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How to stop your email going to spam (the 2025 checklist)

If legitimate email from your domain lands in spam, the cause is almost always one of four things: missing authentication, a poor sending reputation, bad list hygiene, or content that trips filters. Fix them in this order.

1. Authenticate your domain (the big three)

These are DNS records and they are non-negotiable in 2025:

  • SPF — a TXT record listing the servers allowed to send for your domain. Without it, receivers cannot tell your real mail from a forgery. Check yours with the TXT record checker.

  • DKIM — a cryptographic signature proving a message came from your domain and was not altered. The public key lives in DNS; your mail server signs with the private key.

  • DMARC — a policy telling receivers what to do when SPF/DKIM fail, plus a reporting address so you can see who is sending as you.

Start DMARC at p=none to monitor, read the reports, then move to quarantine and finally reject. Setup detail: Email DNS: SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

2. Confirm your mail server is where the records say it is

Use the MX record checker to confirm your domain advertises the right mail servers. If the MX points somewhere unexpected, nothing else matters — fix routing first.

3. Check your sending IP is not blacklisted

Use the email blacklist checker against your sending IP. A listing means outright rejection at many providers. Fix the root cause (usually spam complaints or a compromised account), then request delisting.

4. Warm up a new sending domain or IP

A brand-new domain or IP has no reputation — sending a big campaign on day one looks like spam. Send small volumes first, to engaged recipients, and ramp up gradually.

5. Fix list hygiene and engagement

Reputation is driven by how recipients treat your mail:

  • Remove hard bounces immediately — sending to invalid addresses damages you.

  • Prune long-term non-openers — or re-engage them separately.

  • Use double opt-in so the addresses you hold actually want your mail.

  • Make unsubscribing one-click and instant — a working List-Unsubscribe header reduces spam complaints. Check it with the List-Unsubscribe checker.

6. Watch the content

Avoid ALL-CAPS subjects, excessive exclamation marks, misleading subject lines and spammy phrases. A truthful, specific subject that matches the body is both better for opens and safer for filters.

The order that works

  1. MX correct → 2. SPF/DKIM/DMARC in place → 3. not blacklisted → 4. warmed up → 5. clean, engaged list → 6. sane content.

Nine times out of ten, mail that "goes to spam" is fixed in the first two steps. If you would rather not run the mail plumbing yourself, our Business Email service configures the DNS correctly from the start.

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