Understanding Your Email Notification Issues

Overview

Our platform sends automated email notifications for various events like job postings, applications, cancellations, and system updates. This article explains how these email notifications work and common reasons why you might not be receiving them.

How Email Notifications Work

The Email Delivery Process

When an event occurs in our system (like a new job posting or application), here's what happens:

1. Event triggers - System action creates notification
2. Email generated - System creates email with relevant details
3. Sent to email service - Email passed to our email delivery provider
4. Delivery attempted - Email sent to your email server
5. Your server receives - Your email server (Microsoft 365, Gmail, etc.) accepts or rejects
6. Spam filtering - Your server's spam filter analyzes the email
7. Final delivery - Email placed in your Inbox, Junk folder, or Quarantine

Common Reasons You're Not Receiving Emails

1. Unsubscribed Status

What it means:
You (or an automated system) triggered an unsubscribe action, and our email service provider has blocked you from receiving future emails.

How this happens:

A) Manual Unsubscribe (Most Common)

• You clicked the "unsubscribe" link in the email footer
• Why this happens: Email frequency too high, content not relevant, or unwanted notifications from end user.

B) Email Client "Unsubscribe" Button

• Modern email clients (Gmail, Outlook) show an "Unsubscribe" button at the top of emails
• You may have clicked this button without realizing it permanently opts you out
• Easier and more prominent than footer links

C) Marked Email as Spam

• You clicked "Report Spam" or "Mark as Junk" in your email client
• Your email provider reports this to our system
• Our system treats spam complaints as unsubscribes

D) Automatic Suppression (Zero Engagement)

• If you receive 10+ emails without opening any of them
• Our email provider automatically suppresses you to protect sender reputation
• This prevents you from receiving future emails

E) Email Security Scanner (Corporate Environments)

• Some corporate email security systems automatically scan links for threats
• Microsoft Defender SafeLinks and similar tools may accidentally trigger one-click unsubscribe links
• You may be unsubscribed without your knowledge or intent

What to do: Contact our support team to verify your subscription status and be re-added if desired.

2. Spam Filtering (Junk Folder)

What it means:
Your email server accepted the email but moved it to your Junk/Spam folder instead of your Inbox.

Why this happens:

A) Image-Heavy Emails

• Emails with large images or poor text-to-image ratio are flagged as suspicious
• Spam filters prefer 60% text, 40% images
• Image-only emails are highly likely to be filtered

Why images increase spam risk:

• Spammers historically use images to hide malicious content
• Spam filters can't "read" what's inside images
• Large images slow email loading and increase file size

B) High Email Volume

• Receiving many emails from same sender in short period
• Email server classifies as "bulk mail"
• Automatically routes to Junk or lower-priority folder

C) Sender Reputation

• If other recipients mark our emails as spam
• Our sender reputation score decreases
• Future emails more likely to be filtered

What to do:

• Check your Junk/Spam folder regularly
• Mark our emails as "Not Spam" or "Safe Sender"
• Add our sender addresses to your safe senders list
• Contact your IT department to allowlist our domain

3. Invalid Email Addresses

What it means:
Your email server actively rejects the email because the account doesn't exist or is disabled.

Common error messages:

• "550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied"
• "550 5.1.1 User does not exist"
• "Mailbox disabled"

Why this happens:

• Employee terminated but still in our system
• Email address typo or misspelling
• Mailbox deactivated or moved

What to do:

• Verify the email address is correct and active
• Update our system with current email addresses
• Remove former employees from users

4. Email Client Security Features

What it means:
Your corporate email security system is blocking or filtering our emails.

Common systems:

• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (SafeLinks, Safe Attachments)
• Barracuda Email Security
• Proofpoint
• Mimecast

How they can affect delivery:

• Automatically scan and click links (may trigger unsubscribe)
• Block emails from untrusted senders
• Quarantine bulk emails
• Apply strict filtering rules

What to do:

• Contact your IT department
• Request they add our sending domain to approved senders list
• Ask about SafeLinks exclusions for our unsubscribe URLs
• Review security policy settings

Email Customization Features

Custom Communications

Our platform includes Custom Communications features that allow you to control your email notification preferences:

Best Practices to Ensure Email Delivery

For Email Recipients

1. Add to Safe Senders - Add our email addresses to your contacts or safe senders list to prevent future spam filtering
2. Check Junk Folder - Important emails may be in Junk/Spam folder. Mark as "Not Spam" to train your filter
3. Engage with Emails - Open and read emails you want to receive. Email providers track engagement. Low engagement can lead to automatic suppression
4. Use Preference Controls - Adjust email frequency instead of unsubscribing completely. Access Custom Communications settings or choose digest options if available
5. Keep Email Addresses Current - Update our system when email addresses change and remove former employees from notification lists

For Email Senders (Using Custom Communications)

1. Limit Image Usage - Use 1-2 optimized images per email, maintain 60:40 text-to-image ratio, avoid image-only emails
2. Include Sufficient Text - Minimum 500 characters of readable text, don't embed text in images, use HTML text for all content
3. Optimize Images - Compress image files, use appropriate sizes (not oversized), add alt text to all images
4. Monitor Engagement - Track open and click rates. Low engagement indicates delivery issues. Adjust content or frequency if needed

Troubleshooting: Not Receiving Emails

Step 1: Check Your Subscription Status

Contact our support team with your email address, type of notifications you're missing, and approximate date when emails stopped. We can verify if you're on our unsubscribe list and reactivate with your consent.

Step 2: Check Spam/Junk Folder

Look for our emails in your Junk Email folder, Spam folder, or Quarantine (if you have email security system). If found, mark as "Not Spam", move to Inbox, and add sender to Safe Senders list.

Step 3: Verify Email Address

Confirm email address is spelled correctly in our system, email account is active (not disabled), and you haven't changed email addresses recently.

Step 4: Check Corporate Email Policies

For corporate email accounts, contact your IT department to verify if our sending domain is blocked or filtered, if there are transport rules affecting our emails, and if Microsoft Defender SafeLinks is enabled.

Step 5: Contact Support

If none of the above resolves the issue, contact our support team with your email address, description of missing notifications, and any error messages received.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why did I receive 10+ emails in one day?

A: Marketplace administrators receive notifications for all job-related events across your organization. High-activity days can generate many notifications. 

Q: I clicked unsubscribe by accident. How do I resubscribe?

A: Contact our support team with your email address. We can remove you from the unsubscribe list and reactivate notifications. Consider using email preferences instead of full unsubscribe in the future.

Q: Why are emails in my Junk folder?

A: Spam filters use various factors including image content, email frequency, and sender reputation. Mark our emails as "Not Spam" and add to Safe Senders list. If using custom emails with many images, try reducing image usage.

Q: I'm getting emails for former employees. How do I stop this?

A: Contact support with the former employee's email address. We'll remove them from our system. This prevents bounced emails and keeps your email list clean.

Q: What is Microsoft Defender SafeLinks and how does it affect email?

A: SafeLinks is a security feature that scans links in emails for threats. It may accidentally trigger unsubscribe links automatically. Contact your IT department to add our unsubscribe URLs to the exclusion list if this is occurring.

Need Help?

If you're experiencing email delivery issues that aren't covered here, contact our support team for assistance.