# My emails are going to spam: what to check

Source: https://help.meisa.io/articles/emails-going-to-spam

Most spam-folder problems come from three things: the sending domain is not fully authenticated (DKIM, SPF and DMARC), the From address is on a different domain, or your bounce and complaint rates are high. Work through the checks below in order, starting with your sending health score.

## 1. Check your sending health

1. Open **Email setup** (or your **Dashboard**) and look at the **Sending health** card.
2. Fix anything marked **Fix now** or **Fix soon** first. Each problem has a button that opens the fix.

![Email setup page with the Sending health card](https://cdn.kamaan.io/kamaan/sites/6ae9f671d5ea373710b2366f/images/meisa-email-setup-overview-e4fba5ce.webp)
A failed or pending domain, or a bounce rate above 2%, is often the whole story. See [Understand your sending health score](/articles/sending-health-score).

## 2. Confirm your domain is authenticated

1. In **Email setup**, find your domain and click **View records**.
2. Every row should show **Found**, and the domain status should be **Verified**.
3. If any row shows **Not found yet**, add it at your DNS host. See [Add Meisa's DNS records at Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap or Route 53](/articles/add-dns-records-at-your-dns-host).

Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook expect DKIM, SPF and a DMARC record from anyone sending in volume. Without them, mail often lands in spam or is rejected. If you already have an SPF record, merge Meisa's `include:amazonses.com` into it. A domain may only have one SPF record.

## 3. Send from an address on that domain

Your sender's From address must be on the domain you verified. Sending as `you@gmail.com` or from a domain you did not verify fails authentication. Check this under **Email setup**, in your senders. See [Add a sender (From name and address)](/articles/add-a-sender-address).

## 4. Look at a real email's headers

1. [Send a test email](/articles/send-a-test-email) to a Gmail address you own.
2. In Gmail, open the email, click the three dots and choose **Show original**.
3. Check that **SPF**, **DKIM** and **DMARC** all say **PASS**.

If DKIM fails, your DKIM records are missing or wrong. If DMARC fails while SPF and DKIM pass, the From domain does not match the domain you verified.

## 5. Keep bounces and complaints low

- Keep your bounce rate under 2% and spam complaints under 0.1%. Mailbox providers start filtering above that.
- Only send to people who signed up. Do not import old or bought lists.
- Meisa already removes hard bounces, spam complaints and invalid addresses for you, and checks every address before it sends. See [Handle bounces and spam complaints](/articles/bounces-and-complaints).

## 6. Make it easy to unsubscribe

Meisa adds a one-click unsubscribe header to every marketing-style email, and a visible unsubscribe link at the bottom if your template does not already have one. Do not hide or remove it. A person who cannot find the unsubscribe link clicks **Report spam** instead, which hurts you far more.

## 7. Do not overwhelm people

- Keep the [frequency cap](/articles/frequency-cap) on, so nobody gets a burst of emails in one day.
- For a big broadcast to a cold list, use phased (warm) sending so the most engaged people get it first. See [Schedule a broadcast and use phased (warm) sending](/articles/schedule-a-broadcast).

## 8. Check the content

- Write like a person, not an ad. Avoid all-caps subjects and piles of exclamation marks.
- Keep a healthy balance of text and images. An email that is a single image often lands in spam.
- Link only to domains you trust. One link to a blocklisted site can sink the whole email.

## 9. New domain? Start slowly

A brand-new domain or a new AWS SES account has no reputation yet. Start with your most engaged contacts and raise volume over a few weeks. Make sure your SES account has production access first. See [Move AWS SES out of the sandbox](/articles/request-ses-production-access).

## Still landing in spam?

Write to hi@meisa.io with the domain, the provider you send through and a copy of the email's headers (from **Show original**). We will look at it with you.

## Related articles

- [Understand your sending health score](/articles/sending-health-score)
- [Verify your sending domain (DKIM, SPF and DMARC)](/articles/verify-your-sending-domain)
- [Handle bounces and spam complaints](/articles/bounces-and-complaints)
- [Why do my open rates look lower than in other tools?](/articles/why-open-rates-look-low)