How to avoid landing in spam

Ensuring your emails reach the inbox is critical to campaign success. Repeatedly sending to spam or invalid addresses damages your sender reputation, raises bounce rates, risks blacklisting and wastes resources, all of which make it harder for future campaigns to reach inboxes. This article gives you eight practical tips to keep your list clean and protect your deliverability.

1. Keep your list clean

Invalid or stale addresses lead to bounces and hurt your sender reputation. Use our data validation tool to remove typos, disposable domains and inactive contacts. A healthier list boosts deliverability naturally. If you want to set this up, learn more in our Apps in Journeys data validation article.

2. Send to the right recipients

Even a well-crafted email can trigger spam filters if it lands with the wrong people. Always send to relevant Segments or opted-in contacts who expect your messages. This maintains engagement and protects your sender reputation.

3. Segment and personalise your sends

Relevant content drives engagement and reduces spam reports. Build Segments based on preferences, behaviour or intent, and use personalisation fields to tailor your message. If you want to learn more, read Segmentation and personalisation 101, or see our How to add personalisation fields article.

4. Avoid known spam triggers

Certain words and phrases increase the chance of spam filtering. Steer clear of overly promotional language and exclamation marks. If you want a comprehensive list, learn more in our 200 known spam phrases and email tips article.

5. Throttle your sends

Sudden high-volume sends can flag spam filters. Space out your sends or use email throttling to control the delivery rate. Gradual sending helps mailbox providers build trust in your domain. If you want to know whether you need it, learn more in our What is throttling and do I need to use it? article.

6. Follow deliverability best practices

A consistent sending cadence, clear subject lines and proper preheaders all contribute to better inbox placement. Review our top tips in our Deliverability best practice article, and watch the recording in our Masterclass Week 2: Think Differently Deliverability article.

7. Provide clear unsubscribe options

Easy opt-out links reduce spam complaints. The standard Force24 locked footer snippet includes a clear unsubscribe link by default. If you need to adjust your footer details, ask our support team on live chat and they can help update your locked footer settings.

8. Monitor and audit your campaigns

Use inbox placement tests and deliverability audits to see where your emails land. Track bounces, spam complaints and engagement in your Personalised Deliverability Report, and learn from real data. If you want to learn more, see our Personalised Deliverability Report and Inbox placement test and deliverability audit articles.

Summary

By authenticating your domain, keeping your list clean, targeting the right contacts and following these best practices, you'll keep your emails out of spam folders and in front of engaged contacts. Consistent monitoring and adjustment will help you stay one step ahead of filtering algorithms.