Deliverability Tools

Deliverability Tools give you full control over whether your emails land in the inbox or the spam folder. Email deliverability is not a single feature but a collection of infrastructure settings, authentication protocols, reputation management practices, and monitoring tools that work together to ensure your messages reach your audience. Without proper configuration, even the best email campaigns will fail because recipients never see them.

What Deliverability Tools Do

The platform provides a complete deliverability toolkit built directly into email infrastructure:

Dedicated sending domains: Instead of sharing a domain with all other users, a dedicated domain gives you exclusive control over sender reputation. Your deliverability is not affected by other senders on the platform. Navigate to Settings > Email Services > Sending Domain, add your domain (e.g., mail.yourbusiness.com), and the system generates DNS records.

DNS authentication records: Add SPF (authorizes mail servers to send on your behalf), DKIM (adds digital signatures to verify messages), DMARC (tells receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail), MX (configures mail routing), and CNAME (enables open/click tracking) records to your DNS provider. Verify at Settings > Email Services > Sending Domain.

Email validation: Enable at Sub-Account Settings > Business Profile > Verify Email Address when the first email is sent to a new contact. For ongoing hygiene, enable Re-validation every 90 days at Agency View > Sub-Accounts. Costs $2.50 per 1,000 validations, preventing hard bounces that damage sender reputation.

Dedicated sending IP addresses: For high-volume senders (200,000+ emails per week), purchase a dedicated IP ($59/month) to isolate your reputation from other users on shared IP pools. Configure rDNS (Reverse DNS) to match your sending domain for optimal deliverability.

Warm-up scheduling: Follow volume guidelines when warming up new domains: Week 1 (100/hour, 1,000/day to most engaged), Week 2 (300/hour, 2,500/day to broader segment), Week 3 (500/hour, 5,000/day to moderately engaged), Week 4+ (gradually increase based on engagement metrics). Use Drip Mode to control hourly and daily sending volumes automatically.

Key Configuration Options

Setting up a dedicated sending domain: Navigate to Settings > Email Services > Sending Domain, click Add Domain, enter your domain name, and keep the page open. Add the generated DNS records to your DNS provider (SPF, DKIM, MX, CNAME, DMARC). Return to the platform and click Verify Domain. Wait for all authentication checks to show Verified status (DNS propagation takes minutes to 48 hours).

DMARC policy progression: Start with p=none (monitor mode, no action on failing emails) to review reports for at least two weeks. Move to p=quarantine (failing emails sent to spam) after confirming everything passes. Finally, move to p=reject (failing emails rejected outright) once confident in setup.

Domain alignment: Your “From” email address must align with your authenticated sending domain. Valid: team@yourbusiness.com or support@mail.yourbusiness.com. Invalid: using mail.yourbusiness.com but From address of info@otherbrand.com. Misalignment causes DMARC failures and deliverability problems.

Reverse DNS configuration: For dedicated IPs, configure rDNS to map your IP address back to your domain name. Many receiving servers check rDNS as part of spam filtering. Mismatched rDNS raises red flags and triggers “Reverse DNS does not match SMTP Banner” errors.

Unsubscribe link management: Every marketing email must include an unsubscribe link (CAN-SPAM and GDPR requirement). The platform’s Footer element in the email builder includes one automatically. For custom flows, build a landing page with unsubscribe options, create a workflow triggered when the link is clicked, and update the contact’s DND settings or move them to a suppression list.

Power Features

Reputation monitoring with Google Postmaster Tools: Visit postmaster.google.com, add your sending domain, and verify ownership by adding a DNS record. View spam rate (percentage of emails Gmail users mark as spam), IP reputation, domain reputation, authentication results, encryption status, and delivery errors. Data populates within two days after setup.

MX Toolbox Email Health Report: Paste your sending domain into mxtoolbox.com/emailhealth to check blacklist status across major providers, missing or misconfigured DNS records, SPF/DKIM/DMARC validation results, MX record configuration, and overall domain health score.

Mail-Tester spam score analysis: Copy the temporary email address from mail-tester.com, create a test contact in your platform, send your email to the test contact, return to Mail-Tester, and click Then check my score. Analyzes email content, authentication, and infrastructure to give a score out of 10. Aim for 9 or above.

Warm-up with Drip Mode: Configure maximum emails per hour and per day in campaign or workflow settings. The platform queues emails and sends at the configured rate, preventing accidental volume spikes that damage reputation during warm-up.

Pro Tips

• Set up a dedicated sending domain before sending any campaigns: This is the foundation of good deliverability. Never rely on the shared default domain for production campaigns.
• Configure all three authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC): Missing any one weakens your authentication posture and gives mailbox providers a reason to flag your emails.
• Warm up every new domain and IP address: Never skip the warm-up process. Four weeks of disciplined warm-up prevents months of deliverability recovery.
• Enable email validation on every sub-account: The cost per validation is minimal compared to reputation damage caused by sending to invalid addresses.
• Monitor your reputation weekly: Check Google Postmaster Tools and MX Toolbox regularly. Catching a reputation dip early lets you address issues before they escalate.

Common Questions

What is email deliverability?

Email deliverability is your ability to land emails in the recipient’s inbox instead of the spam folder. It is influenced by sender reputation, list health, content quality, authentication setup, and recipient engagement. Deliverability is not the same as delivery. An email can be “delivered” to the spam folder, but that does not mean it was “deliverable.”

How long does it take to warm up a new domain?

The standard warm-up period is approximately four weeks. During this time, gradually increase sending volume while monitoring engagement metrics and reputation signals. Some domains warm up faster with excellent engagement; others take longer if early sends have low open rates.

What happens if my domain or IP gets blacklisted?

If your domain or IP appears on a blacklist, emails will be rejected by any receiving server that checks that blacklist. Contact support for assistance with delisting. Check blacklist status using MX Toolbox. The best prevention is following all deliverability best practices to avoid getting blacklisted.

Should I use a subdomain for email sending?

Yes. Using a subdomain (like mail.yourdomain.com) for transactional and marketing email is best practice. This isolates your email sending reputation from your root domain, protecting your website and other services if email deliverability issues arise.

What is a DMARC report and how do I read it?

A DMARC report is an XML file sent by receiving servers showing how your emails performed against SPF, DKIM, and DMARC checks. To receive reports, add a reporting address to your DMARC record (rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourdomain.com). Use free tools like DMARC Analyzer or Postmark’s DMARC Digests to parse XML into readable reports. Review weekly to catch authentication failures early.