My survey invitations are going to spam — what can I do?

Survey invitations landing in spam

If your survey invitation emails are being filtered as spam, here are the most effective steps to resolve this.

Technical fixes

• Set up a custom sender domain with proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records (see related articles). This is the single most effective fix.
• Ensure your SPF record includes _spf.tivian.com.

Content and format improvements

• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines (e.g., "FREE", "WIN", excessive use of capitals or exclamation marks).
• Keep the text-to-image ratio balanced — avoid emails that are mostly images.
• Include a plain text version of the email.
• Make sure the "From" name is recognizable to recipients (use your institution's name).

Recipient list hygiene

• Remove invalid or bounced email addresses from your panel.
• Only send to recipients who have opted in or who you have a legitimate academic relationship with.