Prevent Email from Going to Spam When Sending from kvCore (or Anywhere)

Is your email going to your recipient's spam folder?

Whether you're sending from your kvCore account -- or from anywhere -- you need to conduct some technical tasks as well as follow some best practices when sending email.

Here's a 3-step checklist you need to prevent your kvCore-sent email from going into spam folders:

1. Use a true email address as your "from" email: When sending email from your kvCore account (or from any other platform), you'll want to ensure you are sending from an email address that has a true inbox. In other words, it's not a forwarding email or email alias. Instead, it's an email address that has its own email client into which you can login.

Not only will this tactic prevent your emails from going to spam folders...it will also likely help with preventing your email sent using kvCore from going into consumers' Gmail promotions tab.

See screenshot from my own kvCore agent profile

For example, if you're at a brokerage such as eXp Realty...you were given a company-branded email address, i.e. [email protected]. However, this is not a true email address with its own inbox; it's an email address alias that's forwarded to your inbox. And, to send from this email address, your email client, such as your Gmail account, has to be configured to send as that email address.

But, configuration for this purpose doesn't solve the problem. You still need an email with a true inbox to prevent your email marketing from going to spam.       

2. Add an address and unsubscribe link: When sending a mass email to your database, ensure you include a physical and/or mailing address, as well as an unsubscribe link in the footer of your email.

See screenshot example from one of my own mass email newsletter templates below

3. Control your email domain: It's best to use your own branded domain for your email address. Do this inexpensively by purchasing a domain and using that domain to create a branded email address with a Google Workspace account. Then, set up SPF, DKIM & DMARC records in your domain's DNS settings.

Learn more

See screenshot example from one of my own domain's DNS settings

Let me explain more details about the what & why of adding an SPF record:

If you want to ensure that your organization's email is protected and not flagged as spam, it's important to establish email authentication. This means implementing measures such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to minimize the risk of spammers impersonating your domain or organization in phishing and spoofing emails.

Whether you're using a Google Workspace or another platform for your branded email, you'll want to set up these specific DNS records: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Search support articles for your email client platform and/or domain provider to learn how to set up these records. 

We are using Google Worksplace (formerly known as Gsuite) as our example in this post.

If your organization fails to authenticate its email, messages may be reported as spam, which could harm your internet reputation over time. Starting November 2022, new senders must set up either SPF or DKIM to authenticate their messages to personal Gmail accounts. Google will randomly verify new sender messages and reject or mark them as spam if they're not authenticated.

To prevent legitimate messages from being flagged as spam and ensure message delivery, Gmail administrators can set up standard email authentication methods such as SPF and DKIM. SPF lets you specify the servers and domains authorized to send emails for your organization, while DKIM adds a digital signature to the email, verifying that it hasn't been tampered with since leaving your organization's mail server.

It's also a good idea to set up a DMARC record to improve email deliverability and gain greater visibility into who is sending emails on behalf of your domain. DMARC policy allows you to instruct email providers how to handle emails that fail authentication checks, reducing the risk of phishing and spoofing attacks.

Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for your organization's email authentication is easy! Just follow the guidelines provided by Google.