Almost everyone has come across spam emails at some point; however, there are still many misconceptions about the nature of spam emails. We want you to feel confident when it comes to managing your email and reducing spam.
- What is spam?
- How do spammers get my email address?
- What happens when an email is marked as spam?
- What is the best way to block spam?
- Can I prevent my emails from being marked as spam?
What is spam?
Spam or junk is considered unwanted emails sent out in bulk. However, not all unsolicited emails are considered spam.
Marketing emails are sent in bulk by legitimate companies to promote their services. What differentiates marketing emails with spam emails is the ability to unsubscribe. Marketing emails will have a link to unsubscribe from their mailing list and should not be marked as spam.
How do spammers get my email address?
Traditionally spammers use tools to scan the internet for publically visible email addresses. Other times marketing mailing lists and account databases are compromised or leaked, and spammers can access these mailing lists. They then use this list to send spam emails in bulk.
These types of emails will not have any sort of link to unsubscribe and should be marked as spam.
What happens when an email is marked as spam?
Marking an email as spam reports various elements of the email like the sender, email headers, email contents, etc. to the email server. The spam filter will incorporate these elements and filter out future emails that are similar.
Reporting legitimate marketing emails as spam will be ineffective since they are considered a trusted sender. Unsubscribing from their mailing list will prevent future marketing emails.
Note: Marking an email as not spam will teach the spam filter which kinds of emails are considered safe.
- Mark the email as Spam.
- Press Accept to confirm the selected email as spam.
Important: If you confirm to share your data with our Spam partner, the pop-up will go away and you will not be prompted to make a selection going forward. Should you choose to decline, when you mark an email as Spam, the pop-up will appear each time.
What is the best way to block spam?
The best way to block or prevent spam is to mark the email as spam. Spammers will often spoof their email addresses to appear different, blocking just one of them will not help prevent future spam.
The blocked sender's list will not be ideal when it comes to blocking spam as it does not report the email contents to the spam filter. The blocked sender's list should only be used to avoid an individual from being able to contact you.
Marketing emails can be blocked using the unsubscribe link within the email.
Can I prevent my emails from being marked as spam?
There is no way to foresee how a recipient will react to an email. Sending emails to people you are not directly familiar with can lead to the email being marked as spam, which can weaken the reputation for your email service resulting in more emails being marked spam. If you are using your domain for email services, installing an SPF record will help prevent email spoofing and strengthen the domain's email reputation.
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