When your email open rates plummet, it’s natural to start fixing the problem by assuming that it happened because Gmail began blocking your emails. This is the first one in a line of elements that you should check before proceeding to other potential cases.
Why is it terrible for your business?
In the end, it all comes down to statistics and revenue. You have no control over who gets your email and who doesn’t.
Assuming that you are locked in about your target group, many potential customers aren’t going to be notified about your offers because Gmail is blocking emails. This can be a huge issue if your marketing campaign relies on email reaching customers.
Gmail is blocking emails for various reasons, but the issue can be resolved in several ways. Most of these methods are also valuable practices that ensure that similar problems don’t occur in the future.
Let’s begin untangling the problem.
Understanding Gmail Filters
Gmail filters might be a reason your emails don’t reach the target audience even though you send out the emails. Something similar happens to emails that end up in the spam folder, but even those reach your account.
Google was thinking one step ahead, so they have developed an effective searching method that prevents some emails from completely getting through. The method relies on the established rules, and any email that violates its statutes is considered inappropriate.
Gmail filters can be divided into two large groups.
The first group may be deemed mild because its only purpose is automatically organizing your emails into different folders such as Archive, Spam, Important, etc. Other filters completely prevent emails from reaching the target audience.
Both groups should be tended to in order to achieve a better reach and higher profit.
However, if you already know that Gmail is blocking emails intended for your customers for certain, here is how to approach the issue.
Why is Gmail Blocking Your Emails and How To Fix It?
Over the years, Google has developed guidelines and rules that control whether an email will be delivered. Yes, this affects how and why Gmail is blocking emails.
Following these guidelines will allow you to reach every potential customer according to your marketing and sales strategy.
The key factors that should be addressed to discontinue the practice of having your email blocked by Gmail are:
· Sender reputation
· Email content
· Spam complaints
· Email servers
How to improve the sender score?
The sender score refers to a number between 0 and 100 that shows how healthy your email agenda and IP reputation are.
A lower sender score guarantees that some emails will perish, some will be redirected to Spam, and only a portion of initially sent emails will be delivered.
Having a higher sender score is one factor that ensures that your emails reach the target audience. Sender reputation is not a constant, but you should strive to improve it constantly.
What affects your email sender score?
One of the reasons can be an increase in the number of emails that you send. Google may recognize some emails as spam and not process them appropriately because of the sudden higher volume of sent emails.
The safest way to bypass the issue is to increase the volume gradually.
Your sender's reputation will also be affected if the recipients frequently mark your emails as spam. Ensuring you have the right content and target group is the optimal solution to treating this problem.
If more and more people show no interest in opening, forwarding, or replying to your emails, your email sender score will take a hit. The same happens when your customers unsubscribe from your email list.
If you choose to send emails randomly, your overall rating will decrease, thus creating an opposite effect.
How valuable is the content?
Content is the key not only to your marketing and sales strategy but to your email reach as well. Emails that appear spammy usually don’t get delivered or end up in spam.
The easiest way to check this hypothesis and understand what kind of content makes emails look like spam is by searching through your personal Spam folder. Many emails there include subject lines in all capital letters, bold text, large font, or misspelled words.
Content’s overall look and grammatical correctness are essential in achieving a professional appearance, but outstanding content positively affects the reach.
Not only will your customers be interested in your product or service, but adequate content will also stop Google from treating your emails like spam.
With so many emails being sent daily, Gmail does not have the time to check every link you include in the email. Since they cannot determine which link is hazardous, some emails might not go through.
You may solve this problem by not incorporating links in every email you send.
How to avoid generating spam complaints?
Customers that mark your emails as spam damage your sender score. In reality, some recipients will label an email as spam regardless of its contents, but you should change something if you see an increase in this category.
Sending out emails in bulk can hurt your email marketing performance more than you know. Not only will a great portion of people receive emails that they are not interested in, and mark them as spam, but you will reach fewer potentially interested people.
This is due to the lower reputation score.
Make sure to send the right content to the adequate target group, and your customers will appreciate your emails. This increases customer satisfaction and increases your sender rating.
Is the server an issue?
Email servers can often be the reason why Gmail is blocking emails. This is a technical issue; it doesn’t have to be your fault, but you should deal with it to ensure the problem is solved.
The sender score is a referred measurement for email sender reputation, but IP addresses also have a rating. If your IP address has a substandard reputation, it will get blacklisted, and Gmail will not allow your emails to reach the recipients.
Contact support and ask Gmail to find out if Google is blacklisting your IP. In case you are in a hurry for an answer, check your IP on different sites that contain the list of IPs with poor reputations.
The first step is identifying why Gmail has blacklisted your IP. Some reasons include changes in email volume, users auto-forwarding emails to Gmail, and compromised user accounts and web applications. You should consult your server logs and analyze the changes.
Authenticating your email is a recommended safety measure that extends your reach. Authenticated emails include useful DNS records like DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. These records add to reliability and legitimacy.
If you solved the issues, you can ask Gmail to delete you from the blacklist. You should be removed from the list a week after filling out the Sender Contact Form.
How to prevent Gmail from blocking emails?
The practices mentioned above are also preventive measures. Email senders who implement the methods of keeping their Gmail accounts and emails healthy don’t have to work harder to reverse the effects of incompetent email marketing.
However, there is something extra that you can do:
· Use double opt-in - Recipients must confirm their interest in your emails.
· Keep your email list clean - Find adequate targets and stick to them.
· Share truthful content - Don’t mislead your audience with inadequate subject lines.
· Utilize email analytics - Keep track of important data to stay within the lines.
Conclusion
Gmail is blocking emails, and we must accept that fact. This is a serious advantage for people who follow Google guidelines and take our advice, but it’s a severe disadvantage for those who don’t use their accounts properly.
At the end of the day, you will look at your capital turnover. If Gmail blocks your emails, many potential customers will be deprived of seeing and purchasing your product or service.
To avoid this scenario, do not hesitate to reach out! We are here for you and ready to help with any blocking issues you might have.