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