Have you experienced a situation when you are waiting for an important email from your client, but it simply is not in your inbox? You’re starting to check your spam folder—and here we go! On top of that, you see the message with a delay, discovering it hours later than you should have…
Do you know that this problem might hit you anytime? You might miss your customer’s letter, an important promo message with a discount proposal from a store, your earned miles notification, and so on.
Yet, you can make sure these messages come through your mail client’s spam filters. The best practice is to request an email address to be whitelisted. In this case, the sender’s message will always be in your inbox and never get spammed. But before we learn how to do it, let’s come through the list of reasons why an email can drop into the spam directory.
Why Legit Emails End Up in Spam
We have identified six main reasons why an email you’re waiting for becomes spam. Let’s go through the list.
Email filtering algorithms
Every email service has built-in filtering algorithms. Their purpose is to be your inbox’s guardian. These sophisticated algorithms scan incoming messages for several variables, such as keywords, subject lines, attachments, and others. But here’s the trick: sometimes, these cool algorithms glitch and mark legit emails as spam. The reason for that is the filtering settings: too many promo words can send the email you need into the spam folder.
Sender reputation
Sometimes, people send emails, but almost nobody reads them; such letters are kind of very unpopular. We call it bad sender reputation. You can compare it with a credit score in banking. Email services evaluate how recipients treat such emails. If only a few people open them and most delete them without reading, the algorithms can suggest it is spam. Maybe the topic or content overall is not attracting people to read it. So, such letters are being filtered out.
User behavior
Again, reputation is everything, including the IT sphere. It can impact spam filtering. If somebody doesn’t like your email, they may mark it as spam. This can cause a chain reaction for the email filtering algorithms. Yes, they are not as smart as people yet. If too many recipients don’t care about your messages, you become a spammer! It triggers all your future letters to be spammed by default. The thing is not just your email content but what people think of it.
Technical issues
Technical issues are another reason for a Shakespearean drama when your email becomes spam. Wrong DNS or a missing SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record can make your emails end up in the spam folder. Your IP address might also not be unique or spammers could have gained access to it. It’s like having a leaky faucet in your bathroom. You might think it is not a big deal, but in fact, it is a big deal! It can cause massive problems over time.
Blacklisting services
These services are online watchdogs. They monitor bad guys on the Internet. If these services blacklist your IP address or domain, you bet your email will become spam automatically. If you’re asking why, there can be several reasons to be blacklisted. For instance, you can be under suspicion if you send too many emails too quickly. Once you get there, it is tough to get out. You would probably need an IT person’s assistance to be cleared of “charges.”
User-reported spam
Do you know what a domino effect is? This is exactly what happens when users report your single letter as spam. Yes, email services think it is this straightforward. As a result, they fine-tune their filtering algorithms to punish you as a spammer. Now, consider if not just one, but several users report your emails as spam. You’re 100% guaranteed for all your future emails to drop directly into the spam folder. Sadly, but this is what happens when one bad fruit spoils the bunch.
How to Whitelist an Email in Gmail
According to workmind.ai, Google blocks up to ten million emails per minute to ensure that only 0.1% of spam drops into your inbox. This is what you need to know about strict approaches mail services apply to spam letters:
Step 1: Go to your Google settings. In the left-hand corner, click on the gear icon. You will then see a drop-down list. Select the See all settings button.
Step 2: Select Filters and Blocked Addresses. This tab is in the top row underneath Settings, option #5 from the left.
Step 3: Find and select Create a new filter.
Step 4: Once you do it, you will see a pop-up resembling an email format. Now, type the address you wish to whitelist in the From line. Then, select Create filter.
Step 5: Check the Never send it to Spam box, option #7, from the top. Then, click the Create filter button. Here we go: the email address has been whitelisted!
- Your Gmail tip: If you want to whitelist multiple emails, you can do it easily. Follow the procedure mentioned above until Step 4. Now, in the From field, add all the addresses you want to be whitelisted. In the process, insert the pipe symbol ( | ) in between emails.
How to Whitelist an Email in Outlook
Step 1: Click the Settings (or gear icon) button in the top right corner.
Step 2: When you see the pop-up menu, click Mail.
Step 3: Choose Junk Email from the submenu.
Step 4: Select the Safe Senders tab. Then, click Add.
Step 5: Type in the email address you want to add to safe senders, and after that, click Save. This is it!
- Your Outlook tip: Don’t move email to the Junk Email folder. Select this option if you want to turn off junk email filtering.
How to Whitelist an Email in Yahoo
Let’s now see how whitelisting works in Yahoo.
Step 1: Go to Settings, then click More Settings.
Step 2: Select Filters and click Add new filters to enter the email address you want to whitelist.
Step 3: Name the filter, then add the email address.
Step 4: Select to send all mail to Inbox.
Step 5: To finish the job, save your settings.
- Your Yahoo tip: Please note, there are four criteria in the corresponding section: “contains,” “doesn’t contain,” “begins with,” and “ends with” for you to better organize your emails.
FAQs
What if I can’t find the whitelist option?
If you can’t locate the whitelist option, don’t worry; it is 100% there by default. Every email service from our review offers this option. Just read again the step-by-step guide for the corresponding service, and you will find how you can do it.
Can I whitelist entire domains?
Let’s see what can be done in Gmail. If you communicate with various people at the same company, you will want to whitelist all email addresses from that specific domain. To whitelist this entity’s contacts, type “@” followed by the domain name (e.g., @gmail.com). Then, click the Create filter button.
How do I remove someone from the whitelist?
To make a long story short, there is a universal way to do it for any email service, i.e., Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook. Even if an email contact is whitelisted, simply check it in the contacts section and mark it as spam. This would automatically make the chosen email contact to be excluded from the whitelist.
To Sum Up
The ultimate goal of email whitelisting is to prevent legitimate messages from being flagged as spam. This is why every email service has a whitelisting option. You don’t want to miss messages from your friends, colleagues, customers, or promotions you’re interested in.
There are also various reasons why legitimate messages can get into the spam folder, such as user behavior, sender reputation, and email filtering algorithms. Yet, email whitelisting procedures can fix all these reasons.
We have reviewed the corresponding options for three popular email services: Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and Yahoo!Mail. Having learned how to whitelist your contacts, you can establish important communication with the intended recipients. As you can see, the step-by-step instructions for whitelisting are rather simple and easy to practice. Basically, all these instructions look similar; of course, every email service offers its own way of whitelisting.
Yet, it is essential to keep up with software updates, as these guides can slightly change over time. We recommend you practice whitelisting procedures in your email service to ensure you do it properly. Another piece of advice would be to periodically review your contacts to figure out if you would like to whitelist more contacts or, on the contrary, to remove some addresses from this list.
We wish you to keep your contacts under control, as it can dramatically improve your business performance or make your personal communication more effective.