Ask a Deliverability Expert: Will My Email Go to Spam If It Has Too Many Images In It?

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I’ve heard that if an email has too many images in it, it’s probably going to end up in a reader’s spam folder. Is that true?

Are your image-heavy emails affecting your deliverability? Let’s find out together:

• Are you sending to an audience who legally consented and wants to receive your emails?
• Do you have an unsubscribe link that is simple and doesn’t make people exchange their firstborn child to be removed from your mailing lists?
• Do you periodically remove audience members who do not engage with you anymore?
• Is your subject line honest and in line with the content of your email?
• Does your audience engage with your content?
• Do they think your content is valuable and relevant?
• Is your sender email authenticated?
• Do you have a good sender reputation with no domains or IPs on blocklists?

If you answered yes to ALL these questions, you don’t have anything to worry about. You can send image-heavy emails, and they will probably land in the inbox.

Here’s a good example: Chubbies, a retailer that sells swimwear. Let’s take look at one of their emails:

They have minimal text (often 250-500 words, including the legalese and unsubscribe text) mixed in with many images. But I engage with this brand, and my inbox knows I want to receive their emails even though it’s 99.9% images. (Even their titles and CTAs!) These emails consistently land in my inbox because I consistently engage with them.

What might actually land your email in the spam folder?

Spam filters are looking at thousands of factors when making the decision surrounding the fate of your email.

Inboxes care about:

• Your audience’s engagement (reading, replying, forwarding, starring them, etc.)
• Your domain’s authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI)
• Your historical reputation with them (high bounce or spam complaints)
• Volume fluctuations (inboxes can tell between organic leads and lists that were bought)

If you treat your subscribers with respect and follow best practices, you’re miles ahead of the competition and will get the results you want. Simple as that.

If you are going to send emails with lots of images, keep these steps in mind

Images probably won’t land your email in the spam folder, but there are a few things you should know before sending an email with lots of images. Here are a few best practices that should make ensure that readers love that image-heavy email:

• Ensure your image file size (kb) is as small as can be.
• Ensure your image size is smaller than 600px wide. (Emails tend to be 600–800 px wide.) Don’t use a poster size quality image and resize it. Just save your amazing design as a new smaller file.
• Don’t use redirect links like bit.ly, as they can be seen as evasive.
• Make your unsubscribe text easily seen, clickable and honest. Instead of “Click here to unsubscribe” (4 words), try something like this: “You are receiving this promotional email from Company XYZ as you have given us permission and opted in for marketing emails. If you would like to be removed from our mailing lists, click here to unsubscribe. We care about our customers and audience members and want to ensure you are happy. Feel free to contact us to let us know what you love about our emails or leave a comment and tell us what we can change — good or bad” (79 honest and informative words).
• Add ALT text to your images so the email is accessible to all.
• Do a quick text-only test. If you remove all images and see only the text, will your audience be confused or still understand the purpose of the email and click your CTA?

Have a question that you’d like Yanna-Torry to answer in a future edition of Ask a Deliverability Expert? Submit it here.

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