SPF – Publish an SPF record that includes Salesforce’s IPs. This confirms you authorize sending.
DKIM – Generate a DKIM key in Salesforce to encode signature in your emails.
DMARC – Setup a DMARC policy to handle unaligned DKIM and SPF. Set to “p=none” initially.

Proper authentication helps prove your domain legitimacy during deliverability checks by recipients.

So in summary – evaluating settings, reports, content, IPs, lists, and authentication can help you troubleshoot and resolve Salesforce email spam filtering. With some strategic adjustments, you can get those important emails into the inbox.

Additional Tips to Improve Salesforce Email Deliverability

Beyond troubleshooting specific spam issues, there are some best practices you can implement to proactively improve your Salesforce email deliverability over the long run:

Send Consistent Email Volume

Build trust and reputation with recipients by maintaining steady, consistent email volume week-over-week. Use these volume guidelines:

Only increase total volume 5-10% week over week. Slow and steady wins the race.
Send a minimum of 50-100 emails weekly to maintain engagement.
Keep daily send limits below 5,000 emails per domain to avoid throttling.
Spread volume evenly throughout the day via dripped campaigns.

Avoid large spikes in volume or quiet periods without any emails, as this looks suspicious and damages your sender reputation.

Monitor and Respond to Engagement

Keep a close eye on engagement metrics and act on any changes:

Review open and click rates in email insights reports frequently.
Check for spam complaints and remove any problem complainers.
Monitor hard bounce rates and scrub invalid email addresses.
If engagement drops, reassess your content and outreach strategy.

Proactively managing your engagement metrics keeps your sender reputation high and list quality tight. Don’t let small issues spiral into deliverability disasters.

Use Meaningful From Names

Choose sender names that clearly identify who the email is from:

Use your brand name, team name, or individual name to establish trust and familiarity.
Avoid vague or misleading from names that confuse recipients.
Set reply-to addresses so responses go to the right team.
Make unsubscribe/support contacts easily identifiable.

Craft your from names, reply-to addresses, and unsubscribe links to provide context recipients need to feel comfortable engaging with your emails. Don’t make them guess who the email is from.

Ensure Subject Line Accuracy

Keep your email subject lines accurate and avoid misrepresentation:

Subject should clearly summarize email content.
Don’t exaggerate offers in subject lines that aren’t fulfilled in content.
Use personalization to demonstrate relevance.
Avoid spam trigger words that cause false positives.

Accurate subject lines set proper expectations upfront for the value recipients will get from your email content. Don’t let your subject lines make promises the content can’t keep.

Follow Up with Recipients

If recipients mark your mail as spam or complain publicly on social media, promptly follow up:

Contact the recipient and offer to remove them from your lists.
Share how you obtained their email address.
Explain your email practices and deliverability controls.
Apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Following up shows you monitor public feedback and care about subscriber satisfaction. This helps mitigate reputation damage from negative social shares.

Consider Third-Party Deliverability Services

Tools like Mystrika provide additional deliverability features:

Email address warming to improve inbox rates.
Custom tracking domains and URLs for branding.
Email authentication like DKIM and DMARC setup.
Dedicated IP addresses to protect reputation.

Third parties offer robust tools tailored specifically to optimizing email deliverability beyond what Salesforce itself provides. Consider adding these solutions to your stack for enhanced spam protection.

The right mix of volume control, engagement monitoring, branding, content, and third-party tools will ensure your Salesforce emails make it to the inbox consistently. Don’t leave deliverability purely up to chance – be proactive.

When to Get Help with Salesforce Email Deliverability

Despite your best efforts, sometimes email deliverability issues persist. Don’t spend endless hours pulling your hair out over constant spam filtering and throttling. Recognize when it makes sense to admit defeat and call in reinforcements.

Persistent Spam Filtering Issues

If aggressive spam filtering continues after you’ve tried every trick, get help:

Ongoing spam complaints from recipients.
Emails consistently labeled as spam or junk.
No improvement despite vetting content, links, and images.
Adjusting volume, segmentation, and engagement strategy doesn’t help.
Authentication and reputation management tools don’t resolve it.

Repeated spam filtering that won’t go away with standard solutions indicates a deeper issue needing advanced expertise.

Volume Limitations with Shared IP

If you’re hitting send limits or throttling with Salesforce’s shared IPs, consider upgrading:

Shared IP caps overall email volume you can send.
Throttling and daily limits disrupt your email schedule.
There’s no way to increase allocated volume on shared IPs.
You need flexibility to handle volume spikes for campaigns.
Reliability is critical for your email programs.

When volume caps start undermining your email strategy, it’s time to graduate to dedicated IPs.

Advanced Deliverability Feature Needs

Missing key features? Deliverability services provide advanced options:

Dedicated IPs to protect your sender reputation.
Warmup tools to improve inbox placement.
Route optimization based on past performance.
A/B testing capabilities for subject lines and content.
Deep analytics like hourly sends, queue tracking, etc.

If you need cutting-edge deliverability capabilities, specialized service providers have you covered.

Dedicated IP Address Desired

Want your own IP addresses? Here’s when they make sense:

Your volume exceeds what shared IPs allow.
You need maximum reliability during surges.
Complete control over reputation is critical.
Your deliverability requirements are complex.
You send internationally and need localization.

For complete autonomy over your deliverability operation, dedicated IPs are a must.

Significant Rate Limiting Occurring

Are throttling policies disrupting your campaigns? Time to upgrade:

You’re unable to send batch emails on your ideal schedule due to limits.
Daily sending caps prevent you from getting all emails out.
Reputable IP warmup tools could minimize future throttling.
Reliable deliverability with minimal throttling is essential.

If you can’t stick to your email timeline due to frequent rate limiting, your deliverability solution is letting you down.

Don’t let Salesforce deliverability struggles go on indefinitely – if you’ve made little progress after diligent self-troubleshooting, don’t DIY any longer. Leverage deliverability experts to unlock the full potential of your Salesforce email programs. Your future emails (and sanity) will thank you.

Conclusion

Getting your important Salesforce-generated emails flagged as spam is no fun. But with a methodical approach, you can get to the bottom of what’s causing the issues and turn things around.

First, inspect your setup for any common deliverability pitfalls. Review your sender reputation factors like volume, domain authenticity, and engagement rates. Check that your email content itself isn’t triggering aggressive spam filtering with risky links, images, or attachments. Verify you’re only emailing targeted engaged subscribers who consented to receive your communications.

If optimizing these areas doesn’t provide relief, dig deeper into spam filtering reports and logs to pinpoint the root cause. Try testing with different sending domains or swapping out content components to isolate problems. Gradually warm up new IP addresses and double check authentication protocols are configured properly.

In some cases, persistent deliverability struggles require bringing in reinforcements. Reliable solutions like Mystrika offer advanced tools specifically tailored to optimizing inbox placement. Their warming technology and dedicated IP addresses can rehabilitate even the most spam-prone Salesforce email programs.

With the right troubleshooting process, adjustments, and expertise, you can get your Salesforce emails landing reliably in the inbox where they belong. Don’t resign yourself to the spam folder — implement a solid anti-spam game plan using the tips in this guide. You’ve got this!

Key Takeaways

Getting your Salesforce emails filtered to the spam folder can be incredibly frustrating. Use these key tips to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

Inspect your sender reputation for red flags like low volume, lack of authentication, or poor engagement.
Vet your email content for excess links, confusing subject lines, attachments and other spam triggers.
Scrub your lists to remove inactive addresses and ensure you have opt-in consent.
Review Salesforce deliverability settings for any restrictions impacting email delivery.
Check email logs and spam reports for recipient complaints or filtered domains.
Test with different “From” addresses and simplify email content to isolate the problem.
Warm up IP addresses gradually and implement authentication tools like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Monitor engagement metrics closely and act quickly on any changes indicating deliverability issues.
Consider leveraging third-party deliverability services if problems persist despite your best efforts.

With diligence and the right troubleshooting approach, you can get your Salesforce email back on track and out of the junk folder for good.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why did my Salesforce email suddenly start going to spam?

A: Sudden spam filtering issues can be caused by changes like new IP addresses, sender domain changes, or significant increases in email volume. Review any recent modifications to identify what may have triggered the change.

Q: How can I tell if my Salesforce emails are being marked as spam?

A: Check your email logs and spam reports within Salesforce for bounce codes related to spam filtering. You can also use inbox monitoring tools to see if emails are arriving in primary vs. spam folders.

Q: Does the content of my email impact spam likelihood?

A: Yes, factors like emotional language, excessive emoticons, too many images/links, and mismatched content to subject lines can raise red flags. Keep content concise, professional and aligned.

Q: How long does it take for IP warming to improve deliverability?

A: It typically takes 4-6 weeks of gradual volume increases before your IP reputation is established enough to avoid aggressive spam filtering. Take it slow and steady.

Q: Should I use a dedicated IP to avoid spam issues?

A: Dedicated IPs are not immune to spam filtering, but they do give you more control over volume and reputation. They make the most sense at higher email volumes.

Q: What’s the best practice for increasing email volume?

A: Limit volume increases to no more than 10-15% week-over-week. Spam filters will flag sudden spikes even if volume is still relatively low overall. Build gradually.

Q: Is it better to have many different org-wide From addresses or just a few?

A: Just a few reputation-building addresses is best. Use role-based addresses for one-off communications. Too many From names dilutes brand familiarity.