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.
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.
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.
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.
Remove:
Use list hygiene tools like NeverBounce, ZeroBounce, or Kickbox to validate emails before sending.
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
Words like “free,” “guarantee,” “earn $$$,” or excessive exclamation points can trigger spam filters.
Best practices:
It may seem counterintuitive, but an easy opt-out lowers the chance of being marked as spam—which hurts sender reputation far more.
Mass blasting the same message to everyone is a fast way to hit spam folders.
Instead:
Pay close attention to:
A high complaint rate (>0.1%) or drop in opens can signal deliverability problems.
Platforms like Mailchimp, HubSpot, ConvertKit, and Klaviyo invest heavily in deliverability and ISP relationships. Avoid low-cost platforms with poor sender reputations.
Tools like Mail-Tester, GlockApps, or InboxMonster can simulate a campaign send and show you:
| Mistake | Impact |
|---|---|
| Sending to purchased email lists | High spam complaints and blocks |
| Repeatedly emailing inactive users | Low engagement → poor sender score |
| No DMARC or DKIM records | Emails flagged as unauthenticated |
| Sending large image-only emails | Caught by spam filters |
| Missing physical address and privacy policy | Non-compliant with CAN-SPAM |
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