Delivery vs. deliverability
An email being "delivered" means the receiving server accepted it; it may still have landed in spam. Deliverability means reaching the inbox.
What affects it?
- Authentication: are SPF, DKIM and DMARC complete and aligned?
- Reputation: spam complaint rate (tracked in Google Postmaster Tools), bounce rate, blocklists.
- List: verified, opted-in and up-to-date addresses.
- Behavior: gradual sending instead of sudden volume spikes, easy unsubscribe.
Why it matters
An email that lands in spam goes unread, however well it is written; proposal and invoice emails can be affected too. Audit: email deliverability.
Last updated:
