How to avoid deliverability issues when sending press releases from corporate domain?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 5 May 2025
Updated 15 Aug 2025
7 min read
Sending large volumes of press releases from your corporate domain can feel like walking a tightrope. On one hand, you want to leverage your established brand identity. On the other, the sheer volume of emails, especially to a broad media list, raises valid concerns about email deliverability. The primary worry is that these bulk sends could inadvertently harm your primary domain's sender reputation, leading to crucial business and sales emails landing in spam folders or being blocked entirely.
The good news is that with the right strategy and technical safeguards, you can mitigate these risks. It's about understanding how mailbox providers assess incoming mail and implementing best practices to prove your legitimacy. This proactive approach ensures your press releases reach their intended recipients without jeopardizing your daily email communications.
Protecting your primary domain's reputation
Your corporate domain's reputation is a critical asset. It's built over time through consistent, desired email interactions. When you send emails, mailbox providers (like Google or Microsoft) analyze various signals, including volume, bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics, to determine if your mail is trustworthy. Sending a sudden, large volume of emails, even legitimate press releases, can trigger automated filters if not handled correctly.
The risk stems from how these systems perceive abnormal sending patterns. If your corporate domain typically sends a few hundred emails a day and suddenly sends thousands, it can look suspicious. This can lead to your emails being flagged, delayed, or even placed on a blocklist (or blacklist), impacting both your press releases and your regular business communications.
Maintaining a strong email and domain reputation is crucial. A tarnished reputation can take significant time and effort to rebuild, affecting everything from sales outreach to customer service. The goal is to separate your high-volume press release sends from your core corporate communications to protect the latter from potential fallout.
The role of email authentication
Email authentication is the bedrock of good deliverability, especially when sending large volumes. Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) work together to verify that your emails are legitimate and haven't been spoofed.
An SPF record specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain. DKIM adds a digital signature to your outgoing emails, allowing the recipient's server to verify that the email hasn't been tampered with in transit. DMARC builds upon SPF and DKIM, providing instructions to receiving mail servers on how to handle emails that fail authentication, such as quarantining or rejecting them. For a simple overview, see a simple guide to DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
Without proper authentication, your press releases are far more likely to be flagged as spam, regardless of their content or the recipient list. Many major mailbox providers now mandate these records for bulk senders. For example, Google's sender guidelines explicitly require DMARC for senders of 5,000 or more messages per day.
Implementing a DMARC policy with a DMARC monitoring solution allows you to gain visibility into how your emails are being authenticated and delivered. This helps you identify and fix any issues quickly, protecting your sending reputation.
Strategic sending: Subdomains and dedicated services
One of the most effective strategies to protect your primary corporate domain is to use a dedicated subdomain for your press releases. For example, instead of sending from yourcompany.com, you could use pr.yourcompany.com or news.yourcompany.com. This isolates the reputation of your bulk sends from your main domain, so if any deliverability issues arise, they affect only the subdomain.
Furthermore, using a professional Email Service Provider (ESP) for your press release distribution is highly recommended. These services are built to handle high volumes, manage bounces, process unsubscribes, and provide detailed analytics. They also come with robust authentication features and often dedicated IPs, which are essential for maintaining a good sender reputation.
Direct sending from corporate domain
Risk to core domain: High risk of damaging the sender reputation of your primary domain, affecting all business emails.
Volume limits: Standard email services like Gmail or Outlook have strict daily sending limits not designed for bulk.
Tracking & reporting: Limited visibility into bounces, spam complaints, and engagement metrics.
Authentication management: Manual setup and maintenance of SPF, DKIM, DMARC records can be complex.
Sending via a subdomain with an ESP
Core domain protection: Isolates the reputation of bulk sends, protecting your primary corporate domain.
Scalability: ESPs are designed for high-volume sending, managing throughput and deliverability optimization.
Advanced analytics: Comprehensive insights into delivery rates, open rates, clicks, bounces, and spam complaints.
Simplified authentication: ESPs often guide or automate the setup of DNS records like SPF and DKIM.
Content and list hygiene practices
Beyond technical configurations, the content of your press releases and the quality of your recipient list significantly influence deliverability. Ensure your emails are well-formatted, avoid excessive images or unusual coding (like JavaScript or Flash), and keep the messaging clear and concise. Personalization, even simple things like addressing recipients by name, can improve engagement.
List hygiene is paramount. Regularly review and clean your media lists, removing invalid or unresponsive email addresses. High bounce rates signal to mailbox providers that your list is poorly maintained, which negatively impacts your reputation and can lead to you being added to a blocklist (or blacklist). Consider a regular review of your media lists.
Finally, ensure your press releases include a clear and easy unsubscribe mechanism. Even for solicited communications like press releases, recipients should have the option to opt out. This reduces the likelihood of them marking your email as spam, which is one of the most damaging actions to your sender reputation.
Continuous monitoring and adaptation
Even with best practices in place, continuous monitoring is vital. Keep a close eye on your bounce rates and, most importantly, spam complaint rates. A sudden spike in complaints is a clear red flag that needs immediate investigation. Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools and your ESP's analytics to track your sending performance. Consider blocklist monitoring to ensure your domains or IPs haven't been listed.
Actionable insights from monitoring
If you notice a significant number of emails going to spam or bounce rates increasing, this indicates a deliverability issue. Investigate the cause immediately. It could be due to a poor list segment, content issues, or even a sudden increase in volume without proper warm-up. Addressing these issues promptly is key to preventing long-term damage to your sender reputation, whether it's on your main domain or a dedicated subdomain.
For ongoing maintenance, regular email testing can help identify potential deliverability issues before they impact a large send. This includes checking how your emails render across different clients and how they are perceived by spam filters.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Implement robust email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for all sending domains.
Use a dedicated subdomain for high-volume press release outreach to shield your primary domain.
Maintain a clean and highly targeted media contact list to minimize bounces and complaints.
Warm up new sending domains and IP addresses gradually to build a positive sender reputation.
Provide a clear and accessible unsubscribe mechanism in every press release email.
Common pitfalls
Sending large volumes of emails directly from your primary corporate domain can damage its reputation.
Neglecting email authentication or misconfiguring DNS records will lead to poor deliverability.
Failing to track critical deliverability metrics like bounce rates and spam reports.
Including attachments such as Word documents or large PDFs, which can trigger spam filters.
Sending to untargeted or outdated contact lists, resulting in high negative engagement.
Expert tips
Leverage a professional Email Service Provider (ESP) specifically designed for bulk email sending.
Ensure your chosen ESP supports custom return-path and DKIM signing domains for branding.
Optimize email content to be inbox-friendly, avoiding overly complex designs or embedded media.
Regularly audit and clean your email lists to remove invalid or unengaged addresses.
Focus on content relevance and personalization to encourage positive recipient engagement.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says news desks typically do not react badly to appropriately targeted press releases, which simplifies deliverability.
July 29, 2020 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says sending via a Gmail API plugin can be problematic because Google limits outbound emails per user per day and such plugins are not equipped to manage email volume or track bounces effectively.
July 29, 2020 - Email Geeks
Ensuring your press releases land
Sending press releases effectively from a corporate domain, especially at scale, requires a layered approach. By implementing strong email authentication, strategically utilizing subdomains, opting for professional ESPs, prioritizing content quality and list hygiene, and diligently monitoring your performance, you can ensure your important announcements reach their target audience without compromising your core email communications. This strategic foresight protects your brand's reputation and ensures consistent deliverability across all your email initiatives.
Google or 
Microsoft) analyze various signals, including volume, bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics, to determine if your mail is trustworthy. Sending a sudden, large volume of emails, even legitimate press releases, can trigger automated filters if not handled correctly.
Gmail or 
Outlook have strict daily sending limits not designed for bulk.
