Top 8 Ways to Improve Email Deliverability

Hello!

Email marketing is useless if your messages do not reach your intended audience.

Effective email campaigns can have a real impact on companies of all types, but only if the communications make it to a subscriber’s inbox. There’s nothing worse than crafting the perfect message only to have it never see the light of day. Deliverability is the most basic building block of any successful email marketing effort.

In addition to other key email analytics, deliverability rates should be evaluated regularly as a performance indicator, since they can impact future campaigns. While it may seem simple enough, several factors can prevent your messages from reaching your target audience.

What is email deliverability?

Also known as “inbox placement,” email deliverability refers to where an email ends up when it reaches the recipient. The final destination could be the primary inbox, a spam folder, the trash, or another location determined by the recipient or their email provider. Deliverability rates differ from bounce rates, which only indicate whether an email was returned to the sender.

According to the 2026 Deliverability Benchmark Report, one in six emails never reaches an inbox. That means for every six carefully crafted messages a marketing team sends, one may be filtered out by spam detection systems.

This reality should prompt businesses to monitor deliverability closely. But what determines where an email lands in the first place?

What affects email deliverability?

Three main factors influence email deliverability rates:

Sender reputation

Internet service providers (ISPs) use a sender reputation score for each incoming email server to decide whether a message should land in the inbox or be rejected. Scores range from 0 to 100 and are calculated using metrics such as unsubscribe rates and spam complaints. A score of 96 or higher typically prevents an ISP from flagging the sender’s emails as spam.

Authentication

In technical terms, authentication describes how ISPs verify email sender information. It may include the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), which specifies authorized sending servers for a domain; DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), which uses cryptographic signatures to confirm a domain; or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), a protocol that protects domain owners from spoofing. Implementing these tools reduces the risk of emails being rejected.

Email content

If your messages look or feel like spam, they will likely be treated as such. Poor formatting, broken links, or copy filled with dollar signs and excessive exclamation points can trigger spam filters. A careful proofreading pass before sending is essential.

---

Also read:

• Which Treatment Is More Suitable For You: Physical Therapy Or Chiropractic?
• 4 Tips for Choosing the Right Accounting Software for Your Business
• How Proxies Boost Your Privacy and Protect Your Online Activities

---

What is a good email deliverability rate?

While the goal is for every email to reach its intended inbox, bounces and rejections do occur. A solid benchmark is a 95% or higher deliverability rate. Anything below that should prompt marketing teams to review current practices and identify opportunities for improvement.

How to improve your email deliverability

If your email deliverability is falling short, consider the following strategies:

1. Start small

Building a strong IP reputation helps avoid deliverability issues. Begin by sending small batches of emails to your most engaged subscribers and gradually increase volume. Segmenting your list by open and click-through rates makes this process more efficient.

Reaching an audience that has already demonstrated interest helps you earn trust with ISPs over time. This organic approach steadily improves deliverability.

2. Clean your contact list regularly

Maintaining a healthy email list is vital. Contact information changes over time, so regularly removing inactive or suspicious addresses is essential. Delete contacts who haven’t opened or clicked your emails in several months.

Bounce rates also affect sender reputation, so removing addresses that generate hard bounces is worthwhile. A healthy bounce rate is around 2%, and anything consistently higher can harm your sender score.

3. Monitor your sender reputation score

Keep an eye on your IP’s sender score. Scores can vary slightly by ISP and may shift over time. As noted earlier, a score of 95 or higher is ideal and generally avoids spam filters.

Free tools such as ReturnPath allow businesses to check their scores. Because sender reputation is one of the top reasons ISPs reject emails, regular monitoring helps marketing teams stay on track.

4. Avoid spam traps

ISPs use spam traps (sometimes called honeypots) to catch spammers. These are email addresses created specifically to identify and block unwanted senders. They may appear on scraped websites, purchased lists, or recycled addresses from inactive users.

To stay clear of spam traps, never purchase email lists and always verify the accuracy of addresses on your own list.

5. Choose your “From” name carefully

Personalization boosts engagement and reduces spam complaints. Including your brand name alongside a real person’s name in the “From” line (for example, “Rachelle from BDC” instead of just “Marketing”) creates a more human connection.

Adding the recipient’s first name to the subject line can also improve open rates. Combining both tactics increases the likelihood of engagement.

6. Use double opt-ins

Encouraging visitors to subscribe is a great start, but a double opt-in adds an extra layer of quality. After a visitor signs up, they receive a confirmation email and must verify their subscription. This ensures the address is valid and the subscriber genuinely wants to hear from you.

7. Maintain a consistent sending schedule

Email campaign planning matters. Sending emails on a predictable schedule helps maintain relationships with subscribers and reduces the chance of ISP filtering. Erratic sending patterns can appear suspicious and lead to spam reports.

Sending one email per week is a good starting point; once a month should be considered the minimum to keep subscribers engaged.

8. Check feedback loops and blacklists

If deliverability issues persist, investigate whether your IP has been flagged. Complaint feedback loops (FBLs) provide data on recipients who have marked your emails as spam. Monitoring FBLs reveals which campaigns are causing problems.

DNS-based blacklists list IPs with high volumes of spam complaints. ISPs automatically block emails from these addresses. Being blacklisted is costly to resolve, so prevention is critical.

Thank you!
Subscribe to our newsletter! Join us on social networks!
See you!