Email Deliverability: Getting Your Business Messages to the Inbox

20% of legitimate business emails never reach the inbox. They end up in spam folders or get rejected entirely. For businesses that depend on email communication, this means lost leads, missed invoices, and frustrated customers.

Email Authentication Records

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

A DNS TXT record that lists which servers can send email from your domain. Without SPF, anyone can forge emails from your domain. Set up SPF to include your email provider, website server, and any third-party services that send email on your behalf.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

Adds a cryptographic signature to every email you send. Receiving servers verify the signature to confirm the email was not tampered with in transit and genuinely came from your domain.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication)

Tells receiving servers how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks: none (report only), quarantine (send to spam), or reject (block entirely). Start with "none" to monitor, then move to "quarantine" once you are confident all legitimate email passes checks.

Improving Deliverability

• Set up all three authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Use a dedicated email sending service (Postmark, SendGrid) for transactional email
• Maintain a clean email list (remove bounces and unsubscribes promptly)
• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines and content
• Include a physical mailing address in marketing emails (CAN-SPAM requirement)
• Make unsubscribe easy and immediate

Testing Your Setup

1. Send a test email to mail-tester.com and aim for a score of 9/10 or higher
2. Check your DNS records at MXToolbox.com
3. Send test emails to Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo accounts
4. Review Google Postmaster Tools for ongoing monitoring

Having email deliverability issues? Contact us -- we resolve email authentication problems daily.