10 Proven Ways to Improve Email Deliverability for Your Newsletter

You put time, thought, and creativity into your company’s newsletter - yet it still lands in spam or gets buried in promotions tabs. It’s one of the most frustrating problems facing SaaS founders and marketing teams today.

Here’s the hard truth: even great content fails if it never reaches the inbox.

At Sea Change Advisors, we help high-growth companies audit and optimize their email strategies, especially during critical phases like fundraising, product launches, or customer engagement campaigns. Poor deliverability doesn’t just hurt open rates, it hurts brand credibility, customer trust, and revenue potential.

Here’s a tactical, non-technical guide to getting your email newsletter back into inboxes - and keeping it there.

What Is Email Deliverability and Why It Matters

Email deliverability is the ability of your emails to reach your recipients’ inboxes rather than being filtered into spam or blocked entirely.

Great deliverability = high sender reputation = better engagement.

If you’re seeing open rates below 20% or sudden drops in engagement, it’s time for a deliverability check.

10 Proven Ways to Improve Newsletter Deliverability

1. Authenticate Your Domain

Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records properly. These tell email providers that you’re a trusted sender—not a spoofed domain.

🔧 Tip: Use tools like MxToolbox or Google Postmaster Tools to verify configuration.

2. Warm Up Your Sending Domain

If you're using a new domain or email service provider (ESP), gradually ramp up your sending volume. Sudden spikes raise red flags with email providers.

Example: Start with 100–200 emails per day, then scale over 1–2 weeks.

3. Clean Your Email List Regularly

Remove:

• Invalid addresses
• Hard bounces
• Inactive users (no opens/clicks in 90+ days)

Use list hygiene tools like NeverBounce, ZeroBounce, or Kickbox to validate emails before sending.

4. Send From a Recognizable Address

Avoid generic senders like newsletter@yourdomain.com. Use a sender name and address people recognize:

• ✅ Scott from Sea Change Advisors <scott@seachangeadvisors.net>

• ❌ info@yourdomain.com

5. Avoid Spammy Language and Formatting

Words like “free,” “guarantee,” “earn $$$,” or excessive exclamation points can trigger spam filters.

Best practices:

• Avoid all caps
• Keep text-to-image ratio high (don’t send image-only emails)
• Use short, clear subject lines

6. Include a Clear, Easy-to-Find Unsubscribe Link

It may seem counterintuitive, but an easy opt-out lowers the chance of being marked as spam—which hurts sender reputation far more.

7. Segment and Personalize

Mass blasting the same message to everyone is a fast way to hit spam folders.

Instead:

• Segment by engagement (e.g., new users vs. power users)
• Personalize content based on interest or product usage

8. Monitor Engagement Metrics

Pay close attention to:

• Open rates
• Click-through rates
• Spam complaints
• Unsubscribe rates

A high complaint rate (>0.1%) or drop in opens can signal deliverability problems.

9. Use a Reputable ESP

Platforms like Mailchimp, HubSpot, ConvertKit, and Klaviyo invest heavily in deliverability and ISP relationships. Avoid low-cost platforms with poor sender reputations.

10. Run Regular Deliverability Tests

Tools like Mail-Tester, GlockApps, or InboxMonster can simulate a campaign send and show you:

• Whether you're hitting spam folders
• Which providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) are flagging you
• What technical issues need fixing

Bonus: What Hurts Deliverability (and How to Avoid It)

Final Thought: Email Is a Privilege, Not a Right

Every email you send either builds trust or burns reputation. The best newsletters are not only helpful and relevant—they’re also technically sound behind the scenes.

Whether you're nurturing customers, engaging investors, or announcing product updates, email needs to be part of your strategic playbook—not just a checkbox.

At Sea Change Advisors, we help companies audit, clean, and optimize email performance as part of their broader growth and fundraising strategies. If your emails aren’t getting through, we can help you fix it—fast.

Struggling with low open rates or inbox placement issues?
We’ll run a quick deliverability audit and show you what’s holding your campaigns back.
📩 Contact Sea Change Advisors