Sent is not delivered
When a sending tool says an email was “sent,” it usually means the message was handed off to the recipient’s mail provider. What happens next is up to that provider. The message may reach the inbox, a promotions or spam folder, or be rejected outright. Deliverability is the practice of improving the odds that wanted mail ends up where people will see it.
No one can guarantee inbox placement, because providers use their own rules, and those rules change. The practices below are widely recommended, but they reduce risk rather than remove it.
How providers decide
Mailbox providers generally look at a mix of signals, though they do not publish exact formulas.
- Who you appear to be. Whether the message can be shown to really come from your domain.
- Your reputation. A history of how recipients treated your earlier mail.
- Recipient behavior. Whether people open, click, reply, delete without reading or report the message as spam.
- The content. Patterns that resemble known junk mail.
- Technical quality. Whether the message is well formed and the sending setup is consistent.
Of these, how recipients react is often the most important. A message people want is the best deliverability strategy.
Authentication
Authentication is the technical way a domain owner proves that a message really came from them and was not forged. Several standard methods exist, usually set up as records in your domain’s settings, and your email sending service typically provides instructions. You do not need to understand the internals to use them, but you do need to make sure they are switched on.
Reasons to do this early:
- Providers increasingly expect it, and large senders in particular may be required to meet specific standards.
- It helps stop others from impersonating your store, which relates to the phishing scams that target shoppers and shop owners.
- It ties your messages to a domain you control, so reputation builds under your name.
If you are not comfortable editing domain records, ask whoever manages your domain or your sending provider’s support to walk you through it. Mistakes here can break your mail, so make changes carefully and send a test afterward. Your domain name choice matters too, since a sending address on a domain you own looks more credible than a free mailbox address.
Send from a consistent identity
Use one recognizable sender name and address, and avoid switching often. A real, monitored reply address matters as well. Replies are a positive signal, and shoppers with a question should reach a person. Mail sent from an address that bounces all replies looks less trustworthy.
List quality
Who you send to has a large effect.
- Use permission. Mailing people who never asked is the fastest route to complaints. A healthy list begins with an email list built with permission.
- Remove bounces. Addresses that do not exist produce hard bounces. Repeatedly mailing them signals carelessness. Most sending tools suppress them automatically; check that yours does.
- Handle inactive subscribers. People who have not opened or clicked in a long while may no longer want your mail, and some old addresses can be abandoned accounts. Consider a final “still interested?” message, then stop mailing those who do not respond.
- Honor unsubscribes quickly. Make the link visible and process requests promptly. A person who cannot find it often presses the spam button instead.
- Watch for typos at sign-up. A confirmation step or a simple check for obvious mistakes in the address prevents bounces from the start.
Content and design
Spam filters look at message content, but rules of thumb about “spam words” are often overstated. A few habits are sensible:
- Write subject lines that honestly describe the message. Avoid all capital letters, heavy punctuation and misleading claims such as a fake “Re:”.
- Keep a healthy balance of text and images. A message that is one big picture with little text can look suspicious and is a problem for readers who block images or use screen readers, which is also a web accessibility concern.
- Use real, working links and avoid hiding where they lead. Be wary of link shorteners.
- Include a plain-text version if your tool supports it, and your business name and postal address if the rules where you operate call for it.
- Make sure the layout reads well on phones, as many people open email there.
Sending habits
Reputation builds from steady, predictable behavior.
- Start gradually. A brand new sender suddenly mailing thousands of people looks like a spammer. Begin with smaller sends to your most engaged subscribers and increase over time.
- Be consistent. Large unexplained jumps in volume can trigger filtering. A regular rhythm is easier for providers to trust.
- Separate message types where practical. Order confirmations and shipping notices are expected and valued. Keeping them reliable helps your reputation, while promotional campaigns carry more risk. Some larger senders use separate sending setups for each.
- Do not hide behind shared setups forever. Many small stores begin on a shared sending arrangement from their provider, which is fine, but your reputation partly depends on other users there. As volume grows, ask your provider what options exist.
Watching the signs
Review the reports your sending tool offers: bounce rate, spam complaint rate, unsubscribe rate and engagement. A sudden change is worth investigating. Open rates are an imperfect guide, since some mail programs load images automatically, so look at clicks, replies and orders as well, using your store analytics to see whether email traffic is turning into sales.
If you suspect mail is going to spam, send a test to a few different providers and check where it lands. Ask a handful of friendly customers whether they see your messages. Sometimes the fix is as simple as asking subscribers to move your email out of a spam or promotions folder and add your address to their contacts.
The short version
Set up authentication, send only to people who asked, remove addresses that bounce or never engage, write honest and readable messages and ramp up volume steadily. Doing these things consistently is what builds the sort of reputation that keeps your email, from welcome messages to cart reminder emails, reaching customers.