Deliverability Fundamentals: Reaching the Inbox
Introduces the factors that decide whether a Broadcast lands in the inbox, the spam folder, or nowhere at all.
In short
Deliverability is the practice of getting a Broadcast accepted by the receiving mail provider and placed in the subscriber's inbox rather than the spam folder — or rejected outright. It depends less on the content of any single Edition and more on your sending reputation: who you send from, how consistently you send, and how subscribers react over time. Good deliverability is earned gradually and lost quickly.
Why it matters
An Edition that never reaches the inbox can't be opened, clicked, or acted on, so poor deliverability quietly caps every other result you measure. Providers such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo weigh your reputation on each send, and a spike in complaints or bounces can push even legitimate Broadcasts to spam for weeks. Watching deliverability protects the sending domain your whole organization shares.
How it works
Three layers decide the outcome:
- Authentication — SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records prove the Broadcast genuinely came from your domain. Missing or misaligned records are a common reason mail is throttled or filtered. (Confirm the exact DNS values in your account.)
- Reputation — Mailbox providers score your sending domain and IP based on complaint rates, bounces, spam-trap hits, and engagement. Sending to clean, opted-in lists and honoring unsubscribes keeps this score healthy.
- Content and engagement — Relevant subject lines, balanced text-to-image ratios, and working links reduce spam signals, while opens and clicks tell providers subscribers want your mail.
For example, a Broadcast to a re-engaged, recently active audience with valid authentication typically lands in the inbox; the same Edition sent to a stale, purchased list often bounces heavily and trips filters — regardless of how polished the design is.
Related
Canonical terms: Author, Edition, Folder (Project Folder), Broadcast. See the Glossary.