How to improve email deliverability
To improve email deliverability, do four things in order: authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), remove subscribers who never engage, fix the content signals that trip spam filters, and keep your complaint rate under 0.1%. Most coaching businesses that follow this order see inbox placement recover within two to four weeks.
Deliverability is the unglamorous foundation under every email revenue system. You can’t make sales with emails nobody sees, which is why every client engagement I ran started here, before a single clever email got written.
Step 1: authenticate your domain (the non-negotiables)
Since February 2024, Google and Yahoo require bulk senders to authenticate or get filtered (Google sender guidelines). You need all three records:
- SPF: lists which servers may send mail for your domain.
- DKIM: cryptographically signs each email as genuinely yours.
- DMARC: tells inbox providers what to do when SPF/DKIM fail, and reports abuse attempts.
Your email platform’s docs have copy-paste DNS records for each; the whole job is under an hour. While you’re in there, turn on one-click unsubscribe, which the same rules require. Making leaving easy protects you: a frustrated reader who can’t find the exit clicks “spam” instead, and that costs you far more.
Step 2: clean the list (engagement is the algorithm)
Inbox providers watch how recipients treat your mail. Opens, replies and moves-to-primary help you; deletions-without-reading and complaints hurt you. So:
- Segment out anyone with zero opens/clicks in 90 days.
- Send them a 3-email re-engagement sequence. Give them a reason to stay and an easy way to go. A sequence like this once pulled $10k out of a list everyone had written off; the full breakdown is here.
- Remove the silent ones. Yes, actually delete. Their dead weight is taxing delivery to your buyers.
Repeat quarterly. List size will drop; revenue per send goes up.
Step 3: fix the content signals
- Send from a person (jules@yourdomain), consistently the same name.
- Balance text and images. Image-only emails scream promotion. Story-first, mostly-text emails do best for coaches anyway.
- Kill link clutter. One or two links to domains you control. Link shorteners and a dozen outbound links look like spam.
- Warm up new domains. New sending domain? Start with your most engaged 10% and ramp volume over two to three weeks.
- Encourage replies. Ask a question; a reply is the strongest positive signal an inbox provider can see. It also makes you money (reply-based emails booked one client 10–20 high-ticket conversations a month).
Step 4: monitor so it never sneaks back
| Tool | What it tells you | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Google Postmaster Tools | Spam rate, domain reputation at Gmail | Weekly |
| Seed tests (Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo accounts) | Where your emails actually land | Monthly |
| Your ESP’s complaint report | Complaint rate per campaign | Every send |
Alert thresholds: complaint rate above 0.1%, open rate dropping 10+ points in a week, Postmaster reputation dipping to “low”. Any of these means stop promotions and re-run steps 2 and 3 before pushing volume.
What good looks like
A clean coaching list reaching the primary inbox typically sees 40–60% opens on a daily send, my best client hit 73% by pairing deliverability hygiene with a persona readers loved. That combination, inbox placement plus personality, is the whole game: this guide gets you seen, the coach email strategy guide makes being seen profitable, and the AI system makes it sustainable.
Want the checklist as a working document? The newsletter issue archive includes the deliverability audit I ran for every new client, free.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my emails are going to spam?
Check your spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools (free), send test emails to seed accounts at Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo, and watch for a sudden open-rate drop of 10+ points, which is the classic spam-placement signature.
What is a good spam complaint rate?
Under 0.1%. Google's bulk sender rules start punishing you at 0.3%, but by then damage is already done. One complaint per 1,000 emails should be your ceiling.
Should I delete subscribers who never open?
After a re-engagement attempt, yes. Sending to people who never open tells inbox providers your mail isn't wanted, which hurts delivery to the people who do want it. A smaller list that opens beats a big list that ignores you.
Does sending more email hurt deliverability?
Volume alone doesn't. Sudden spikes do. If you move from weekly to daily, ramp over two to three weeks so inbox providers see a pattern, not an anomaly. Consistent daily sending to an engaged list is one of the strongest positive signals you can build.