Avoiding the Spam Folder on Valentine's: Email Deliverability Guide

Love is in the air - and so are millions of Valentine’s Day emails! If you’re planning to send out special offers or heartfelt messages this Valentine’s season, you’ll want to make sure they actually reach your customer’s inboxes.

With inbox competition at its peak during holidays like Valentine’s Day, even the most lovingly crafted email campaigns can end up in the dreaded spam folder. 

Technical Best Practices To Avoid Spam Filters

Email Authentication: Setting Up Your Credentials

Email authentication is essential to ensure your emails are legitimate. You need three key authentication methods adequately configured:

• Sender Policy Framework
• Domain Keys Identified Mail
• Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance

You can verify your authentication setup using mail-tester.com. This tool will provide a detailed report on your authentication status and highlight any issues that need fixing. 

Maintaining a Healthy Sender Reputation

Your sender's reputation directly impacts your delivery rates. Here are the key metrics to monitor: 

• Keep bounce rates under 2%
• Maintaining spam complaints below 0.1%
• Avoid getting listed on email blacklists

Use tools like SenderScore.org to check your sender reputation and address any issues quickly and regularly. 

Improving Engagement Metrics

Email providers track how recipients interact with your messages. Good engagement helps ensure future delivery. To improve engagement: 

• Segment your email list based on user behaviour 
• Personalise content for different audience groups
• Test different subject lines to find what works best
• Remove inactive subscribers regularly 

Optimising Email Content and Formatting 

Content optimisation is crucial to avoiding spam filters. Key Considerations:

• Write clear, direct subject lines
• Maintain a 60/40 text-to-image ratio
• Ensure your emails display correctly on mobile devices
• Use clean HTML Code

Sending Strategy for High Deliverability

Timing Your Campaigns

Data shows these are the cost-effective sending windows for Valentine’s Day:

• 7-10 days before for early shoppers
• 2-3 days before for last-minute shoppers
• Valentine’s Day morning for digital offerings

Domain and IP Warmup Process

If you’re using a new domain or IP, gradually increase your sending volume;

• Week 1: Send to your most engaged subscribers only 

• Week 2: Increase Volume by 20-30%

• Week 3: Continue ramping up to your target volume 

Managing your Email List 

To maintain list quality and avoid spam traps;

• Remove invalid email addresses.
• Delete addresses that haven’t engaged in 6 months
• Implement double opt-in for new subscribers
• Regularly verify email addresses
  
  

Monitoring and Troubleshooting Deliverability Issues

Essential Monitoring Tools 

Use these tools to track your email performance:

• Google Postmaster Tools: Monitor Domain reputation and delivery errors
• Mail-Tester: Check individual email authentication and Content
• MXToolbox: verify technical setup and check blacklist status
  
  

Understanding How Spam Filters Work 

Let’s start with the basics.

Spam filters use sophisticated algorithms and multiple evaluation criteria to determine whether an email should be delivered to the inbox, sent to spam, or rejected entirely. 

They make their decisions based on three main factors.

1. Your sender reputation 
2. The content of your email
3. Engagement level of your email

These filters become more stringent during high-volume holiday periods like Valentine's Day. This means you need to be extra careful with your sending practices during this period.

Final Checklist Before Sending Your Valentine's Campaign

Before launching your campaign:

✓ Verify authentication records

✓ Clean and segment your list

✓ Review content for spam triggers

✓ Test mobile responsiveness

✓ Send test emails to major email providers

✓ Set up monitoring tools

Email deliverability requires attention to technical details and consistent monitoring.

By following these guidelines, you'll significantly improve your chances of reaching the inbox during the Valentine's Day season.

Consider getting a professional email deliverability audit from BlueOshan to ensure your campaigns are fully optimised for success.