5 Important Email Deliverability Checks

Yesterday I saw an informative Twitter thread by Indie Hackers on Email reputation.

Apart from what mentioned, I observed that a lot of folks missed an important email service configuration that harms their domain and causes their emails to land in spam.

Without further ado, let's jump into 5 important email deliverability checks which you should be aware of.

Check 1 - Authentication

• Properly configure SPF(Sender Policy Framework), DKIM(DomainKeys Identified Mail), DMARC(Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)
• Avoid having multiple SPF records

Check 2 - Content

• Try to avoid spam words
• Personalization (Merge tag)

Check 3 - Engagement

• The Email delivery rate should be at least 95%
• Email Bounce rate should be less than 5%
• Complaint rate should be 0-0.05% (abuse, mark as spam, block sender)
• Connection rejection/message rejected bounce emails should be as low as possible (these increases chances of being blacklisted)
• Engagement level (email open) should be 50% (not reliable)
• Sending relevant emails to relevant users, never cross-subscribe (better to use opt-in, feedback loop setup)
• Providing users an option to opt-out (unsubscribe option)
• Verify your email list before sending it out.
• Avoid sending emails to unresponsive users (possibility of spam traps)
• Respect opt-out requests

Check 4 - Reputation

• Accurate WHOIS information
• Domain blacklist
• Sending IPs blacklist
• Domains used in the email should not be blacklisted
• Domain should be purchased from well-known DNS providers (use well-known TLD domains)
• Domain should be at least six months older
• The domain expiry date should always be a year older than the current date
• Whitelisting IP or Domain (certification / paid services)
• Well-known ESPs have their IPs already whitelisted

Check 5 - Infrastructure

• Feedback loops
• Have your email account warm up properly before making
  it productive (plan for it)
• Respect the sending limits of your ESP
• Avoid spike in sending
• Follow the bulk sending guidelines of ESP (if any)
• Behavioral filtering (a mostly manual process)

I hope this helps. If you need any help configuring this or have any questions feel free to DM me on Twitter