If your emails are landing in spam instead of the inbox, it usually means something in your setup is missing, misconfigured, or damaging your sender reputation.

This is a common issue for small businesses and can affect:

• Customer enquiries
• Quotes and invoices
• Ongoing client communication

There are four main causes.

1. Missing or incorrect email authentication

If your domain doesn’t have the correct authentication records, email providers don’t trust your messages.

This includes:

• SPF
• DKIM
• DMARC

These records prove that your emails are legitimate.

→ See our SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup guide for more on this.

2. Incorrect DNS configuration

Even if records exist, they are often:

• Set up incorrectly
• Duplicated
• Conflicting

This is one of the most common causes we see.

→ See our guide on how to check if your email setup is correct.

3. Poor domain or sending reputation

If your domain or server has a poor reputation, emails are more likely to be filtered.

This can be caused by:

• Previous misuse of the domain
• Sending from a new domain without proper setup
• High bounce or complaint rates

→ See our email domain reputation guide.

4. Platform-specific filtering (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)

Different providers apply different filtering rules.

For example:

• Gmail may flag missing authentication more aggressively
• Outlook may be stricter on reputation

→ Gmail spam issues guide

Step 1: Check your current setup

Start by identifying what’s wrong.

You need to check:

• SPF record
• DKIM status
• DMARC policy
• DNS configuration

→ Internal link: How to check your email setup

Step 2: Fix authentication properly

Make sure:

• SPF includes all sending services
• DKIM is enabled and valid
• DMARC is configured (not missing)

→ Internal links:

• How to fix your SPF record
• How to set up DKIM
• DMARC setup guide

Step 3: Review your domain usage

Check:

• Are you sending from a new domain?
• Has the domain been used before?
• Are emails being marked as spam by recipients?

If so, reputation may need to be rebuilt.

Step 4: Test and monitor

After making changes:

• Send test emails
• Monitor inbox placement
• Re-check your setup

This is not always an instant fix—some improvements take time.

If you’re unsure what to check or want it resolved quickly, it’s usually more efficient to have this handled properly. Most issues come down to a combination of small misconfigurations rather than one obvious problem.

Need help fixing this?

We provide:

• Free initial assessment
• Clear explanation of the issue
• Fixed-price solutions
• UK-based support

If your emails are going to spam, we can identify the cause and fix it properly.