Terms

Email Deliverability

Email deliverability is the measure of an email's ability to successfully arrive in a recipient's inbox. It goes beyond simple delivery rates to consider inbox placement—whether an email lands in the primary inbox, a promotions tab, or the spam folder. This is ultimately determined by factors like sender reputation, authentication, and recipient engagement, which internet service providers use to gauge an email's legitimacy.

Factors Affecting Email Deliverability

A variety of factors influence whether your emails reach the inbox. These elements range from technical configurations that prove your identity to the quality of your contact list and how your audience interacts with your messages. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) analyze these signals to determine if you're a trustworthy sender.

  • Reputation: A score based on your sending domain and IP address history that signals trustworthiness to ISPs.
  • Authentication: Technical standards like SPF and DKIM that verify you are who you say you are, preventing spoofing.
  • Engagement: Recipient actions such as opens, clicks, and spam complaints that directly influence your sender score.
  • Hygiene: Maintaining a clean email list by removing inactive or invalid addresses to reduce bounce rates.
  • Content: The quality and relevance of your message, as poor content can lead to low engagement and spam reports.

Best Practices for Improving Email Deliverability

Improving email deliverability requires a proactive approach combining technical diligence with thoughtful audience management. By implementing key strategies, you can significantly boost your sender reputation and ensure your messages consistently reach the inbox. These practices signal to ISPs that you are a legitimate sender.

  • Authentication: Implement SPF and DKIM records to verify your domain and prevent spoofing.
  • Hygiene: Regularly clean your email lists by removing inactive subscribers and invalid addresses.
  • Consent: Use a double opt-in process to confirm subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails.
  • Content: Send relevant, high-quality content that encourages engagement and reduces spam complaints.

Email Deliverability vs. Email Delivery

While often used interchangeably, email deliverability and delivery represent two distinct stages of an email's journey to the recipient.

  • Email Deliverability: This measures if an email successfully reaches the recipient's inbox, avoiding spam or promotion folders. It is vital for marketing campaigns where engagement and ROI are key. Enterprises and mid-market companies prioritize high deliverability to ensure messages are seen, protecting sender reputation and maximizing campaign impact.
  • Email Delivery: This simply confirms that an email was accepted by the recipient's server without bouncing. A high delivery rate is a good technical sign but doesn't guarantee inbox placement. It is best used as a baseline metric for troubleshooting or for transactional emails where simple receipt is sufficient.

Common Challenges in Email Deliverability

Navigating the path to the inbox is fraught with potential pitfalls that can derail even the most well-crafted campaigns. Senders often grapple with technical rejections and recipient-driven issues that damage their reputation. These challenges can prevent messages from being seen by their intended audience.

  • Bounces: Emails failing to reach an address due to permanent (hard) or temporary (soft) issues.
  • Spam Traps: Hitting email addresses designed to catch spammers, which can lead to being blacklisted.
  • Low Engagement: Poor open and click rates signaling to ISPs that your content is unwanted.

Tools and Resources for Monitoring Email Deliverability

Various tools help you monitor your sender reputation and diagnose issues. Many email service platforms offer built-in analytics to track delivery, bounce, and open rates. Third-party services can also check your domain against blacklists and validate your authentication setup.

Beyond software, numerous online resources provide guidance on deliverability best practices. Educational blogs and in-depth guides offer actionable tips for improving list hygiene and engagement. These materials help you stay current with evolving ISP standards and maintain a strong sender score.

Frequently Asked Questions about Email Deliverability

How does sender reputation affect deliverability?

Sender reputation is your domain's credit score for ISPs. A high score, earned through positive engagement and authentication, tells providers you're trustworthy, leading to better inbox placement. A low score often sends your emails directly to spam.

Why do my emails land in the promotions tab?

Major email clients like Gmail automatically categorize incoming mail. If your email's content, links, or sender history suggest a commercial or marketing purpose, it will likely be filtered into the promotions tab to keep the primary inbox clear.

Can I fix my deliverability after being blacklisted?

Yes, recovery is possible. You must first identify and fix the root cause, like poor list hygiene or spam complaints. Then, you can request delisting from the blacklist operator. Rebuilding your sender reputation requires consistent adherence to best practices.

Other terms

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Request for Quotation

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Feature Flags

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Tokenization

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Tokenization

Intent Data

Intent data tracks a user's online behavior—like searches and site visits—to identify signals that they are ready to make a purchase.

Intent Data

Cold Calling

Cold calling is a sales tactic where reps contact potential customers by phone who haven't previously expressed interest in their product or service.

Cold Calling

Average Revenue per Account

Average Revenue per Account (ARPA) is the average revenue generated from each customer account, usually measured on a monthly or annual basis.

Average Revenue per Account

Click-Through Rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is a metric that measures the percentage of people who click on a specific link, ad, or call-to-action.

Click-Through Rate

Dark Social

Dark social is the sharing of content through private channels like messaging apps or email. This traffic is hard to track as it lacks referral data.

Dark Social

Customer Lifecycle

The customer lifecycle is the journey a person takes from first becoming aware of your brand to becoming a loyal, repeat customer.

Customer Lifecycle

Subject Matter Expert

A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is an individual with profound knowledge and authority in a particular area, topic, or industry.

Subject Matter Expert

B2B Intent Data

Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.

B2B Intent Data

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the total revenue a business expects from a customer throughout their entire relationship with the company.

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Centricity

Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.

Customer Centricity

Buyer Journey

The buyer journey maps the path a potential customer takes, from first learning about a product to the final decision to buy.

Buyer Journey

Targeted Marketing

Targeted marketing focuses on specific consumer groups whose needs align with your product, allowing for more personalized and effective messaging.

Targeted Marketing

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.

Workflow Automation

Version Control Systems

A version control system (VCS) tracks changes to files over time, allowing you to recall specific versions and collaborate without conflicts.

Version Control Systems

B2B Sales

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B2B Sales

Segmentation Analysis

Segmentation analysis is the process of dividing a broad market into smaller, distinct groups of consumers with similar needs or characteristics.

Segmentation Analysis

Bulk Application Programming Interface

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Account-Based Selling

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Account-Based Selling

BAB Formula

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BAB Formula

Virtual Private Cloud

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Virtual Private Cloud

Business Continuity

Learn about business continuity, including understanding key components, steps to ensure continuity, common challenges, & best practices.

Business Continuity

CI/CD

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CI/CD

Consultative Selling

Consultative selling is an approach where salespeople act as expert advisors, diagnosing customer needs to provide the most suitable solutions.

Consultative Selling

LPI

LPI, or Lead Per Inquiry, is a key metric that measures how many leads are generated from each inquiry in a marketing campaign.

LPI

Horizontal Market

A horizontal market is one where a product or service is designed to meet a common need for a wide array of customers, regardless of their industry.

Horizontal Market

Multi-touch Attribution

Multi-touch attribution is a marketing analytics method that credits multiple touchpoints on the customer journey for a conversion.

Multi-touch Attribution

Cloud-based CRM

A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.

Cloud-based CRM

Firmographic Data

Firmographic data is information used to classify firms. It includes attributes like industry, employee count, location, and annual revenue.

Firmographic Data

Mobile App Analytics

Mobile app analytics involves collecting and analyzing data from mobile apps to understand user behavior and optimize the app's performance.

Mobile App Analytics

Overcoming Objections

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Overcoming Objections

Sales Pipeline Reporting

Sales pipeline reporting is the process of analyzing sales data to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and forecast future revenue.

Sales Pipeline Reporting

Kanban

Kanban is a visual project management method that uses a board to visualize workflow, limit work-in-progress, and maximize team efficiency.

Kanban

Video Messaging

Video messaging involves sending short, personalized video clips to prospects or customers, replacing traditional text-based communication.

Video Messaging

BANT Framework

Learn about BANT framework, including implementing BANT in sales strategy, advantages of the BANT methodology, & BANT vs. other qualification models.

BANT Framework

Value-Added Reseller

A Value-Added Reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated solution.

Value-Added Reseller

B2B2C

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B2B2C

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

User-generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) refers to any form of content, like images, videos, or text, created and shared by users on online platforms.

User-generated Content

Trade Shows

Trade shows are events where companies in a specific industry showcase their latest products and services to find new customers and partners.

Trade Shows

Mid-Market

Mid-market companies are businesses larger than small businesses but smaller than large enterprises, often defined by revenue or employee size.

Mid-Market

Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is the process of optimizing your content, SEO, and online listings to appear in and rank for voice-based searches.

Voice Search Optimization

Account Management

Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.

Account Management

Enrichment

Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.

Enrichment

Nurture Campaign

A nurture campaign is a series of automated messages designed to build relationships with potential customers and guide them toward a purchase.

Nurture Campaign

Load Testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Load Testing

Average Customer Life

Average Customer Life is the average time someone remains a customer. It's a key metric for predicting revenue and measuring customer loyalty.

Average Customer Life

Average Revenue per User

Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.

Average Revenue per User

Remote Sales

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Brand Awareness

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Price Optimization

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Nurture

Nurture is the process of building relationships with potential customers, guiding them through the sales funnel with personalized communication.

Nurture

Low-Hanging Fruit

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Low-Hanging Fruit

ETL

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Sales Metrics

Sales metrics are quantifiable data points that track and measure a sales team's performance against specific goals and objectives.

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End of Day

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End of Day

Complex Sale

A complex sale features a long sales cycle, multiple stakeholders, and a high-value transaction, demanding a strategic, consultative approach.

Complex Sale

Sales Acceleration

Sales acceleration refers to strategies and technologies designed to speed up the sales cycle, enabling reps to close more deals, faster.

Sales Acceleration

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Payment Gateways

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Payment Gateways

Sales Dialer

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Sales Dialer

Internal signals

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Internal signals

Firmographics

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.

Firmographics

Mobile Compatibility

Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.

Mobile Compatibility

Channel Marketing

Channel marketing is a strategy where a company sells its products or services through third-party partners, like resellers or affiliates.

Channel Marketing

Website Visitor Tracking

Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.

Website Visitor Tracking

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Salesforce Administrator

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Sales Presentation

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Closed Lost

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Closed Lost

Weighted Pipeline

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Weighted Pipeline

Sales Lead

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Sales Lead

Call Disposition

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Call Disposition

Brand Loyalty

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Sales Team Management

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Sales Team Management

Enterprise Resource Planning

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Enterprise Resource Planning

Sales and Marketing Alignment

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Sales and Marketing Alignment

Customer Data Analysis

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Customer Data Analysis

Sales Territory

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Buyer

Learn about buyer, including identifying your ideal buyer, understanding buyer's journey, & evaluating buyer decision processes.

Buyer

No Spam

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No Spam

Unique Selling Point

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Unique Selling Point

Channel Partners

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Simple Object Access Protocol Application Programming Interface

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Simple Object Access Protocol Application Programming Interface

Single Page Applications

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Single Page Applications

Sales Pitch

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Sales Pitch

Video Selling

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Intent leads

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Customer Retention Cost

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Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.

Net Promoter Score

AI Data Enrichment

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Lead Routing

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Product Qualified Lead

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Product Qualified Lead

Sales Operations Key Performance Indicators

Sales Operations KPIs are measurable metrics that track the efficiency and effectiveness of a sales team's operational processes.

Sales Operations Key Performance Indicators

Order Management

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Order Management

Sales Coach

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Sales Coach

Content Delivery Network

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Content Delivery Network

SQL

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SQL