Common reasons why emails end up in candidates' spam inboxes

Emails being marked as spam can be attributed to several reasons, often originating from both the recipient's side and the content of the email itself.

• Recipient's email environment: The recipient's email server and their antivirus or firewall settings can play a significant role in identifying emails as potential spam.

• Email content: Elements within the email, such as attachments, excessive capitalization, foreign characters, or the use of words commonly associated with spam, can trigger spam classification.

• Email length: Emails that are either too lengthy or too brief may be more prone to spam classification.

• Antivirus or firewall settings: Some antivirus or firewall programs are configured to detect emails with specific characteristics as spam.

• Sender email volume: The number of emails sent by the sender within a specific time frame, such as hourly or daily, can impact spam filters' decisions.

Please keep in mind that these are just a few of the potential reasons. 

Reasons why Recruit messages can be flagged as spam

Recruit's domain is used to send messages to a large number of daily recipients, and these messages come from different companies, each with its own email formats. As a result, some email servers might mistake some of Recruit's messages as spam.

Prevent emails from going to candidate's spam folders

1. Use attributes to customize the email (Recommended!)

   Attributes in Recruit are like bits of specific information about people, events, or things you handle in the system. They help you customize your email templates for different recipients, like candidates, teammates, sources, or third parties, making your messages more personal and relevant.

   • Interviewer’s names and details: When multiple interviewers are scheduled, their information will be automatically listed based on the chosen attribute, whether it's names, job titles, or other relevant info.

   • Time of the interview: Candidates receive interview times in their local time zone, based on the position's location. If no location or time zone is specified, the interviewer's time zone will be used. Regardless of the time zone shown, the correct time will appear in the candidate’s calendar.

   • Location map: For in-person interviews with designated meeting rooms, you can include a map generated from the associated location's address. This map will also be visible in the candidate's calendar, providing them with all the necessary details.

   To insert attribute to emails:

   1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the attribute.

   2. Click Insert attribute.

   3. Select an attribute from the list.

      ⚠️ Important: The list of attributes varies among different templates according to the context of the message.

   

2. Send emails from your company’s domain

   By default, Recruit sends messages from an email domain that includes your company's name, like <teammate-name>@<company-name>.recruit-notifications.com. However, to reduce the risk of messages being flagged as spam, we recommend configuring Recruit to send emails through a subdomain of your company's own domain.

   To set up Recruit to send messages from your company’s own email domain:

   1. Decide on a dedicated email subdomain for recruiting-related correspondence, for example, @joinus.your-company.com or @careers.your-company.com.

   2. Ask your IT administrator to reach out to us at recruit.support@sparkhire.com and let us know which email domain you want to use. We'll provide your IT admin with the necessary instructions to:

      • Add MX, CNAME, and TXT records, enabling Recruit's email service to send messages from your company's email domain.

      • Route all incoming email messages sent to the dedicated email subdomain to our email service.

   3. Once these changes are implemented, have your IT admin contact us again at recruit.support@sparkhire.com. We'll then start sending emails using your own domain.

   ⚠️ Important: 

   • Custom sub-domains only apply to outgoing emails. All replies are sent back to the recruit-notification discussion email address.

   • Interviews are always sent from Recruit's sub-domain. If these specific emails are landing in spam, setting up a custom sub-domain will not address the problem. Please, read the other possible causes below.

3. Avoid code in your emails

   When communicating with candidates, refrain from including raw code directly in your emails or attaching code files without protection. Sending unsecured code can trigger spam filters, leading to your emails ending up in the candidate's spam folder.

4. Pay attention to the email content

   The usage of specific words, very short messages, external images, multiple domains, and link shortcut services can affect email deliverability. Be cautious with excessive exclamation points, unconventional formatting, and URL shorteners, as they can also impact your email deliverability based on past sending patterns.

5. Uphold a positive domain reputation

   Your sender domain reputation serves as a crucial metric reflecting your trustworthiness. Different organizations and internet service providers (ISPs) may assign varied scores. To enhance your reputation, encourage positive subscriber behavior, such as active engagement with your emails and marking your sender status as trusted. You can achieve this by delivering relevant and personalized emails to your users.

   Domains have a score and Recruit sets a subdomain for each customer (it does not set a root domain as the email domain). This means that Recruit sending emails for a customer does not affect nor jeopardize in any way their domain reputation.

Have more questions? Contact us at recruit.support@sparkhire.com