Summary
Diagnosing and fixing deliverability issues in Salesforce Marketing Cloud requires a holistic approach, encompassing technical configurations, content optimization, and list management. Experts and documentation emphasize the importance of identifying the root causes of issues before implementing solutions like warming up a new subdomain. Key areas to address include ensuring proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining impeccable list hygiene (removing unengaged or invalid addresses), monitoring sender reputation metrics (bounce rates, spam complaints) through SFMC and Google Postmaster Tools, and segmenting audiences for relevant content. Email design should be optimized to avoid spam triggers, ensuring proper rendering and mobile-friendliness. Utilizing SAP (Sender Authentication Package) enhances brand recognition and trust with ISPs. Continuously auditing email programs, focusing on subscriber engagement, and prioritizing users who opt-in further contribute to improved deliverability.
Key findings
- Authentication is Critical: Proper email authentication via SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial for confirming the legitimacy of your emails to ISPs.
- Data Hygiene is Paramount: Maintaining a clean email list by removing inactive, unengaged, or invalid addresses is fundamental to preventing high bounce rates and spam complaints.
- Engagement Drives Deliverability: Sending relevant, valuable content to engaged subscribers improves sender reputation and overall deliverability rates.
- Monitor Key Metrics Regularly: Consistently tracking bounce rates, spam complaints, unsubscribe rates, and sender reputation metrics enables the early detection and resolution of deliverability problems.
- Content Matters: Optimizing email content to avoid spam triggers, using a balanced text-to-image ratio, and ensuring mobile-friendliness enhance the user experience and reduce the risk of emails landing in spam folders.
- Diagnose Before Applying Band-Aid Fixes: Understand what's CAUSING issues before you start to implement warming schedules. Jumping into warming might be a waste of time.
Key considerations
- Review and Update Authentication Records: Regularly review and update SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to accurately reflect your sending infrastructure.
- Implement a Sunset Policy: Create a process for removing inactive subscribers who haven't interacted with your emails after a certain period.
- Leverage Segmentation: Segment your subscriber list based on engagement levels and other criteria to send more targeted and relevant content.
- Use Pre-Send Checks: Use Email on Acid or other similar tools to find potential rendering/deliverability issues before sending.
- Set up Feedback Loops: Monitor feedback loops to promptly address spam complaints and improve your sending practices.
- Isolate the Problem: If problems persist, is the issue only occuring on one email provider or is there a common theme that can be addressed quickly?
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
Diagnosing and fixing deliverability issues in Salesforce Marketing Cloud requires a multifaceted approach. Several experts emphasize the importance of identifying the root causes before making changes, such as warming up a new domain. Key areas to investigate include data hygiene (removing inactive or invalid addresses), sending practices (volume, frequency, engagement), recipient behavior (spam complaints, unsubscribes), and email content (spam triggers, broken links, rendering issues). Additionally, subscriber list segmentation, pre-send checks, email authentication (SPF, DKIM), and monitoring bounce rates/feedback loops are crucial for maintaining a positive sender reputation and improving deliverability. Regularly auditing your email program and focusing on subscriber engagement with relevant content are also highlighted as best practices.
Key opinions
- Data Hygiene: Maintaining a clean and up-to-date subscriber list by removing inactive or invalid addresses is essential for preventing bounces and spam complaints.
- Engagement Focus: Sending relevant and valuable content that encourages opens, clicks, and conversions is crucial for improving sender reputation and deliverability.
- Root Cause Analysis: Identifying and addressing the underlying causes of deliverability issues is necessary before implementing solutions like warming up a new domain.
- Content Optimization: Optimizing email content by avoiding spam triggers, ensuring proper formatting, and providing a positive user experience helps improve deliverability.
- Pre-Send Checks: Performing pre-send checks to identify and resolve any technical issues helps to minimise any negative deliverability impacts.
- IP Warming: Warming up new dedicated IPs by sending to engaged subscribers is a great way to establish a trusted reputation and avoid spam folders.
Key considerations
- List Segmentation: Consider segmenting your subscriber list based on engagement levels to send more targeted and relevant content.
- Content Quality: Ensure email content is free from spam triggers, and test rendering across various email clients and devices.
- Reputation Monitoring: Monitor sender reputation metrics such as bounce rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribe rates, and take action to address any issues promptly.
- Authentication Setup: Implement proper email authentication protocols such as SPF and DKIM to verify the legitimacy of your emails.
- Regular Audits: Conduct regular audits of your email program to identify potential issues and areas for improvement in your deliverability practices.
- User Experience: Ensuring that your emails are well-formatted and responsive for mobile devices is key for a positive user experience and higher engagement.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Return Path shares the importance of focusing on subscriber engagement. Sending relevant and valuable content that encourages opens, clicks, and conversions can improve your sender reputation and deliverability over time.
10 Sep 2024 - Return Path
Marketer view
Email marketer from Litmus shares insights on deliverability troubleshooting by emphasizing the importance of regularly auditing your email program. This involves reviewing your data collection practices, list segmentation strategies, and engagement metrics to identify areas for improvement and potential deliverability risks.
10 Jan 2025 - Litmus
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
Diagnosing and fixing deliverability issues involves several key strategies. Experts emphasize good list hygiene, focusing on sending emails only to engaged users who have opted in. This includes quickly removing unengaged users, implementing slow email delivery to prioritize engaged recipients, and automating the removal of bad domains. Additionally, proper SMTP authentication, especially SPF configuration, is crucial for verifying authorized sending IP addresses and preventing emails from being marked as spam. Regularly reviewing and updating SPF records and reporting on deliverability metrics by domain are also recommended.
Key opinions
- List Hygiene: Sending email only to engaged users who have requested it is crucial for deliverability.
- SMTP Authentication: Proper configuration and regular review of SPF records are essential for authenticating your sending domain.
- Engagement Prioritization: Prioritizing engaged users through slow email delivery and creating high-engagement content improves deliverability.
- Automated Removal: Automatically removing bad domains helps maintain a clean sending reputation.
Key considerations
- Opt-in Practices: Ensure your email practices include a opt-in process.
- SPF Record Management: Regularly review and update your SPF record to reflect any changes in your sending infrastructure.
- Engagement Metrics: Implement strategies to track and report on deliverability metrics by domain to identify potential issues.
- Prioritization: Focus on only emailing users who have high engagement.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, responds that one of the biggest factors in getting email to the inbox is sending only to people who want it. Sending email to people who have not requested it is likely to get you marked as spam. So good list hygiene is vital.
10 Mar 2025 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource explains the importance of SMTP authentication, particularly SPF (Sender Policy Framework). They emphasize that proper SPF configuration is crucial for telling receiving mail servers which IP addresses are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain, thus reducing the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam. They also advise regularly reviewing and updating your SPF record to reflect any changes in your sending infrastructure.
1 Oct 2021 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Diagnosing and fixing deliverability issues in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, as per official documentation, involves several key strategies. It's essential to authenticate your emails using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, maintain a clean subscriber list by removing inactive or invalid addresses, and regularly monitor your sender reputation metrics (bounce rates, complaint rates, unsubscribe rates) within Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Utilizing the Sender Authentication Package (SAP) helps improve deliverability by branding your account with dedicated IP addresses and branded domains, building trust with ISPs. Additionally, monitoring your domain's reputation with Gmail users through Google Postmaster Tools provides insights into spam rates, IP reputation, and authentication status.
Key findings
- Email Authentication: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial for verifying email legitimacy and reducing spam classifications.
- List Hygiene: Regularly removing inactive/invalid addresses improves sender reputation.
- Sender Reputation Monitoring: Tracking bounce rates, complaint rates, and unsubscribe rates in SFMC helps identify and address deliverability issues.
- Branded Sending: Using SAP with dedicated IPs and branded domains builds trust with ISPs.
- Gmail Reputation Monitoring: Google Postmaster Tools provides insights into your reputation with Gmail users.
Key considerations
- SAP Implementation: Consider using Sender Authentication Package (SAP) for branding and dedicated IP addresses.
- Regular Metric Checks: Set up a schedule to monitor sending reputation metrics and address issues promptly.
- Tool Utilization: Leverage Google Postmaster Tools to gain visibility into your Gmail reputation.
- Authentication Updates: Keep SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records updated to reflect any changes in your sending infrastructure.
- Segmentation Practices: Ensure segmentation practices are followed, this relates to the relevance of your sending and therefore deliverability.
Technical article
Documentation from Salesforce Help explains that ensuring good email deliverability involves several best practices. This includes authenticating your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC; managing your subscriber list hygiene to remove inactive or invalid addresses; monitoring your sender reputation using tools like Sender Score and Google Postmaster Tools; and segmenting your audience to send relevant content to engaged subscribers.
15 Apr 2023 - Salesforce Help
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost explains implementing proper email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Setting up these protocols correctly helps verify that your emails are legitimate and reduces the chances of them being marked as spam by email providers.
10 Dec 2024 - SparkPost
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