Best Ways to Improve Your Email Deliverability Rate in 2026

Last Updated on April 15, 2026 by Ewen Finser

Emails keep bouncing back or winding up in the spam folder? That’s no way to engage with your subscribers!

The good news is that email delivery can improve when you focus on the right fixes.

Here are some best practices to improve your email deliverability rate and keep your subscribers interested and engaged.

What Affects Email Deliverability? Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Before you can improve deliverability, you need to know what might be going wrong.

Here are some of the most likely reasons your emails might not be getting through:

• Low engagement rates: Email providers like Gmail and Yahoo track engagement metrics like opens, clicks, and replies. If people aren’t interacting with your emails, future emails could get flagged.
• Spam triggers: Using words like “FREE” in all caps, going overboard on images, or writing clickbait subject lines can set off spam alarms.
• Bad sender reputation: Your IP and domain build a reputation over time, and if it drops too low, your emails aren’t going to get delivered.
• High bounce rates: Old, invalid, or fake email addresses hurt your credibility and damage deliverability.
• Unverified email list: Not using double opt-in or list validation causes its own set of issues that lowers deliverability.
• Missing authentication: Protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help protect your emails. Without them, your emails could register as a risk to the recipient’s provider.

Best Practices to Improve Email Deliverability Rate

So… what can you do about it? Here are a few proactive things that you can start doing right now to make sure your emails get where they need to in a timely manner.

Authenticate Your Emails Properly (SPF, DKIM, DMARC

Authenticating your emails with SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) helps show email providers like Gmail and Outlook that your emails are legitimate, not spam or scams.

This step helps protect your brand from phishing attacks and builds trust with email services, making it more likely for your messages to make it to the inbox instead of the spam folder. 

Most email platforms offer step-by-step guides that make setup fairly simple. For extra credibility, you can also add BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification), which lets you put your brand logo next to your emails in some inboxes.

Maintain a Healthy Email List

When was the last time you reviewed your email list? Keeping it clean is one of the best ways to boost deliverability and increase engagement. 

Go through your list regularly to remove inactive subscribers (like anyone who hasn’t opened an email in 6+ months) to avoid sending to people who aren’t interested anymore. 

You can also use email verification tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce to catch invalid or fake email addresses before they mess up your credibility as a sender. 

Last but not least, always use double opt-in whenever possible. It helps confirm that every subscriber is real, interested, and willing to engage to keep your email list healthy and spam-free.

Optimize Your Email Content

Next, take a closer look at the emails themselves. Start by removing any classic spam trigger words like “Act Now!” or “Winner,” which can raise red flags with inbox providers and are just bad practice overall. 

Make sure your email design finds the sweet spot between text and image with around 60% text and 40% images to keep things readable and spam-safe. Subject lines should be short, clear, and under 50 characters to grab attention but not create a chore to read. 

And don’t forget personalization! Using the subscriber’s name, location, or past behavior can make your emails feel more relevant and personalized while boosting your chances of getting opened.

Improve Engagement with Segmentation & Personalization

On the subject of optimizing email content, make it more personal. Segment your email list based on behavior, purchase history, or demographics so you can send people only what will matter to them.

You can also try dynamic content that changes based on the reader, like showing product recommendations based on past purchases. 

Don’t forget the timing of your emails either. Experiment with different send times and track what gets the best results and most interaction. The more tailored and personalized your emails are, the more likely they are to be opened and clicked.

Keep a Regular Sending Schedule

Next, focus on keeping a consistent sending schedule. This one is tricky, because every audience is different, and it’s easy to over or underdo it, which are equally as harmful to your deliverability rate.

You can test different send frequencies to see what your audience respond to best. Try starting with one email a week, then increase or decrease the frequency to find that sweet spot that makes your audience most responsive.

For larger campaigns, sending emails in smaller batches can help avoid the issues that arise from bulk sending.

Warm Up Your IP & Domain

Warming up your email domain helps inbox providers see that you’re a trustworthy sender. 

Start off by sending small batches of emails (maybe 100-500 a day) and slowly increase your volume over the course of a few weeks.

Positive engagement helps build your reputation, so focus your efforts on your most engaged subscribers first. This gradual approach signals to ISPs that you’re legit and not a spammer.

Improve Sender Reputation & Avoid Blacklists

You need a strong sender reputation to help your emails get to where they’re going and to avoid being blacklisted.

Keep up with your rep by monitoring your sender scores on sites like Google Postmaster and SenderScore.org. It also helps to check blacklists like Spamhaus and Barracuda so you know if your domain or IP has been flagged.

To improve your reputation, encourage replies and other engagement. Positive signals like these can help build trust with inbox providers over time.

Use a Custom Sending Domain

The sending domain, which appears in the “from” line in your subscribers’ inboxes, is another key factor in email deliverability.

Using a custom sending domain that is separate from your main business domain can give you more control and credibility. Sharing an IP can make things muddy and introduce extra issues that may affect deliverability.

Advanced Tactics for Maximum Deliverability

Tried all of this and still want to boost your email deliverability even further? Here are a few more advanced methods that can help you maximum deliverability.

• Use AI & Machine Learning: These tools can help you predict the best send times, personalize content, and optimize campaigns for better engagement.
• Set Up Feedback Loops (FBL): Get notified when people mark your emails as spam (major providers like Gmail and Yahoo support this).
• Make Your Emails Interactive: Add polls, quizzes, and surveys. More clicks = better deliverability.
• A/B Test Everything: Try different subject lines, formats, and CTAs and let the data tell you what works.

How to Monitor & Troubleshoot Deliverability Issues

How do you know your efforts are working? Here are some easy ways to monitor your deliverability issues and spot problems before they get worse:

• Use tools like MailGenius, InboxAlly, and GlockApps to check deliverability health from your sender
• Track your bounce rates and spam complaints
• Watch Google Postmaster and Microsoft SNDS for problem signals
• Clean your sending list by re-engaging or removing any inactive subscribers

Key Takeaways

It takes some work to make sure your email campaigns stay out of the spam folder! Here are the main things you need to remember to do to improve the deliverability of your emails.

• Authenticate your emails properly 
• Keep your lists clean, updated, and engaged
• Personalize your content with segmentation and unique offerings
• Monitor your reputation and check blacklist sites
• Test and tweak every part of your email strategy to keep improving

Follow these best practices, and you’ll have a better chance of reaching the inbox and keeping your subscribers engaged.