Why are your business emails going to spam?
Your emails might be landing in junk, bouncing back or not turning up at all. SenderCompass explains what to check first, in plain English, for UK small businesses using Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, website forms and other email services.
Not sure where to start?
Answer two quick questions and we’ll suggest what to check first. You’ll also get a link to the relevant guide and a short checklist you can copy.
This works from your answers only. It doesn’t look at your email or your domain.
No email address, account or domain needed. Answers stay in this page only, are not saved or sent anywhere, and clear when you reload.
What happened to the email?
Pick the closest match to what you’re seeing, whether that’s an error message, an email sitting in someone’s spam folder or a customer who says it never arrived.
Email went to spam, bounced or was blocked
Understand how to investigate spam placement, delivery failure notices and missing messages, and what information to collect before changing settings.
Check SPF, DKIM or DMARC
See what SPF, DKIM and DMARC results mean, and why a pass does not guarantee inbox delivery.
List every system that sends email
Include staff mailboxes, website forms, invoice software and marketing platforms before changing records shared by several senders.
Decide whether an email tool will help
See what monitoring, inbox testing, address verification and warm-up tools can tell you, and where their limits are, before paying for one.
Email guidance for your team
Find guidance for business owners, mail administrators, agencies and marketing teams, including teams managing several domains.
Work out which system sent it before touching your DNS
Your staff mailboxes, your website’s contact form, your accounting software and your newsletter tool can all send email from the same domain, but they may use different sending services. A fix for one won’t necessarily help the others.
DNS records are public settings for your domain, including records used to check sending servers and email signatures. Changing them before you know which system sent the affected email can break parts that were working. Keep the bounce message or the original email, including its message headers. If someone else looks after your email or website, bring them in at this point.
- Record what happenedNote whether you received a bounce notice, the receiving server rejected the email, or it was accepted but cannot be found. Record spam-folder placement and security quarantine separately.
- Identify the sending serviceConfirm whether the message came from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, a website, finance system or another platform.
- Read the error and message headersThe full server reply may explain a rejection. Message headers, the technical details attached to an email, can show the receiving system’s authentication results and the domains it checked. Use results added by the receiving system to investigate SPF, DKIM and DMARC alignment.
- Test the affected service againAfter an agreed correction, repeat a non-sensitive test through the same service. Record the authentication results and where the recipient finds the quote, invoice, form notification or reply.
How email checks and spam filters fit together
SPF checks whether a sending server is authorised to use a domain. DKIM checks a domain’s signature on the message. DMARC requires at least one passing SPF or DKIM result to align with the From domain people see, and lets the domain owner state how failures should be handled. Passing authentication helps, but it doesn’t guarantee the inbox. Spam filters also look at things like your sending reputation and whether people mark your emails as spam.
Email authentication
Learn what SPF and DKIM check, how DMARC alignment connects those checks to the visible From domain, and what a DMARC policy asks receiving systems to do.
Email deliverability
Understand how sender reputation, complaints, list quality and sending patterns can affect whether an email reaches the inbox or spam folder.
Email tools
Compare free checks, monitoring software and specialist help by what they can establish, their costs and their privacy risks.
What can go wrong when business email fails
A quote in spam can cost a sale. A missing invoice delays payment. A blocked password reset leaves a customer stuck. A website enquiry that never arrives may go unnoticed.
- Identify the affected sending serviceSeparate employee mailboxes from website forms, accounting systems, booking tools and marketing platforms.
- Keep evidence before changing DNSSave the bounce notice, headers, provider response and current DNS records so you can compare results or restore earlier settings.
- Retest the real business messageAn authentication pass is useful evidence, but it does not guarantee that every provider will place mail in the inbox.
SenderCompass provides general educational information, not emergency mail administration, guaranteed inbox placement or personalised legal advice.
Who writes SenderCompass
SenderCompass articles are published under the editorial name Alex Calder. We take responsibility for what we publish, including correcting mistakes and saying when we have a commercial relationship with a company we mention.
Our editorial standards explain how we use sources and review dates.
List everything that sends email for your business
It’s easy to forget the ones that aren’t people: the contact form on your website, the booking system, the invoicing software, the newsletter tool. Write each one down with the address it sends from, who manages the account and who can change your DNS. Record the account owner, not their password.
The business email checklist covers access, authentication and monitoring. Use the sender inventory template to record each distinct sending setup. Invoices and payment reminders can share a row if they use the same route; one service may need several rows if its sending settings differ.
No account or email address is required.
