You send an important email to a client and they never respond - not because they are ignoring you, but because your message landed in their spam folder. This is more common than most business owners realize, and it can affect transactional emails (order confirmations, password resets), sales emails, and everyday correspondence alike. The good news is that the most common causes are diagnosable and fixable.
Common Reasons Emails Go to Spam
Missing SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records - These are DNS records that prove your email is legitimate. Without them, receiving mail servers have no way to verify that you are who you claim to be, and they treat your messages with suspicion. This is the most common cause of deliverability problems for new domains.
Sending from a free email with a business domain - If your website is yourbusiness.ca but you send emails from yourbusiness@gmail.com, there is a mismatch that spam filters notice. Always send business email from your own domain.
Spam trigger words - Certain words and phrases in your subject line or body text reliably trigger spam filters: "FREE!!!", "Act now", "Guaranteed", "No obligation", excessive use of exclamation marks, or all-caps words. Marketing emails are more susceptible to this than plain text correspondence.
No unsubscribe link in marketing emails - Canadian law (CASL - Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation) requires that commercial electronic messages include a working unsubscribe mechanism. Spam filters also look for this. Marketing emails without unsubscribe links get filtered aggressively.
Sending from a new domain or IP without warming up - If you suddenly send hundreds of emails from a brand-new domain, spam filters flag the unusual activity.
High bounce rates or spam complaint rates - If recipients have been marking your messages as spam, your sender reputation suffers, which causes future messages to be filtered.
Checking Your Reputation
Before fixing anything, diagnose the problem:
MXToolbox (mxtoolbox.com) - Check whether your domain or IP address is on any email blacklists. Also use their Email Health tool to check whether your SPF and DKIM records are configured correctly.
Mail Tester (mail-tester.com) - Send a test email to the address provided, then get a score out of 10 with a detailed breakdown of what is working and what needs attention. This is one of the most useful free tools for diagnosing deliverability problems.
Google Postmaster Tools - If a significant portion of your recipients use Gmail, register your domain with Google Postmaster Tools for data on your domain reputation and spam rate.
Setting Up SPF and DKIM in cPanel
SPF (Sender Policy Framework): In cPanel, go to Email > Email Deliverability. cPanel will show you the current state of your SPF and DKIM records and offer to repair them automatically if they are missing or incorrect. Click Repair to let cPanel generate the correct records.
Your SPF record is a TXT DNS record that lists which mail servers are authorized to send email for your domain. A basic SPF record looks like:
v=spf1 include:yourhostingserver.com ~all
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to outgoing emails that receiving servers verify against a public key published in your DNS. cPanel can generate and install DKIM keys automatically from the Email Deliverability page.
DMARC: Add a DMARC TXT record to tell receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM fails. A basic starting policy:
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourdomain.ca
Start with p=none (monitor only) before moving to p=quarantine or p=reject.
Using a Dedicated Transactional Email Service
If your WordPress site sends emails - order confirmations, contact form notifications, password resets - those emails are sent through your hosting server by default. Shared hosting servers are not optimized for email delivery and can have poor sender reputations.
For better deliverability, use a dedicated transactional email service:
- Mailgun - Reliable and developer-friendly, generous free tier
- SendGrid - Popular choice for high-volume senders
- Amazon SES - Very affordable for high volumes
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) - Good option with both transactional and marketing email in one platform
Install the WP Mail SMTP plugin for WordPress, which routes your site's outgoing email through whichever service you choose instead of the default PHP mail function.
Warming Up a New Domain
If you are sending marketing emails from a brand-new domain, start slowly. Begin by sending to your most engaged contacts and gradually increase volume over several weeks. Sudden spikes in volume from new domains are a red flag for spam filters.
Best Practices for Marketing Emails
- Always send from your own domain, never from a free provider
- Include your physical mailing address (required by CASL)
- Include a clear, working unsubscribe link
- Segment your list and only send relevant content
- Keep your list clean by removing bounced addresses and inactive subscribers
- Send consistently - irregular sending patterns hurt your reputation
Good email deliverability is built over time through consistent, legitimate sending practices. Fix the technical foundations first, then focus on the quality and relevance of your content.
