1. Email sending practices
   
2. Domain authentication status
   
3. Domain reputation
   
4. Email content
   

Domain

1. Establishing a unique identity for your business by using your own domain is crucial. This approach instills trust and confidence in your subscribers, as it signifies professionalism and authenticity.
   
2. Emails sent from public or non-business domains (such as Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) are often perceived as spam. Therefore, it's recommended to send emails from your own domain to enhance credibility and avoid being flagged as spam.
   
3. Ensure that your domain is authenticated with SPF or DKIM. Before you send emails using an authenticated domain from Zoho Forms, you must add your domain and get it verified under Control Panel.
   
   
   
   
   

   
   Once you get your domain verified, you can use it to send emails from Zoho Forms under Settings > General > SMTP.              
   
   
   
   Adhering to DMARC policy can provide an additional advantage in email deliverability and security. 
   Failure to authenticate your sender domain by implementing DMARC can result in bounced emails. Therefore, we advise against sending emails from a public domain sender address, as they cannot be authenticated. Read More about updates in Gmail policy.

4. It's beneficial to have a webpage dedicated to your business or domain, containing all essential information. This enables users to easily access important details related to your business.
   
   

DKIM Verification Status 

The icon next to the From Address indicates the DKIM verification status of the domain.  The three possible statuses are: 

Public Domain
Unverified Domain
DKIM Verified Domain

Let's dive into the specifics of each status. 

Public Domain: For public domains such as, yahoo, gmail, outlook, etc., DKIM or DMARC settings cannot be configured. Hence, avoid configuring public domains as the From Address as this may lead to email delivery issues. To resolve this, use your own domain or the default email address provided by Zoho Forms: notifications@zohoforms.com. This ensures smoother email delivery.

Note: Using public domains as the From address will be completely blocked in the near future. To avoid disruptions, migrate to your own domain or notifications@zohoforms.com at the earliest. This will be applicable for the email notifications configured from these pages - Form settings, Form rules, Save & Resume, Email OTP Verification, Double Opt-in & Form Approvals. 

Unverified Domain: Using your own domain for sending emails improves brand identity and builds customer trust. However, without DKIM, emails may still be flagged as suspicious or land in the recipient's spam folder. Domains will remain unverified until their DKIM verification is completed. To prevent emails from landing in spam and to ensure inbox delivery, it is essential to configure DKIM for your domain. Learn More

DKIM Verified Domain: Once a domain is DKIM-verified, the email source is recognized as valid, significantly improving email deliverability. If you are sending emails to public domains, configure DMARC for your sender domain. Learn More

Note:  In the free plan, notifications@zohoforms.com can be used for sending email notifications from the Form Settings page and the Form Rules page.

Sender Name / From Name

1. The sender name plays a significant role in identifying your emails. It's essential to ensure that the alias is either the sender's name or your organization's name. This enhances authenticity and makes it easier for subscribers to recognize and engage with your emails.
   
   
   
   
2. Frequently changing the sender address can lead to confusion and irritation among subscribers.
   

Reply-to address

A reply-to address provides a direct channel for customer inquiries, allowing you to provide timely and personalized responses, enhancing customer satisfaction.

Subject Line

1. Craft an enticing, concise, and direct email subject line (ideally 4-6 words). Recipients often check their emails on the go and typically prefer concise subject lines over lengthy ones.
   
2. Avoid using all CAPITALS and irrelevant punctuation in your subject line to prevent triggering spam filters. While capitalizing important words in a subject line is effective, capitalizing all words can create a negative impression among recipients.
3. Avoid using special characters such as $, #, @, and &.
   
4. Avoid using spam trigger words such as "order now", "cash bonus", "cheap", etc. Spam filters actively flag emails containing these terms.
5. The subject line should never mislead, it should accurately reflect the content you intend to present in the email.
   
6. Personalize your subject line to enhance the open rate of your email by utilizing the merge tags in Zoho Forms while configuring the email template.
   
7. Check for any grammatical errors and typos in the subject line. Craft subject lines that intrigue recipients without demanding they open the emails.

Email Content

1. Include your firm's name and logo to enhance the originality and trustworthiness of your emails.
   
2. Verify that your email includes valid URLs, and it's advisable to refrain from using shortened URLs for better safety and reliability.
   
3. Avoid requesting or prompting users to provide sensitive information such as bank details, mobile numbers, or password credentials in your content or on immediate landing pages. Doing so can undermine the trust that subscribers have in your organization.
   
4. An increased size of an image can result in a proportionate delay in its rendering, potentially failing to create the desired impact on the email receiver.
   
5. Choose a minimalistic email design and try to avoid heavy graphic content. You can add simple images that support your message. This approach will help you reduce the code size of your email and prevent your emails from being clipped, and the recipient may instead see the "View entire message" link.
6. Avoid copying and pasting content directly from other websites or word processing programs. Instead, paste the content as plain text to remove any formatting styles used in the source material.
   
7. Avoid spam phrases while crafting email message. Do not use overly promotional or marketing-oriented content, especially if the primary goal is to provide valuable information or foster genuine communication.
   For example: Instead of "AMAZING OFFER!!! LIMITED TIME ONLY!!!", opt for "Special Offer: Available for a Limited Time."
   Steer clear of words commonly associated with spam, such as "free," "guaranteed," "cash," "act now," etc.
8. Providing irrelevant content to your contacts may lead to lower email open rates. Upon form submission, you gain insight into the interests of your audience. Write email content that aligns with the interests of the form respondents to intrigue them further.

Double Opt-In

1. Implement double opt-in to ensure that mistyped email addresses are excluded from the mailing list, reducing email bounces and ensuring that only genuinely interested contacts are added when the form is submitted. While it's not mandatory for GDPR compliance, it's advisable to implement this as it fosters a healthy mailing list growth. 
   
2. While single opt-in offers simplicity and faster mailing list growth, it may result in a lower-quality mailing list that doesn't effectively contribute to achieving your conversion goals.