Emails go to Spam in Gmail

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Melissa Revotskie
Melissa Revotskie
Ancient Membership 10 Comments Facilitator Level 2 Socialite Level 2
in Blackbaud Luminate Online® & Blackbaud TeamRaiser® Discussions

Hi all, 

 

For all Gmail users out there, you may have already been switched over to the new inbox interface (if you haven't, you will be soon.) This change seems to have re-routed all of our org. emails to spam. Prior to the new inbox, I had never experienced our test emails (or actual emails) going to spam in Gmail. 

 

Have their spam triggers changed? Is anyone else experiencing issues from this gmail update? 

 

All advice welcome! 

 

Melissa 

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Comments

  • Alicia Searfoss
    Alicia Searfoss
    Ancient Membership 100 Comments 25 Likes Photogenic

    So far, they are all going to the Promotions tab, not spam for us.   We're watching it closely, though.  Where they the same kind of emails you always sent?

  • Melissa Revotskie
    Melissa Revotskie
    Ancient Membership 10 Comments Facilitator Level 2 Socialite Level 2
    Alicia Searfoss:

    So far, they are all going to the Promotions tab, not spam for us.   We're watching it closely, though.  Where they the same kind of emails you always sent?

    Nothing dramatically different about this email. The reply-address is our main info-usa@ that we always use. No sender name on this one, just our organization name.

     

    I looked into it in my own gmail and have seen other orgs' recent campaign emails routed into my spam that typically made it to my inbox, while others have made it to the Promotions tab. 

  • Erik Leaver
    Erik Leaver Blackbaud Employee
    Ancient Membership 250 Likes 100 Comments Photogenic
    Melissa Revotskie:

    Nothing dramatically different about this email. The reply-address is our main info-usa@ that we always use. No sender name on this one, just our organization name.

     

    I looked into it in my own gmail and have seen other orgs' recent campaign emails routed into my spam that typically made it to my inbox, while others have made it to the Promotions tab. 

    I'm going to look into doing some email segmentation on @gmail.com & an engagment factor of having opened an email in last 3 months to check deliveries & open rates to see how the new chages are affecting us.

  • Veronica Brown
    Veronica Brown
    Ancient Membership 10 Comments Photogenic

    Erik Leaver:

    Melissa Revotskie:

    Nothing dramatically different about this email. The reply-address is our main info-usa@ that we always use. No sender name on this one, just our organization name.

     

    I looked into it in my own gmail and have seen other orgs' recent campaign emails routed into my spam that typically made it to my inbox, while others have made it to the Promotions tab. 

     

    I'm going to look into doing some email segmentation on @gmail.com & an engagment factor of having opened an email in last 3 months to check deliveries & open rates to see how the new chages are affecting us.

     

    What was the solution? I'm experiencing the same issue and would like to know what the solution is to keeping our emails out of SPAM/JUNK folders. 


    -V.

  • Erik Leaver
    Erik Leaver Blackbaud Employee
    Ancient Membership 250 Likes 100 Comments Photogenic

    Veronica Brown:

    Erik Leaver:

    Melissa Revotskie:

    Nothing dramatically different about this email. The reply-address is our main info-usa@ that we always use. No sender name on this one, just our organization name.

     

    I looked into it in my own gmail and have seen other orgs' recent campaign emails routed into my spam that typically made it to my inbox, while others have made it to the Promotions tab. 

     

    I'm going to look into doing some email segmentation on @gmail.com & an engagment factor of having opened an email in last 3 months to check deliveries & open rates to see how the new chages are affecting us.

     

    What was the solution? I'm experiencing the same issue and would like to know what the solution is to keeping our emails out of SPAM/JUNK folders. 


    -V.

     

    Unfortunately there isn't a single solution to this problem. Many email providers -- including Gmail -- measure user interactions such as whether they open the mail, click on links, add the sender to their address book, when they evaluate spammyness.


    So even if the Email on Acid test in Luminate rates your emails as ‘safe’, you can still be evaluated as spam if people do not interact with your messag by opening, clicking, etc. So the basic answer is to lower the chances of the promotion tab or spam box, you need to have your constituents interacting with your email.


    The first step is to see if this is a problem with just Gmail. You can do that with a group performance report -- create a group of all your constituents with an @gmail.com address and then after a send you can use a group performance report to see if your opens / clicks are lower with the gmail group than with your overall list.


    If that is the case, you'll want to work on identifing supporters who haven't opened an email in a 6-12 month time frame. I'd suggest running a reactivation series with these supporters. And if they don't engage, I'd either unsubscribe them or put them in a non-deliverable group and exclude from mailings.You may want to do this on your enitre list, regardless of domain, to boost performance across all providers.


    I know that seems harsh, but if you have dead weight on the list that is keeping your active people from receiving email, it's worthwhile. I executed this strategy for a year-end campaign a few years ago (and then kept doing it). I sent 1million fewer emails in Dec 14 than I did in Dec 13. But I had more opens, clicks and most importantly -- donations -- in 2014.


    Good luck


     

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