Why website email reliability matters

Your email list is dying... and you don't even know it. 💀 I see it all the time. Businesses obsessing over growing their subscriber count while ignoring the health of their existing list. 50,000 subscribers sounds impressive, right? But what if I told you that 70% of those emails never even reach the inbox? 👉 The harsh truth: List size means nothing if your deliverability is broken. Email health isn't just some technical detail for your IT team to worry about. It's the foundation of your entire email marketing strategy. Think about it... You spend hours crafting the perfect subject line. You agonize over every word in your copy. You design beautiful templates that reflect your brand. And then? Your emails land in spam. Or worse... they're blocked entirely. The real problem? Most marketers focus on growing their list instead of nurturing it. They ignore bounces. They keep sending to people who never open. They blast the same message to everyone. And their sender reputation pays the price. Here's what actually matters: ✅ Regular list hygiene ✅ Segmentation based on behavior and interests ✅ Consistent sending patterns that ISPs can recognize ✅ Engagement-focused content that drives replies and clicks I've seen companies TRIPLE their revenue by simply fixing their email health, without adding a single new subscriber. Because at the end of the day: Email health = Email wealth It's not just a catchy phrase. It's the difference between campaigns that convert and campaigns that crash. So before you launch your next promotion or chase more subscribers, take a hard look at your deliverability metrics. Your bottom line will thank you.

"We weren’t just dealing with bad marketing metrics, we were losing users who couldn’t activate, burning budget on messages that were never seen, and watching our product stall for a reason that was completely outside the dashboard view." A few months ago, we were silently losing users, and we didn’t even realize it at first. People would sign up for Ajelix, but never activate their accounts. Transactional emails were going out, but no one saw them. Our marketing campaigns barely got opened, and we kept jumping between email platforms, hoping one of them would magically solve the issue. After almost a year of chasing shadows, we finally identified the root cause that was slowly destroying our sender reputation. And because we relied heavily on email for onboarding, transactional flows, product updates, and marketing, this one issue created a ripple effect that touched almost everything we were doing. In this week’s Building Without a Map newsletter, I shared the full breakdown of what happened: the metrics, the warning signs we missed, how we built our email validation tool, and why we decided to launch that internal solution as a separate SaaS. I also included some industry research I found while digging deeper into this topic (spoiler: software companies have the worst bounce rates across all industries), and explained why it’s not just about “getting out of spam”, it’s about making sure your product can even reach the people it was built for. If you’ve ever dealt with email deliverability issues or you're still unsure what might be holding back your campaigns, this story might give you a few answers, or at the very least, help you avoid the mistakes we made. You can read the full issue below 👇 And if you think someone in your network is silently struggling with the same thing, I’d appreciate a share.

Email deliverability is killing your DTC brand's revenue. Here's why it matters: - 20% of all marketing emails never reach the inbox - Poor deliverability can cut email revenue by 50%+ - Gmail and others are cracking down harder than ever 7 steps I’d take to fix it right now: 1. Maintain a consistent sending schedule 2. Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines 3. Segment & personalize to boost engagement 4. Implement SPF, DKIM, & DMARC authentication 5. Monitor & improve your sender score religiously 6. Use a reputable ESP with strong deliverability tools 7. Clean your list monthly (remove inactive subscribers) Brands that nail this see higher engagement. And that could mean 2-3x more revenue from email. What's your biggest email challenge right now? Drop it in the comments and I'll try to help.

Your emails aren’t getting ignored. They’re getting buried in spam. And if you don’t fix it, your email list is just a list of ghosts. I hear this all the time "I sent a campaign to 2,000 people... and got 4 opens. What happened?" Here's the truth - Your emails aren’t bad. Your email reputation is. I’ve helped solopreneurs and small business owners triple their open rates -without changing a single subject line. They weren’t failing because of their writing. They were failing because their emails never made it to the inbox. There are silent killers of email deliverability. Here are three: 1️⃣ Your authentication is broken. (If you don’t have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up properly, you’re invisible to inboxes. Most setups are wrong or incomplete.) 2️⃣ Your list is full of cold subscribers. (Gmail & Yahoo track engagement. If people ignore you, you get punished.) 3️⃣ You look like a spammer. (Too many links? Lots of images? Words like “free” or “guaranteed”? You just triggered the spam filter.) And once you land in spam once, inboxes remember. This is why “just writing better emails” won’t fix it. Email deliverability isn’t about luck—it’s about trust. And it requires on-going vigilance. If ISPs don’t trust your emails, you’ll keep shouting into the void. Fix your reputation, and suddenly—your emails start working again. You can’t make money from emails... If no one sees them. When was the last time you checked your email authentication settings?

Your emails might be disappearing into the void. You’ve spent hours crafting the perfect message. You hit send, yet your work vanishes. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? → Emails lost in spam. → Messages buried in promotions. → Vital communications floating unseen. Email deliverability is critical. If your emails don’t land in inboxes, they fail to create impact or drive revenue. So, how can you ensure your emails are seen? 1. Use an inbox placement tester. → This tells you if your emails are heading straight to spam. 2. Keep your list clean. → An unverified list can damage your reputation and your deliverability. 3. Avoid spam triggers. → Too many links, excessive capitalization, or suspicious vocabulary can lead your emails to the spam folder. 4. Authenticate your emails. → Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to protect your domain and boost placement. 5. Test, tweak, repeat. → Regularly A/B test subject lines, sender names, and content for optimal performance. Your email list is a powerful business asset. But only if your messages reach your audience! When did you last check your email deliverability?

You can write the best cold email in the world… But if it doesn’t hit the inbox, it’s worthless. Deliverability matters because: → If your emails land in spam, your chances of getting a reply are zero. → Poor deliverability kills your sender reputation. → Making future emails even harder to reach inboxes. So, here's 5 tips to improve email deliverability: 1️⃣ Optimize Your Sender Reputation → ISPs judge your emails on engagement: bad metrics = bad placement. → Warm up new domains before sending at scale. → Use tools like Google Postmaster to monitor spam score. → Don't try reviving 'burned' domains, get new ones. 2️⃣ Validate Your Audience → Remove invalids and sp*mtrap emails → Use catch-all scoring if bounces are > 5%. → AI score to remove leads not matching your ICP. 3️⃣ Optimize & Formatting → Avoid sp*m triggers like links, attachments, or images. → No open or click tracking. → Keep formatting clean and easy to scan. → Emails should look human, not robotic. → Targeted emails = higher engagement = better deliverability. 4️⃣ Personalize Emails → Generic emails get ignored: customized emails get replies. → Personalized openers and/or PS lines increase replies by 220%+. → Less likely to be reported as sp*m. 5️⃣ Monitor & Adjust Based on Data → Track conversation, opportunity, sentiment, & bounce rates. → If engagement drops, adjust approach before it hurts your domain. → Test copy, send times, and length to find what works best. Deliverability is not set it and forget it. It’s an ongoing process that determines if your emails work, or disappear into the ocean of other cold emails. Fix it and your inbox will start filling up with real replies. Questions?

Case Study. Must read. Fixing Gmail deliverability isn’t as simple as changing your IP or switching platforms. In one real case: A brand moved to a dedicated IP on their ESP’s advice, hoping it would fix domain reputation issues. Warm-up was done correctly. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC were all passing. But Gmail Postmaster reputation dropped to "bad" and stayed there Gmail inbox placement went to 0%. CTRs were around 0.2%, and nothing improved. The core issue wasn't technical. It was behavioral. Their student emails were opt-in. But corporate emails came from purchased ZoomInfo lists. Gmail picked up on this and punished the entire domain. Changing IPs just exposed the issue faster. Their suppression logic also made things worse: 1. Users were suppressed only after 10 sends with no clicks 2. That means 10 chances to hurt domain reputation 3. Engagement-based filtering is strict 4. If people don’t interact, Gmail assumes your content is unwanted Technical setup wasn't perfect either: 1. Their signup API lacked rate limits 2. Bots were likely abusing the form 3. This led to emails being sent to fake or unverified addresses More bad signals sent to Gmail A "0% spam complaint rate" looked good on paper, but it was misleading. If no one sees your email in the inbox, they can’t complain. That’s a sign your emails are already deep in spam. Should you ever change IPs? Yes, if recommended by an experienced deliverability expert because the IPs are burnt and beyond recovery anytime soon. But only after identifying and fixing the root cause. Changing IPs without fixing your behavior is just a temporary patch What can actually help? Along with all other best practices, 1. Stop mailing Gmail users for a while. 2. Start fresh with small, high-quality segments. 3. Promote your email content on your website or social media to drive awareness. Good deliverability doesn’t come from tools or IPs. It comes from permission, relevance, and engagement. I have seen a lot of marketers with no optin lists but with content relevance and positive engagement they are doing great. If Gmail doesn’t see real interest in your emails, nothing else will matter. Happy to chat if you're navigating a similar situation. #email #emailmarketing

Infrastructure is EVERYTHING in cold email outreach. Think about it: you could have the most personalized email, crafted like a love letter to your ICP, but if it’s landing in spam… it’s like shouting into the void. Nobody hears you. Here’s the deal. Most people think they can fix deliverability issues by adding fancy personalization or AI tools. Nope. If your setup isn’t airtight, it’s game over. Your emails won’t even get a chance to shine because they’re stuck in the dreaded spam folder. Deliverability is fragile. One small misstep—like a wrong DNS setting or using the same mailbox for all your emails—and boom, your whole operation crumbles. It's not just about volume; it's about building a system that scales without breaking. That means horizontal scaling, diversified domains, and constant monitoring. Think of your email infrastructure like a bridge. If it’s shaky, you’ll never get your leads across to the other side. But when it’s solid, you’re unstoppable. So, before you dive into scaling your outreach, ask yourself: is my foundation strong enough? If not, fix that FIRST. Because no matter how good your email copy is, if it’s not seen, it doesn’t matter. Keep building. Keep growing. Don’t let spam hold you back.

🔐 “If your emails aren’t authenticated, they’re vulnerable.” That’s the harsh truth of today’s threat landscape. After spending over 10 years in cybersecurity, I’ve seen how email remains one of the most exploited attack vectors — especially in phishing, spoofing, and BEC (Business Email Compromise) attacks. That’s where DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) becomes a frontline defense. Most organizations know about SPF and DKIM, but few fully understand how DMARC ties them together for complete email authentication. Here’s a simplified breakdown of how DMARC works (refer to the visual above for reference): 📩 1. Email is sent from the sender * Could be legitimate or spoofed. 📬 2. Mail server receives and inspects the email * It checks the SPF record to verify if the sender IP is authorized. 🔐 3. SPF Evaluation * Authorized Sender? → Proceed * Unauthorized? → DMARC policy determines next steps (quarantine, reject, none) ✉️ 4. DKIM Signature Check * Email is verified using cryptographic signatures. * Valid signature = authenticity confirmed. 📥 5. DMARC Decision * Both SPF & DKIM pass? → Email lands in inbox * Either fails? → Action as per DMARC policy 📊 6. Reporting * All results are sent to the domain owner for visibility and threat intelligence. 💡 Why DMARC matters: * ✅ Prevents domain spoofing * ✅ Builds sender reputation * ✅ Increases email deliverability * ✅ Enhances organizational trust 🔁 I strongly recommend setting a DMARC policy even at a monitoring level to start. 📩 Start with `p=none` → analyze reports → shift to `quarantine` or `reject` gradually. 💬 Have you implemented DMARC on your domain yet? Let’s discuss how to make it effective. #CyberSecurity #EmailSecurity #DMARC #Phishing #SPF #DKIM #Infosec #EmailAuthentication #ThreatIntelligence #TheSecMaster 🌐Looking to deepen your cybersecurity knowledge? Visit The Sec Master for expert insights, tutorials, and the latest trends in the cybersecurity world. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, our resources will help you stay ahead of cyber threats. 🔐 Explore Now: thesecmaster.com 📚 Stay Updated. Stay Secure TheSecMaster Arun KL

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥'𝐬 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞: Email deliverability isn't just a technical detail; it's crucial for business success. If your emails aren't delivered, nothing else matters. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐊𝐈𝐌 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥: Managing DKIM records might seem minor, but it's critical for maintaining your domain's reputation, especially when you use third-party email services. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬: Email giants like Gmail and Outlook are updating their rules, which can unintentionally affect your email deliverability if your DKIM records aren't updated. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠: If you don't keep your DKIM records up to date, your emails might stop reaching their destination...or worse, all your emails could get blocked. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦: When emails don't even make it to the spam folder, it's a serious issue. It could harm your domain's reputation beyond repair. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩: Maintaining accurate DKIM records is an ongoing task. As email services evolve, it's important to keep your records current to ensure email deliverability. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞: Email is vital for B2B communication, lead nurturing, and customer relationships. Keeping your email setup in top shape ensures your messages always get through. If you need help, reach out. We've been doing this for a while. ;-)