Email Alert: How to Avoid Incoming and Outgoing Email Spam False-Positives

How to Get the Emails You Want

Sick of spam? Tired of legit emails being misidentified? Who isn’t? That’s why ISPs and service providers are doing their best to reduce the amount of spam that lands in our inboxes. With that come false positives.

The “deliverability” of your emails depends on several factors. The primary one is which provider and/or hosting company handles your email, and whether you do spammy things. The second is specific domain settings. The same applies to the emails sent to you.

Using Whitelists

Most services and applications have spam tools that allow you to block or whitelist (allow) email addresses based on the provider’s filters. Most of the time, simply adding an email to your address book is enough. This lets your email program know that the address is an approved or trusted sender.

These filters are similar to those in your email program (in Outlook, they are “Rules”) that determine how emails are handled upon receipt. The downside is that if not used properly, you can end up blocking emails that you do want to land in your inbox.

However, when used properly, filters and rules also help keep your email organized.

Using Spam Tools

You can easily manage your spam levels using the features and tools already available to you. I go into more detail about the specifics in a bunch of articles on this site, but you can start out with these:

While the above articles help you manage incoming spam, if you are the Sender and do spammy things, your emails risk being blocked on the other side. Or landing in the trash of the person you are sending it to.

Choose Your Email Provider Wisely

Increasingly, emails from @hotmail, @yahoo, and @aol.com accounts are having difficulty reaching their intended recipients. This is because email addresses from these providers are often used by spammers. When using email addresses from these providers, you should know that you have a higher risk of being flagged as spam.

Therefore, if you insist on using free email services, you must manage your approved senders, email whitelist, and settings to ensure you receive the emails you want.

For example, when emails land in my junk or spam folder, I can right-click and mark them as not Junk. My email program learns over time what is or isn’t junk. But legit emails still land there regularly. Check whether your email provider offers these features as well.

Check Your Email Control Panel

Most email services also offer a web-based control panel with additional options. Including SPF and DKIM settings, whitelisting, and quarantine areas.

You can check with your provider for the specific settings and apply them to your domain name’s DNS record. If you have a quarantine area, check it periodically. Chances are, you’ll find emails there that are not spam and that you want to receive.

It also helps when using a free email service to avoid spammy practices that exacerbate the issue. Read: How to Avoid Sending Spammy Emails.

SOLUTION: Get Your Own Domain Name

The first step is to get your own domain name and use that for email. Only $10-15 bucks a year for a domain. In addition, email services only run $5-10/month. (Versus free? You get what you pay for.) Then make sure to set up those SPF/DKIM records in your domain’s DNS. Problem solved.

After the above is in place, there is still one more thing you always need to do. If you don’t receive a response to an email you sent, check your spam or trash folder first. Just to be sure.

Filters and rules are not perfect, and the criteria change all the time as we try to keep up with the spammers’ latest tactics. Use what is in your control to manage the emails you send and receive.