Why cold emails go to spam

Cold emails go to spam when the receiving mailbox provider is not confident the message is wanted. That decision weighs your domain's authentication, your sending history, how recipients react, and the message itself. Mailbox providers ultimately decide placement, but most spam problems trace back to a handful of fixable causes.

How to tell if it is happening

• Replies drop sharply while Sent stays normal.
• Colleagues or friends on Gmail and Outlook find your test email in Spam or Junk.
• Recipients mention they found you in spam.

Open rates alone are a weak signal: some email apps hide opens and others fetch images automatically. See Open and click tracking explained.

Likely causes and fixes

Missing or broken authentication

Without SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your domain, providers cannot confirm the email really comes from you.

Fix: set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, then send yourself a test and check Show original in Gmail for a PASS on each.

Too much volume, too soon

A new mailbox or domain that jumps to high volume looks like a spammer. So does a sudden spike on an established account.

Fix: lower Max emails per day in the campaign's Autopilot settings, keep Randomize the gap on, and increase gradually. Remember the limit is per campaign, so several campaigns on one mailbox add up. See How to prepare a new sending account.

Bounces and bad addresses

Sending to addresses that do not exist tells providers you do not know your recipients.

Fix: clean the list before importing and pause campaigns with rising Bounced counts. See Why emails bounce.

Recipients marking you as spam

Spam reports are one of the strongest negative signals.

Fix: tighten targeting, make it easy to opt out, and stop after a reasonable number of follow-ups. See Handling spam complaints.

Content that looks like bulk marketing

Heavy HTML, big images, many links, all-caps subjects, "!!!" and stock sales phrases all push a message toward spam.

Fix: write short, plain, personal emails. Open the template's Checks tab to see Distro's warnings for caps, punctuation, common spam phrases and too many links.

Links and tracking

Every tracked link becomes a redirect through Distro's tracking address, and open tracking adds a hidden image. URL shorteners are worse, because their shared domains are often abused.

Fix: keep one link or none in the first email, never use shorteners, and consider turning Track emails off when placement matters more than analytics. See Links in cold email.

A damaged sender reputation

Past spam reports, bounces or a domain with a bad history can follow you.

Fix: reduce volume, improve targeting, and give it time. See What is sender reputation.

What Distro already does

• Sends from your own Google account (Gmail or Google Workspace) through Google, not a shared sending pool. See How Distro sends email.
• Paces campaigns within your sending days, window, daily limit and delay.
• Never emails people on your Unsubscribed list and stops sequences on unsubscribes and hard bounces.