Three reasons your communication emails aren’t getting through

With 20% of all emails getting blocked, ensuring your NHS communication emails reach their intended recipients is a growing challenge. From tighter NHS Digital security policies to advanced spam filters, several factors could be working against you. This guide will unravel the three main reasons why your NHS communication emails might not be getting through—and how to fix it.

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1. Email Spoofing and NHS Digital’s Anti-Spoofing Policy

One of the primary reasons NHS emails are blocked is due to changes in the NHS Digital policy following the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017. As a response to increasing cyber threats, NHS Digital introduced stricter security policies in 2021 that effectively block emails sent via third-party email providers that use email spoofing.

What is Email Spoofing?

Email spoofing occurs when an email sent by a third-party provider (e.g., Mailchimp or GovDelivery) appears to come from your domain. While the “from” address may look like it’s from your organisation, it’s actually sent by the provider’s servers. NHS Digital’s anti-spoofing policy blocks these types of emails to protect the organisation from potential security breaches. Unfortunately, this means that communication emails sent through most third-party email providers risk being blocked or automatically marked as spam.

The Solution

NewZapp Trusted Delivery was developed to address this issue. By ensuring your emails are sent from your own domain and fully comply with NHS Digital’s security protocols, NewZapp avoids the risks associated with spoofing, ensuring that your emails are not blocked.

To read more about NHS Digital’s anti-spoofing measures, visit:
URL: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/email-security

2. External Security Warnings

Even if your emails are not blocked, they can still be flagged with external security warnings, which can reduce engagement. These warnings appear when an email is sent from a domain that differs from the recipient’s domain—for example, when an email is sent from a “third-party” domain to an NHS inbox. NHS spam filters are designed to flag these emails, encouraging recipients to question the validity of the message before interacting with it.

How Does This Affect Engagement?

When recipients see a security warning, they are less likely to open the email, let alone click on any links within it. Even though the email may technically arrive in the inbox, the likelihood of engagement drops significantly. In an environment where critical NHS updates need to be communicated clearly, such warnings can pose a major barrier.

How to Prevent Security Warnings

To avoid security warnings, ensure that your emails are sent from a trusted domain. If you’re sending internal communications within the NHS, using the same domain (e.g., @nhs.uk) ensures that these warnings won’t appear. Platforms like NewZapp Trusted Delivery also help by sending all emails from your official NHS domain, eliminating the risk of security flags.

3. Spam Filters

Modern spam filters are more advanced than ever, relying on complex algorithms to identify potentially harmful or irrelevant emails. They analyse everything from content and HTML code quality to engagement rates and broken links. If your email triggers enough “spam-like” characteristics, it may end up in the recipient’s spam folder, even if it’s a legitimate internal communication.

Common Spam Triggers

Here are a few reasons why your NHS emails may be flagged by spam filters:

Overuse of spammy words (e.g., “free”, “urgent”, “click now”).
Poor HTML coding with formatting issues.
Low engagement rates, which could suggest your emails are unwanted.
Broken links or incorrectly formatted URLs.

Spam filters don’t consider whether an email is important or not—they simply look for signals that indicate whether it might be spam. This means your internal communications can be mistakenly flagged, even if they contain critical NHS updates.

How to Avoid Spam Filters

To reduce the risk of being flagged by spam filters:

Avoid spammy words and phrases in your email content.
Use clean and structured HTML coding in your emails.
Ensure that all links are valid and direct recipients to reputable sites.
Maintain good engagement rates by sending targeted and relevant content to your audience.

Additionally, platforms like NewZapp Trusted Delivery are designed to reduce the chances of your emails being flagged as spam by automatically ensuring your emails meet the technical requirements for NHS communications.

How to Avoid These Email Blockers

Navigating NHS Digital’s security protocols, avoiding external warnings, and bypassing spam filters can be complex, but it’s crucial to get it right—especially when communicating important information to NHS staff.

Join our upcoming webinar, “How to Stop Your NHS Communication Emails from Being Blocked,” on Thursday 14th July at 11:30. You’ll learn practical tips on how to optimise your email deliverability, overcome blockers, and ensure your communications reach the right people at the right time.

To register for the webinar, visit:
URL: https://www.newzapp.co.uk/nhs-email-webinar

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Darren Hepburn

Operations Director

Passionate about using my 30 yearsof owning my own businesses to help create better workplace environments. A Bon Jovi loving TikTok junkie. I spend most of my time thinking about the impact technology is having on our society. And my pug Winston…