This guide outlines the key best practices to help you improve email deliverability and consistently reach your customers’ inboxes.
Why Email Deliverability Matters
Strong deliverability ensures your emails—whether campaigns, review requests, or follow-ups—are actually seen and acted on.
It depends on multiple factors, including:
Technical setup
Audience quality
Engagement
Sending behavior
1. Set Up Your Email Infrastructure Correctly
Your email infrastructure includes the technical components used to send emails. Inbox providers rely on this setup to determine whether your emails are trustworthy.
Key components include:
Branded sending domain
Sending IP (shared or dedicated)
Click tracking domain
Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
A properly configured setup helps build trust and improves inbox placement.
2. Build and Maintain a High-Quality Contact List
Your list quality directly impacts your deliverability.
Best practices:
Avoid purchased or third-party lists
Use clear and transparent signup forms
Collect explicit consent
Focus on genuinely interested subscribers
A high-quality list leads to better engagement and fewer spam complaints.
3. Warm Up New Domains and IPs
If you're using a new domain or IP, you need to build trust gradually.
Warming involves:
Starting with small volumes
Increasing gradually over time
Prioritizing engaged recipients
Sending too much too quickly can harm your reputation early on.
4. Monitor Your Email Performance
Tracking performance helps you identify and fix issues early.
Monitor key metrics such as:
Open rates
Click rates
Bounce rates
Spam complaints
These metrics directly influence your inbox placement.
Learn more: What is Sender Reputation and Why It Matters
5. Test Your Email Content
Content testing helps identify spam triggers and improve engagement.
You should:
Test subject lines and messaging
Validate links and formatting
Identify spam-triggering elements
6. Follow Consistent Sending Practices
Your sending behavior plays a major role in your reputation.
Best practices include:
Maintain a consistent sending schedule
Avoid sudden spikes in volume
Send relevant content to the right audience
Inbox providers favor predictable and consistent senders.
7. Maintain Strong List Hygiene
List hygiene ensures you’re only sending to active and engaged users.
Key actions:
Remove inactive subscribers regularly
Suppress invalid or bounced emails
Avoid repeatedly emailing unengaged users
Poor list hygiene can quickly damage your sender reputation.
8. Re-engage or Remove Inactive Users
Inactive users can negatively impact your performance if not managed properly.
Use re-engagement campaigns to:
Highlight benefits and value
Share updates or offers
Let users update preferences
If users remain inactive, removing them helps protect your deliverability.
9. Use Sunset Flows to Maintain List Quality
A sunset flow helps you phase out users who no longer engage with your emails.
This involves:
Attempting to re-engage inactive users
Suppressing or removing those who don’t respond
This keeps your list clean and focused on active users, improving overall performance.
10. Optimize Sending Frequency Based on Engagement
Not all users should receive emails at the same frequency.
Best practices:
Segment users based on engagement levels
Send more frequently to active users
Reduce frequency for less engaged users
This helps:
Improve open rates
Reduce fatigue and unsubscribes
Maintain a positive sender reputation
11. Maintain High Data Quality
Accurate and reliable data is essential for effective email communication.
High-quality data helps you:
Avoid duplicate or incorrect messaging
Reach users at the right time
Deliver more relevant content
Build stronger customer relationships
Poor data quality can lead to inefficiencies and reduced engagement.
Key Takeaway
Email deliverability is influenced by multiple factors working together—your infrastructure, audience quality, content, and sending behavior.
By following these best practices, you can build a strong sender reputation and ensure your emails consistently reach your audience.