Years ago, an email would land in the spam folder just because of the subject line or a word like “free.”
Today, it’s more subtle. And more dangerous.
People don’t mark emails as spam out of malice.
They do it when they feel:
- misled
- ignored
- overwhelmed
Here are a few real-life examples I’ve seen (and maybe you’ve done one of these too):
- Someone signs up for a free PDF… and gets 12 emails in 3 days.
- The subject says “exclusive gift,” but the content is a 5% discount.
- The sender is listed as “XPTO Marketing Team,” but no one knows who that is.
- The link says “my-business.com” but redirects to a sketchy domain.
- The email looks like an ad, when the user was expecting a conversation.
What happens next?
“This isn’t for me.” → Mark as SPAM → Damaged sender reputation → Future emails go to the SPAM folder
Want to avoid that?
Start with one question before hitting send:
“Does this person truly want to receive this, right now, in this format?”
If the answer is “maybe”… hit pause.
The harshest filter isn’t Gmail or Outlook. It’s your recipient’s brain.
