Avoid Outlook's Spam Folder

How to Avoid Outlook’s Spam Folder

Microsoft Outlook has specific filtering mechanisms that determine whether your emails reach the inbox or get filtered to the spam folder. Here are effective strategies to improve your deliverability in Outlook.

Setup Proper Sender Information

1. Use a proper sender name format

   Always include both your name and email address in the “From” field, formatted as "Your Name <[e-mail]>". This format appears more legitimate to Outlook’s spam filters.

2. Maintain consistency

   Use the same sender name and address for your communications to build recognition and trust over time.

Brew automatically formats your sender information correctly when you configure your sending avatars in the brand settings.

Build Sender Reputation

Outlook heavily weights sender reputation in filtering decisions. Here’s how to build and maintain a positive reputation:

Self-engagement

Send test emails to your own Outlook accounts, open them, and reply to establish a positive interaction pattern.

Add to contacts

Add your sending address to your Outlook contacts and encourage recipients to do the same to signal legitimacy.

Encourage interaction

Design emails that prompt replies, forwards, or other engagement actions from your recipients.

Honor preferences

Immediately process unsubscribe requests and respect recipient preferences.

Optimize Email Sending Practices

Avoid BCC mass mailings

Instead of sending to multiple recipients via BCC, use Brew’s proper audience segmentation and campaign tools to send individual emails to each recipient.

Control sending volume and frequency

Outlook monitors sudden changes in sending patterns. Maintain consistent volume and frequency rather than sending sporadic email blasts.

Focus on engaged recipients

Regularly clean your subscription groups by removing unengaged contacts. Brew’s analytics tools can help you identify which contacts haven’t opened or clicked your emails in the past 90-180 days.

Create Outlook-Friendly Content

Outlook has specific content preferences that differ from other email clients:

1. Simplify HTML

   Outlook’s rendering engine has limitations with complex HTML. Keep your email design simple and clean, focusing on content rather than elaborate design elements.

2. Balance text and images

   Maintain a healthy text-to-image ratio. Emails that are predominantly images with minimal text are more likely to trigger spam filters.

3. Avoid spam trigger words

   Be cautious with sales-oriented language like “free,” “guaranteed,” or excessive use of exclamation points and all-caps text.

4. Test rendering

   Always test how your emails render in Outlook before sending to your entire audience. Brew’s preview feature lets you see how your emails will appear across different email clients.

Brew’s AI-generated emails are designed with Outlook’s rendering quirks in mind, helping ensure your emails display correctly for all recipients.

Technical Considerations

Authentication

Ensure your domain has proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records configured. Brew handles the basic setup automatically when you verify your domain.

List management

Immediately process bounces and remove invalid addresses from your subscription groups. Brew handles this automatically.

IP reputation

Brew maintains dedicated IP pools with positive sending history to improve your deliverability.

Feedback loops

Monitor and respond to feedback from Outlook’s spam complaint system.

Practical Tips from Our Customers

Here are some proven strategies from Brew customers who have achieved high deliverability rates with Outlook:

• Start small: When sending to a new audience segment, begin with smaller batches before scaling up
• Personalize: Include the recipient’s name and other personalized elements in your emails
• Segment effectively: Use Brew’s segmentation tools to ensure recipients only get relevant content
• Test and iterate: Use A/B testing to identify which subject lines and content perform best with Outlook users

Brew’s analytics dashboard helps you track deliverability metrics specifically for Outlook domains, allowing you to identify and address any issues early.

Summary

Improving deliverability in Outlook requires a combination of technical setup, sending practices, and content optimization. By following these guidelines, you’ll significantly increase the likelihood of your emails landing in your recipients’ inboxes rather than their spam folders.