This is a follow up on the article Email logs and delivery and focusses specifically on how to handle incoming spam and prevent your email to be marked as spam.
Note: There is no such thing as a perfect spam filter. Some people prefer every message to be delivered and would rather manage spam themselves, while others want spam filtering to be as strict as possible. At Cloud86, we take a balanced approach by blocking most obvious spam and messages that do not meet basic email standards, while still allowing other mail through. This gives you a solid level of protection out of the box, with the flexibility to create your own rules and policies to further tailor spam filtering to your needs.
Login on Plesk Control Panel
- In My Cloud86 (link), click in the left menu on My Services.
- Click the 3 dots behind the web hosting package you want to see in Plesk and click View Details.
- Under the heading Manage Webhosting (middle of the page), click on Websites & Domains.
- You will now be automatically logged into the Plesk Control Panel.
For the full manual with images, follow Login to Plesk
Incoming Messages
Checking the spam level of email
If you are experiencing a lot of spam, you can look at the email logs and focus on the columns Delivery and Spam Level. A higher spam level (more positive) indicates that the content is more spam. You want the spam values to be as low as possible (more negative) for normal emails. If the spam values get too high, then the message will be marked as spam or even rejected.
Setting the spam level
The values for which spam is marked can be set per domain or per email. The spam and rejection values can be set in the policy tab. In the example below we show the spam settings for an entire domain by clicking on the pencil in front of the desired domain. In this example, email is marked as spam if it has a spam value of 5 or higher. The email is rejected if it has a spam value of 8 or higher.
Setting the whitelists and blacklists
The whitelist and blacklist can be set per domain or per email. The addresses can be set in the Whitelist and Blacklist tab. In the example below you can add the following whitelist or blacklist values:
- user@example.com - An email address
- @example.com - An entire domain
- @.example.com - An entire domain and all its sub-domains
Note: the whitelist only works for email that is hitting your hostingplan. Cloud86 uses a platform wide reputation filter in front of your hosting plan. If the email fails the platform wide filter, the whitelist in you account won't work, since the email was already rejected before it reached the whitelist.
Outgoing Messages
Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC in your DNS settings. DNS is the system that links your domain name to services such as email. You can find the required settings in Email security and spoofing (SPF/DKIM/DMARC). These records help other mail servers verify that emails are legitimate.
Your domain's reputation also affects whether emails reach the inbox. New domains often have little or no reputation, which can make email providers more careful with incoming messages. Similarly the content of your email matters as well. Avoid spam-like language, misleading subject lines, too many links, large numbers of attachments, and excessive use of capital letters. Clear and useful content helps build trust.
When your emails still end up in the spam folder, you can test them with online mail testers, such as https://mail-tester.com. This tool checks your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, reviews your email content, and checks other factors that affect email delivery. The results show where you can make improvements.
If you send large volumes of email, such as newsletters, marketing campaigns, or promotional messages, consider using a dedicated email delivery service such as MailChimp or Brevo. These services are designed for bulk email and often have a stronger sending reputation, dedicated delivery infrastructure, and tools to help you follow email best practices. This can improve the chance of your emails reaching the inbox instead of the spam folder.
If you need some help, you can always reach our support desk by email support@cloud86.io and on weekdays from 9:00 to 16:00 (CET) you can also reach us by phone and via the chat in My Cloud86.