All checks are fine but emails going to spam folders

[jayceftg]

I installed this email server for my domain and it was very straightforward. Checks for DKIM, SPF etc on MXtools were also all fine. However, the emails (the contents are all text and not spam-like) would just go straight to gmail etc's spam folders. I bought a cheap VPS IP (from racknerd) that's probably an issue. Can others share your set up and how you got the emails go to gmail with no issues?

[suonpaa]

I have not had any problems with Gmail whatsoever. I'd suggest you test with https://www.mail-tester.com and see if it finds something to complain about.

[ZaTank]

You should also check to see if your domain is blacklisted anywhere; I'm having problems with Spamhaus' DBL, which causes emails to Outlook addresses (and probably others) to fail. If you're using unusual (i.e. not .com, .net, etc.) TLDs, you may have more trouble.

[adamzea]

I also have a server on Racknerd and have started trying a "warming" service to improve deliverability. Basically you set it up to automatically send emails periodically to a warming group that the service owns. The warming group is basically email addresses on other servers like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, iCloud so that those servers will "warm up" to receiving messages from your IP address. I think it's kind of like having your friends mark your emails as "not spam" so that the filters learn that your server is cool.
Here's a couple of those warming services:
https://www.mailflow.io/
https://www.warmy.io/

If you're mostly communicating with businesses and friends/family, you can have them whitelist your server domain name and/or IP to bypass filtering. On my Office 365 Exchange tenant, I do that for all client and vendor domains so that everyone in all related businesses can communicate freely.

You might also want to register your server with Outlook.com, Google, and Yahoo. Outlook.com blocks ALL new SMTP server IP addresses by default since 2020, so registering with them and then requesting to be unblocked is the only way to get deliverability there. I've got links and tips about doing that here: https://bookofadamz.com/how-to-make-your-own-whatsapp-signal-telegram-competitor/#:~:text=register%20with%20outlook.com