Spam filters: everything you need to know
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In this article, we will look at:
?? What is a spam filter?
? Why do we need Spam Filters?
? Types of spam filters
? How does the spam filter work?
? How to avoid spam filters??
? Best spam filters in 2022
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1. What is a spam filter??
A spam filter is an automated mechanism that parses and sorts emails. Once the system recognizes spam, it prevents it from being delivered to the recipient's mailbox. Thus, such a filter determines whether a particular email is interesting to the user, sends it either to the Inbox or the Spam folder and in some cases immediately blocks and deletes it.
First, part of the spam messages is filtered out by the provider (Internet provider), which deletes email from blacklisted ip-addresses. Next, the email is analyzed by the filters of mail services to protect their users from inappropriate content.
You may also have an additional corporate spam filter installed by your company. They are used for additional protection of commercial networks and blocking advertising mailings to employees' mail.
And, finally, the email is checked by individual filters, which are configured by the recipients themselves in the settings of the mailbox or client application. User settings are valid for a specific account.
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2. Why spam filters are needed.
Spam filters protect your mail. It is no secret that the amount of spam is growing and only irritates users. Also, using spam, scammers work, who can send emails with malicious links.
Thus, thanks to spam filters, you protect not only your mailbox but also your computer, your confidential data, trade secrets, and even money.
3. Types of spam filters.
All spam filters can be divided into two types:
1. Automatic?- which is fully controlled by the system.
2. Non-automatic?- those that the user configures himself. For example, the user can set up a list of spam words based on which emails will be identified as spam.
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4. How do spam filters work?
Almost all modern spam filters use artificial intelligence in their work.
For example, Google has been using AI since 2015, the company already claims to be able to block 99.9% of spam from reaching inboxes while misclassifying legitimate email as spam only 0.05% of the time.
Such filters can educate and improve themselves.
They track the reputation information of the domain from which the message was sent, verify authentication, and analyze the content of the message and the behavior of recipients.
4.1. Analysis of the reputation of the IP address and domain.
Spam filters access blacklists of IP addresses and domains called the DNS Block List. If you are on the?blacklist , all your emails will be blocked.
There are dozens of such lists and the data in them is constantly updated, checking manually is not always enough time and desire.
You can use Warmy to check if your IP is blacklisted. It's very simple and fast. If your email is visible on one of the lists, Warmy will show it to you.
If your domain is new, then the spam filter will treat it with suspicion, since your reputation has not yet been formed, the provider does not know whether to trust such a domain or not and how your subscribers should treat your emails.
The Warmy team advises warming up such domains, gradually increasing the mailing volumes. Therefore, it is recommended to increase the mailing volumes from new domains gradually.
?4.2. Checking the settings of authentication protocols.
Authentication is a way to verify the identity of a sender. An email that fails authentication is classified as spam or suspicious.
There are three authentication methods: DKIM, SPF, and DMARC.
A DKIM signature confirms that the message was sent by the domain owner. SPF blocks sending messages from addresses that are not in the record. DMARC protects a domain from email spoofing.
Read more about this in our article -?Why do you need to configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?
4.3. Content and format
There are no hard and fast rules, so it's best to?A/B test your emails
The spam filter analyzes the presence of spam words, the absence of a sender, a large number of recipients, the presence and size of attachments, the number and quality of links, pictures, etc. Emails that fail verification are sent to spam.
We recommend checking the content of your email in our free email template checker.
It is very easy to do this, just follow the link -?Email template checker ?and paste your text into the window, and the system will automatically detect errors that can lead your email to the spam folder.
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4.4. Checking the Subject of Your Emails
Writing the right email title is a real art. If you use caps lock or spam words, for example, your emails will go to spam. In this case, you definitely need A / B testing.
To learn how to write an email subject that will be effective, read our article -?14 Tips for Writing an Email Subject
4.5. User engagement analysis
A very important indicator. This is how your subscribers react to your emails. Confidence in the mailing list is reduced if the recipient did not read and deleted the email, marked it as spam, or complained about the sender. The reputation grows if the user opened the email, followed the link, wrote a reply, or forwards it, marking “This is not spam”.
In our Warmy tool, we use AI, which, when an email (domain) is warmed up, automatically opens emails, replies to them, pulls them out of the Spam folder, and marks them as email that is trustworthy. These actions help train spam filters and trust your mailings.
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5. How to avoid spam filters?
Based on what we have already considered, we can conclude what to do in order not to get into spam.?Let's take a quick look at the basic rules.
Take care of the reputation of your domain
??Set up authentication.
??Warm up the domain and IP address.?To do this, you can use a special tool, such as Warmy. Of course, you can do it manually, but it takes a lot of time and will require a lot of your effort.
? Remember that if you have a new domain, start increasing your mailing volumes gradually.
You may be interested in -?Warming up the domain manually or using special services.
??Do not use one mailing address for all mailing lists.?It is better to create separate mailboxes for different types of mailings (advertising, transactional, business correspondence)
In addition, if your company is engaged in cold mailing, it is best not to send mailings from your main domain, register an additional one, so you will save the main domain from trouble.
??Watch your reputation. Check if the IP address of the email you are sending from is blacklisted.
You can check the reputation of an IP address or a domain using our service.
??Follow the schedule.?Do mailings evenly, for example, weekly or monthly.
??Keep the thematic orientation of the newsletter, no need to turn the newsletter into a continuous advertising platform;
??Check email content for spam words, always check if links are working, don't add too many pictures, and check email for grammatical errors.
??Always sign your email.?Leave your coordinates.
??Always leave a visible unsubscribe link.
??Try not to send attachments.?This will cause unnecessary suspicion both among the filters and your readers.
??Keep your subscriber base clean.?Delete old emails or emails that have not been active for several months.
??Do not break promises.?If you stated that a subscriber will receive 2 emails per week, and you end up sending out a lot more often, you risk being flagged as spam.
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6. Best spam filters in 2022
We have covered how you as a marketer or business owner can send emails without getting spammed, in this part let's talk about how you can protect your emails from spam, especially from fraud and viruses.
Spam filters are free and paid.
Your email host already has a built-in spam filter, most of them provide the same "free" degree of protection and for ordinary users, this is more than enough.
Of course, they are not perfect, so often the emails you need end up in spam, and spam in the inbox.
Downloading free spam protection software will have a similar effect, but be a little more advanced. In addition, additional features and options may be available to you.
If you are a large company that is very careful about the safety of confidential data and the protection of its employees and PCs, you will most likely need a paid filter.
A paid spam filter will provide the best protection for your company's computers and email accounts. They will scan and analyze processes more carefully.
Here is a list of the top?9 Email Spam Filters?by version - www.getastra.com
??SpamTitan (TitanHQ)
??Zerospam?
??Spambrella
??MailChannels
??Xeams
??Topsec Email Security
??Symantec Email Security.Cloud
??MailWasher
???Spameo
Remember, you are only as good as your reputation. We hope the above rules and tips will help you avoid papal spam and you will not only save your reputation but also improve it.
Increase your domain reputation with?Warmy?