Ghost Emails Going to Spam
Quick answer
Ghost newsletters land in spam or Promotions mostly because of missing SPF/DKIM/DMARC on your sending domain or a brand-new domain with no reputation. Authenticate the domain in Mailgun and warm it up.
Most likely fix: Authenticate your domain
How to fix it
Try these in order — the most common fix is first.
1. Authenticate your domain
- In Mailgun, add and verify your sending domain, not the sandbox
- Add the SPF, DKIM and tracking DNS records Mailgun gives you
- Add a DMARC record (start with p=none) and check it with a DMARC tester
Did this fix it?2. Send from your own domain
- Ghost Admin > Settings > Email newsletter
- Set the sender address to an address on the authenticated domain
- Avoid gmail.com or other free-mail from addresses
Did this fix it?3. Warm up and clean your list
- Send first to small, engaged segments
- Ask readers to reply or move the email to Primary
- Check disabled members in the member list and remove repeated bounces
Did this fix it?
Symptoms
Newsletters or signup emails appear in members' spam folder or the Gmail Promotions tab, while the same mail from Substack hits the inbox.
Why it happens
- SPF, DKIM or DMARC not set or failing on the sending domain
- New sending domain or Mailgun IP with no reputation
- Sending from a personal address (gmail.com) instead of your own domain
- Image-heavy or link-heavy emails and spammy subject lines
- Members who were auto-disabled after bounces or spam complaints
This guide also covers
- ghost emails going to spam
- ghost newsletter spam folder
- ghost newsletter promotions tab
- ghost dmarc
Still not working?
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