Emails through the Platform go to Spam

We had to work with our IT guy to get things verified when we got set up.    Then when we send emails now, we do two sends, first to warm up the system by sending to known openers, and that tends to clear the way for the second send to get through the email filters. 

Here are some things you should be doing if you’re sending email from any tool like EveryAction to ensure email deliverability so your email goes into the inbox instead of spam; some are technical configurations and some are best practices for managing a program:

1. Authentication - giving EveryAction permission to send email on your domain’s behalf. Your IT person will need to configure several records in your email DNS to do this. They’re called SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. The step by step is in this help file and is probably what @amy was referring to: 
2. Reputation/Spam Traps - making sure you are not sending email to spam traps by growing your list through opt-in practices and make sure your acqusition sources are giving you valid emails. Also ensuring you only send to engaged users who have opened/clicked within a period of time (6 months is a good one).
   
   This last point is especially important because after 6 months an abandoned email can become a recycled spam trap, and also because email services providers notice if you keep sending email to people who don’t open/click. They then assume you’re a spammer and will start diverting your messages to the bulk or spam folder. Here’s a good article about this: 
4. Sending Engaging Email - the best way to get your email sent to the inbox is to make sure people open it and that they click on things. They signed up for your list because they believe in your mission, so sending content relevant to your mission with ways to take action, learn, donate, and engage is important.
   
   You can learn a lot by testing subject lines and trying out new tactics. The best way to get ideas is to pay attention to what other organizations are doing and try the things you notice that you like.

A note about engagement rates and whether your organization has a problem with its email reputation: if your open rates consistently trend below 10% and your click rates are consistently below 0.5%, you probably need to work on improving your email reputation.

If you have a low sender score, it can take 3 months of consistent, patient work to improve. The steps are sending only to engaged users who have opened or clicked in the last 3 months (or 1 month if your stats are extremely low). Things start to recover around 2 months as ESPs learn you’re sending wanted email. 

@amy’s recommendation about sending to engaged users first and then the rest of the list is a good one too to warm up the list. This is less impactful on a small list of 1,000 or less, but a great strategy for larger lists. Also essential for new domains or IPs, including if you’ve just migrated to EA from another system.

I’d also check out this help article which references some best practices and tips for evaluating your email deliverability: 

Thanks all!