Why is my cold email going to the spam folder?

Because that’s what the spam folder is for unsolicited email.

Sending cold email, particularly in bulk (and let’s be honest, if it weren’t sent in bulk, no one would know or care about it going to spam) is spamming. This is exactly the kind of mail that the bulk folder is designed to catch. Senders that don’t have permission have no path out of the bulk folder except trying to get some permission for their email.

Recently I’ve had an uptick in request for help getting cold emails out of the bulk folder. Some have found me through search engines and this blog. Others have been referred by someone. Whatever the reason, they come to me with a purchased list that isn’t being delivered to the inbox and they want me to help them.

The problem is I can’t help them. They are sending unsolicited email and their mail is being delivered exactly where it should be – in the bulk folder. In the past I’d try to help. I’d pull out my bag of tools and walk them through the steps to fix their delivery. But it often wouldn’t work. They weren’t looking for the kind of help I provide. They were looking for one quick trick to fool the filters into putting the mail in the inbox.

These engagements were frustrating for me, too. I know exactly why their mail isn’t going to the inbox, they’re sending spam. But no company wants to hear they’re spamming. I’d try and explain, using terms like unengaged recipients and unwanted email. I’d offer suggestions on how to create that engagement, how to find their audience, how to be better marketers. That wasn’t what they wanted, they wanted a quick fix that would let them invest pennies into purchased lists that dropped right into the inbox.

It’s not the techniques that are the problem. I regularly use the same techniques with clients who have data containing a mix of opt-in and non-opt-in data. These clients have been collecting data and email addresses through many different channels over many years without an audit trail. We can sort the list out, retain the good data and get rid of the old data.

The problem is that purchased lists are unwanted by recipients and the filters applied to their mail. That doesn’t mean opt-in lists never have delivery issues, they do. And we can fix those delivery issues because, fundamentally, the recipients want that mail. The recipients asked for that mail. There is no such assurance that recipients want mail if the list has been purchased.

Are some purchased lists opt-in? Yeah, probably. But the purchaser has no way of knowing what the address owner originally opted in to receive. All the purchaser has is the assurance of the seller. The seller who makes money even if the list isn’t opt-in.

Why does cold email go to the bulk folder? Because ‘cold email’ is just the most recent euphemism for spam. And the bulk folder is where spam is supposed to be delivered.

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Filters do what we tell them

In the email space we talk about filters as if they were sentient beings. “The filters decided…” “The filters said…” This is convenient shorthand, but tends to mask that filters aren’t actually deciding or saying anything. Filters are software processes that follow rules dictated by the people who create and maintain them. The rules flow from the goals set by the mailbox provider. The mailbox provider sets goals based on what their users tell them. Users communicate what they want by how they interact with email.

What we end up with is a model where a set of people make decisions about what mail should be let in. They pass that decision on to the people who write the filters. The people who write the filters create software that evaluates email based on those goals using information collected from many places, including the endusers.
What mail should be let in is an interesting question, with answers that differ depending on the environment the filter is deployed in.
Consumer ISPs typically want to keep their users happy and safe. Their goals are to stop harmful mail like phishing, or mail containing viruses or malware. They also want to deliver mail that makes their users happy. As one ISP employee put it, “We want our users to be delighted with your mail.”
Businesses have a few other goals when it comes to filters. They, too, need filters to protect their network from malicious actors. As businesses are often directly targeted by bad actors, this is even more important. They also want to get business related email, whether that be from customers or vendors. They may want to ensure that certain records are kept and laws are followed.
Governments have another set of goals. Universities and schools have yet another set of goals. And, of course, there are folks who run their own systems for their own use.
Complicating the whole thing is that some groups have different tolerances for mistakes. For instance, many of our customers are folks dealing with being blocked by commercial filters. Therefore, we don’t run commercial filters. That does mean we see a lot of viruses and malware and rely on other strategies to stop a compromise, strategies that wouldn’t be as viable in a different environment.
Filters are built to meet specific user needs. What they do isn’t random, it’s not unknowable. They are designed to accomplished certain goals and generally they’re pretty good at what they do. Understanding the underlying goals of filters can help drive solutions to poor delivery.
Use the shorthand, talk about what filters are doing. But remember that there are people behind the filters. Those filters are constantly maintained in order to keep up with ever changing mail streams. They aren’t static and they aren’t forgotten. They are updated regularly. They are fluid, just like the mail they act on.

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Did the algorithm change?

When faced with unexplained deliverability changes one of the first questions many folks ask is “Did the algorithm change.” In many ways this is an meaningless question. Why? Because there are two obvious answers to the question.
A1: Of course it didn’t.
A2: Of course it did.
Both answers are correct, but they’re answering different underlying questions. When we understand how two diametrically opposed answers are both correct, we understand much more about filtering.

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When the inbox isn't the inbox

There was a discussion today on the OI list about email filtering that brought up something I usually don’t mention in delivery discussions. Most email marketers treat the inbox as the holy grail of delivery. Everything about delivery is focused on getting to the magical inbox.
I think, though, that inbox is often just shorthand for “not landing in the bulk or spam folders.”
For some recipients, particularly those of us who get lots of mail, sometimes it’s better to land in a folder rather than the inbox. I have a folder set up, where most of my commercial mail goes. It’s labeled “commercial.” I check it once or twice a day.
This is beneficial to me and to the senders. Why? Because when I check that folder I’m ready to actually look at my commercial mail. I’m looking for those offers.
For someone like me, who does most of their work in their inbox, commercial interruptions are a problem. Commercial mail that ends up in my inbox, which can happen if I’ve been lazy about filters, interrupts me and usually doesn’t get read. But when it’s in my commercial folder? Well, then I can look at it, visit websites and make purchases.
So just remember, it’s not that you want mail in the inbox as much as you want mail somewhere that the recipient will notice it.

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