The symptom
My company’s emails go to spam
Before touching anything, you need to know which of three different things is happening to you. They are fixed in different ways and only one of them is “the junk folder”.
Three things people call “going to spam”
Rejected
The receiving mailbox does not accept the message and sends you a bounce with a code (for example 550 5.7.26 at Gmail or 550 5.7.515 at Outlook). It is the easiest case: the code says what is missing, and it is almost always identification.
In the junk folder
The message is accepted and set aside. Here identification counts, but so do the content and what people do with your emails.
Vanished
No bounce and no spam: it is simply not there. It is usually a filter at the receiving company or a rule in the mailbox itself. It cannot be seen from outside.
What having SPF, DKIM and DMARC in order fixes
- Rejections for lack of identification, which are the ones that carry a code.
- One of your services (invoices, newsletter, the website) sending without being authorised and nobody telling you.
- Someone sending email with your domain and it arriving as if it were yours.
What it does not fix
- Content that people mark as spam.
- A purchased list, or one with addresses that no longer exist.
- The own filters of each receiving company.
First: look at your domain
If the result comes out incomplete, you know where to start. If it comes out compliant and you still have problems, the cause is elsewhere and the guide tells you where to look.