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It’s frustrating to see important emails in Gmail’s spam folder instead of your inbox. You’re not alone.
Missed email means missed opportunities—whether it’s a message from a client or your favorite (yet important) newsletters. Gmail’s powerful spam filters, although very efficient to catch (actual) spam, often flag even legitimate messages.
And this can sound scary, especially if you are sending cold emails in bulk.
But there’s a simple solution to this - whitelisting.
By whitelisting specific email addresses or domains, you ensure that essential emails bypass the spam filters and go directly to your inbox. It takes just a few minutes to set up, and the results are immediate.
Let’s walk through how to whitelist an email in Gmail, step by step, so you take charge of your inbox.
What is Whitelisting in Gmail?
Whitelisting in Gmail is the process to make sure emails from specific senders always reach your inbox, not your spam folder. It’s basically like telling Gmail, “I trust this sender.”
You can whitelist individual email addresses or entire domains, ensuring important messages get through without being flagged as junk. Simple and effective, it keeps your inbox focused on what matters.
The Advantages of Whitelisting an Email in Gmail
Whitelisting in Gmail brings major advantages, especially for cold email marketers.
Boosts Email Deliverability: First, it boosts email deliverability by ensuring your messages go straight to the inbox, bypassing Gmail's spam filters (or any other ESP for that matter). This is critical for sales outreach and important communications.
Protects Your Sender Reputation: The more your emails land in the inbox, the better your sender reputation becomes. This, in turn, further improves your chances of reaching your audience consistently. For cold emails, this is essential because a bad reputation can result in your emails being blocked or marked as spam.
Avoids False Spam Flags: Whitelisting also helps avoid false spam flags. Sometimes, even legitimate emails get flagged as spam, which can damage your outreach efforts. By getting whitelisted, you ensure your key messages aren’t lost or ignored, increasing the chances of recipient engagement.
For businesses, especially those running email campaigns, whitelisting can be the difference between a successful campaign and one that fails. Higher deliverability means higher open and response rates, which are crucial metrics for any cold email strategy.
Lastly, whitelisting saves time. It keeps your important emails organized and ensures that you don’t waste time digging through the spam folder for missed messages. For bulk email senders, this helps you stay focused and maintain a smooth communication flow with your audience.
How to Whitelist an Email in Gmail
Gmail is undoubtedly the largest ESP in the world with over 1.8 billion active users worldwide in 2024.
Naturally, this data makes Gmail a lucrative platform for brands to reach out to subscribers and send sales emails.
Apart from sending warm up emails to build a natural sending pattern for your mailboxes, whitelisting emails in Gmail can help you land in the primary folder and also receive important messages in your inbox.
Here’s how to whitelist an email in Gmail:
- Log into your Gmail account.
- Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner and choose "See all settings" from the drop-down.
- Go to the “Filters and blocked addresses” tab to view your current filters and blocked addresses.
- Click “Create a new filter” and input the email address or domain you want to whitelist in the “From” field.
- After that, click “Create filter” and make sure to select “Never send to spam” to ensure the emails are whitelisted.
How to Whitelist an Email in Gmail Application (Android & iOS)
Unlike the desktop version, you can’t access your filters and blocked addresses on Mobile devices (irrespective of iOS or Android). Instead, what you can do is add a sender’s email address to your contact list. This will give them uninterrupted access to sending email to you.
And to whitelist an email from your spam folder in Gmail in iOS devices, follow these steps:
1. Open your spam folder and locate the email you wish to whitelist.
2. At the top of the message, you’ll notice a gray box with the option “Report as not spam.”
3. Click this button to inform Google that you want to receive future emails from this sender.
4. Alternatively, you can tap the three dots in the upper right corner of the email and select the same option.
Now, here’s how you can whitelist an email in Android:
1. Launch the "Contacts" app.
2. Tap the “Add contact” button located at the bottom left.
3. Fill in the contact’s name and email address, ensuring it’s linked to the correct account.
4. Once completed, press “Save” to store the contact.
Whitelisting Emails in Other Email Service Providers
How to Whitelist an Email in Outlook
In recent years, Microsoft has made it incredibly simple to safelist email addresses or domains in Outlook.
Here’s how to whitelist an email in Outlook:
1. After logging into your Microsoft Outlook account, click on the “Settings” (gear icon) in the upper-right corner.
2. From the menu, choose the “Mail” option.
3. In the next submenu, select “Junk email.”
4. Input the email address you wish to whitelist and click “Save” to complete the process.
How to Whitelist an Email in Yahoo Mail
Yahoo Mail remains a popular choice, with over 227.8 million users in 2023, particularly among older generations. Yahoo makes it straightforward to whitelist a sender or domain.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Go to “Settings” on the right side of your screen.
2. Select “More Settings” from the dropdown menu.
3. Click on “Filters” to view your filters.
4. Press “Add New Filter” and type in the email address you want to whitelist.
5. Click “Save” to finish.
How to Whitelist an Email in AOL
AOL, or America Online, is a free email provider accessed through web browsers without any special software. To whitelist, simply add emails to your address book, as AOL treats your contact list as safe.
Follow these steps:
1. Click “Contacts” from the left-side menu.
2. Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner and choose “Add a new contact.”
3. Fill in the details, then click “Save” to add the email to your contacts.
Conclusion
While whitelisting is a crucial step in improving email deliverability and avoiding spam filters, it’s only one part of the process. For businesses sending high volumes of cold emails, Smartlead offers an all-in-one solution that goes beyond just ensuring inbox placement.
With features like advanced warm-up sequences, personalized spintax, and email verification, Smartlead helps you maintain a strong sender reputation and optimize deliverability. Whether you're running complex outreach campaigns or simply trying to improve your engagement rates, Smartlead gives you the tools needed to avoid common pitfalls, maximize inbox reach, and drive meaningful responses.
By combining best practices like whitelisting with Smartlead’s powerful deliverability features, you can ensure your emails land where they matter most: your recipient's inbox.
FAQs
Can I whitelist an email address from my phone?
Yes, you can whitelist an email from your phone, but the process is slightly different than on desktop. While you can’t directly access filters on mobile, you can add the sender’s email address to your contacts. This helps ensure their emails don’t get marked as spam.
What happens if I whitelist the wrong email?
If you mistakenly whitelist an incorrect or unwanted email, the sender's messages will bypass the spam filter and land in your inbox. To avoid this, review your whitelist regularly and remove any incorrect addresses.
How do I whitelist multiple addresses in Gmail?
To whitelist multiple addresses in Gmail, you can create a filter and enter multiple email addresses separated by commas in the "From" field. This way, you can ensure emails from different senders are directed to your inbox.
How to remove or update a whitelist in Gmail?
To remove or update a whitelist in Gmail, go to "Settings," select the "Filters and blocked addresses" tab, and find the filter you want to modify. From there, you can edit or delete the filter to update the whitelist.
Author’s Details
Sattwik Das
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Frequently asked questions
What is Smartlead's cold email outreach software?
Smartlead's cold email outreach tool helps businesses scale their outreach efforts seamlessly. With unlimited mailboxes, fully automated email warmup functionality, a multi-channel infrastructure, and a user-friendly unibox, it empowers users to manage their entire revenue cycle in one place. Whether you're looking to streamline cold email campaigns with automated email warmups, personalization fields, automated mailbox rotation, easy integrations, and spintax, improve productivity, or enhance scalability with subsequences based on lead’s intentions, automated replies, and full white-label experience, our cold email tool implifies it in a single solution.
What is Smartlead, and how can it enhance my cold email campaigns?
Smartlead is a robust cold emailing software designed to transform cold emails into reliable revenue streams. Trusted by over 31,000 businesses, Smartlead excels in email deliverability, lead generation, cold email automation, and sales outreach. A unified master inbox streamlines communication management, while built-in email verification reduces bounce rates.
Additionally, Smartlead offers essential tools such as CNAME, SPF Checker, DMARC Checker, Email Verifier, Blacklist Check Tool, and Email Bounce Rate Calculator for optimizing email performance.
How does the "unlimited mailboxes" feature benefit me?
Our "unlimited mailboxes" feature allows you to expand your email communications without restrictions imposed by a mailbox limit. This means you won't be constrained by artificial caps on the number of mailboxes you can connect and use. This feature makes Smartlead the best cold email software and empowers you to reach a wider audience, engage with more potential customers, and manage diverse email campaigns effectively.
How does Smartlead as a cold emailing tool can automate the cold email process?
Smartlead’s robust cold email API and automation infrastructure streamline outbound communication by transforming the campaign creation and management processes. It seamlessly integrates data across software systems using APIs and webhooks, adjusts settings, and leverages AI for personalised content.
The cold emailing tool categorises lead intent, offers comprehensive email management with automated notifications, and integrates smoothly with CRMs like Zapier, Make, N8N, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. Smartlead supports scalable outreach by rapidly adding mailboxes and drip-feeding leads into active campaigns Sign Up Now!
What do you mean by "unibox to handle your entire revenue cycle"?
The "unibox" is one of the unique features of Smartlead cold email outreach tool, and it's a game-changer when it comes to managing your revenue cycle. The master inbox or the unibox consolidates all your outreach channels, responses, sales follow-ups, and conversions into one centralized, user-friendly mailbox.
With the "unibox," you gain the ability to:
1. Focus on closing deals: You can now say goodbye to the hassle of logging into multiple mailboxes to search for replies. The "unibox" streamlines your sales communication, allowing you to focus on what matters most—closing deals.
2. Centralized lead management: All your leads are managed from one central location, simplifying lead tracking and response management. This ensures you take advantage of every opportunity and efficiently engage with your prospects.
3. Maintain context: The "unibox" provides a 360-degree view of all your customer messages, allowing you to maintain context and deliver more personalized and effective responses.
How does Smartlead ensure my emails don't land in the spam folder?
Smartlead, the best cold email marketing tool, ensures your emails reach the intended recipients' primary inbox rather than the spam folder.
Here's how it works:
1. Our "unlimited warmups" feature is designed to build and maintain a healthy sending reputation for your cold email outreach. Instead of sending a large volume of emails all at once, which can trigger spam filters, we gradually ramp up your sending volume. This gradual approach, combined with positive email interactions, helps boost your email deliverability rates.
2. We deploy high-deliverability IP servers specific to each campaign.
3. The ‘Warmup’ feature replicates humanized email sending patterns, spintax, and smart replies.
4. By establishing a positive sender reputation and gradually increasing the number of sent emails, Smartlead minimizes the risk of your emails being flagged as spam. This way, you can be confident that your messages will consistently land in the primary inbox, increasing the likelihood of engagement and successful communication with your recipients.
Can Smartlead help improve my email deliverability rates?
Yes, our cold emailing software is designed to significantly improve your email deliverability rates. It enhances email deliverability through AI-powered email warmups across providers, unique IP rotating for each campaign, and dynamic ESP matching.
Real-time AI learning refines strategies based on performance, optimizing deliverability without manual adjustments. Smartlead's advanced features and strategies are designed to improve email deliverability rates, making it a robust choice for enhancing cold email campaign success.
What features does Smartlead offer for cold email personalisation?
Smartlead enhances cold email personalisation through advanced AI-driven capabilities and strategic integrations. Partnered with Clay, The cold remaining software facilitates efficient lead list building, enrichment from over 50 data providers, and real-time scraping for precise targeting. Hyper-personalised cold emails crafted in Clay seamlessly integrate with Smartlead campaigns.
Moreover, Smartlead employs humanised, natural email interactions and smart replies to boost engagement and response rates. Additionally, the SmartAI Bot creates persona-specific, high-converting sales copy. Also you can create persona-specific, high-converting sales copy using SmartAI Bot. You can train the AI bot to achieve 100% categorisation accuracy, optimising engagement and conversion rates.
Can I integrate Smartlead with other tools I'm using?
Certainly, Smartlead cold email tool is designed for seamless integration with a wide range of tools and platforms. Smartlead offers integration with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Clay, Listkit, and more. You can leverage webhooks and APIs to integrate the tools you use. Try Now!
Is Smartlead suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises?
Smartlead accommodates both small businesses and large enterprises with flexible pricing and comprehensive features. The Basic Plan at $39/month suits small businesses and solopreneurs, offering 2000 active leads and 6000 monthly emails, alongside essential tools like unlimited email warm-up and detailed analytics.
Marketers and growing businesses benefit from the Pro Plan ($94/month), with 30000 active leads and 150000 monthly emails, plus a custom CRM and active support. Lead generation agencies and large enterprises can opt for the Custom Plan ($174/month), providing up to 12 million active lead credits and 60 million emails, with advanced CRM integration and customisation options.
What type of businesses sees the most success with Smartlead?
No, there are no limitations on the number of channels you can utilize with Smartlead. Our cold email tool offers a multi-channel infrastructure designed to be limitless, allowing you to reach potential customers through multiple avenues without constraints.
This flexibility empowers you to diversify your cold email outreach efforts, connect with your audience through various communication channels, and increase your chances of conversion. Whether email, social media, SMS, or other communication methods, Smartlead's multi-channel capabilities ensure you can choose the channels that best align with your outreach strategy and business goals. This way, you can engage with your prospects effectively and maximize the impact of your email outreach.
How can Smartlead integrate with my existing CRM and other tools?
Smartlead is the cold emailing tool that facilitates seamless integration with existing CRM systems and other tools through robust webhook and API infrastructure. This setup ensures real-time data synchronisation and automated processes without manual intervention. Integration platforms like Zapier, Make, and N8N enable effortless data exchange between Smartlead and various applications, supporting tasks such as lead information syncing and campaign status updates. Additionally, it offers native integrations with major CRM platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive, enhancing overall lead management capabilities and workflow efficiency. Try Now!
Do you provide me with lead sources?
No. Smartlead distinguishes itself from other cold email outreach software by focusing on limitless scalability and seamless integration. While many similar tools restrict your outreach capabilities, Smartlead offers a different approach.
Here's what makes us uniquely the best cold email software:
1. Unlimited Mailboxes: In contrast to platforms that limit mailbox usage, Smartlead provides unlimited mailboxes. This means you can expand your outreach without any arbitrary constraints.
2. Unique IP Servers: Smartlead offers unique IP servers for every campaign it sends out.
3. Sender Reputation Protection: Smartlead protects your sender reputation by auto-moving emails from spam folders to the primary inbox. This tool uses unique identifiers to cloak all warmup emails from being recognized by automation parsers.
4. Automated Warmup: Smartlead’s warmup functionality enhances your sender reputation and improves email deliverability by maintaining humanised email sending patterns and ramping up the sending volume.
How secure is my data with Smartlead?
Ensuring the security of your data is Smartlead's utmost priority. We implement robust encryption methods and stringent security measures to guarantee the continuous protection of your information. Your data's safety is paramount to us, and we are always dedicated to upholding the highest standards of security.
How can I get started with Smartlead?
Getting started with Smartlead is straightforward! Just head over to our sign-up page and follow our easy step-by-step guide. If you ever have any questions or need assistance, our round-the-clock support team is ready to help, standing by to provide you with any assistance you may require. Sign Up Now!
How can I reach the Smartlead team?
We're here to assist you! You can easily get in touch with our dedicated support team on chat. We strive to provide a response within 24 hours to address any inquiries or concerns you may have. You can also reach out to us at support@smartlead.ai
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