Why You Should Never Mark Emails From Your Own Domain as Spam Even If They Look Like Junk, Spoofed, or Phishing Messages

Executive Summary

Marking messages as spam—even if they look suspicious—when they appear to come from your own email address or domain (like info@yourcompany.com) can damage your domain’s reputation and make it harder for legitimate messages (like contact forms, receipts, or password resets) to reach inboxes.

Spam filters don’t always know the message was spoofed—they assume you’re reporting your own domain as a spammer.

If you’re receiving unwanted or fake emails from your own address or website forms, just delete them or talk to us about improving your spam filtering and email security. Never click “Mark as Spam” or “Junk.”

Why This Matters

When you click “Mark as Spam” on a message that appears to be from you (e.g., wordpress@yourdomain.com or info@yourdomain.com), email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo assume your domain is sending spam. This affects:

• Deliverability of your real emails
• Whether your messages go to inboxes or spam folders
• Your domain’s reputation across the internet

Even if the email was spoofed or generated by a contact form spammer, the spam filter usually evaluates the From address—not whether the sender was authenticated.

What Is Spoofing?

Spoofing is when a spammer fakes the “From” email address to make it look like the message came from you—even though it didn’t. These emails often:

• Aren’t actually sent from your server
• Get through basic spam filters
• Trick you into thinking they’re real

If you mark these messages as spam, your mail provider can’t always tell it was a spoof—and assumes you’re the spammer.

What Is a Domain Reputation?

Your domain reputation is like a credit score for your email address. Email providers use it to decide whether to:

• Deliver your emails to inboxes
• Flag them as spam
• Block them entirely

Once your domain reputation drops, it can take weeks or months to recover—during which your contact forms, customer replies, or invoices may get filtered out.

What Is a Contact Form Bot?

Many websites have contact forms (like a “Get in Touch” or “Request a Quote” form). Bots often:

• Fill out these forms with junk or scam messages
• Trigger an email to be sent from your website to you
• Cause the message to come from something like wordpress@yourdomain.com

If you hit “Mark as Spam” on these, you’re reporting your own website as a spammer—even though the bot was the one abusing the form.

Safer Alternatives

Here’s what you should do instead of marking a message as spam:

What Is SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

These are email authentication tools that help stop spoofing and protect your domain.

• SPF: Says who is allowed to send mail on behalf of your domain
• DKIM: Adds a signature that proves a message hasn’t been altered
• DMARC: Tells email providers what to do when SPF/DKIM checks fail (e.g., reject, quarantine, or allow)

But even with these in place, some spoofed messages still get through—and if you mark them as spam, your domain takes the blame.

Need Help?

If you’re getting too much spam, spoofed emails, or bot traffic from your contact forms, we can help you:

• Lock down your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
• Add CAPTCHA and bot filters to your contact forms
• Route email through a professional transactional email provider (like SendGrid or MailGun)

Contact us:

• support@37solutions.com (for technical help and development estimates)
• sales@37solutions.com (for estimates on new services)

Note: Most fixes cost around 2 hours of work at $75/hour.

Bottom Line:

Never mark emails as spam if they appear to come from your own domain. It might feel like the right thing—but it’s not. Talk to us instead.