Strategies for improving B2B sales email deliverability and managing sales rep email sending
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 6 May 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
8 min read
Improving B2B sales email deliverability and effectively managing sales rep email sending is a complex challenge, especially when sales teams operate with individual sending habits rather than a centralized system. I've seen many organizations struggle with this, where emails sent directly from individual accounts often lead to bounces and deliverability issues. This problem is compounded by the sheer number of mail streams and the lack of unified control.
The key to success lies in understanding the technical underpinnings of email deliverability, implementing robust email authentication, maintaining a healthy sender reputation, and establishing clear guidelines for sales teams. Without these foundations, your sales emails, no matter how well-crafted, risk landing in the spam folder or not being delivered at all. This means lost opportunities and wasted effort for your sales reps.
I'll share strategies to navigate these challenges, from technical configurations to managing individual sales rep sending habits. The goal is to ensure your B2B sales messages consistently reach their intended inboxes, fostering better engagement and ultimately, driving more conversions.
Technical foundations
One of the most critical aspects of email deliverability is ensuring your domain is properly authenticated. This involves setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. These protocols tell receiving mail servers that your emails are legitimate and not spoofed, which is a major factor in avoiding spam filters. Many B2B organizations overlook this, especially for emails sent directly from individual sales rep accounts.
I often see issues arise when sales reps use personal Outlook or Gmail accounts for high-volume outreach, which lack the necessary authentication for your company's domain. Implementing DMARC with a policy of p=reject can prevent unauthorized use of your domain and protect your brand, but it requires careful setup. You can learn more about email authentication protocols for a clearer understanding.
I suggest using a DMARC record generator to properly configure your domain. For those relying heavily on Salesforce, integrating an email sending platform that handles authentication automatically is beneficial. This ensures that even when reps send emails, they are routed through authenticated channels, significantly boosting deliverability.
Sender reputation and blocklists
Sender reputation is paramount for B2B email deliverability. Every email you send, whether from a marketing automation platform or an individual sales rep, contributes to your domain's reputation. A poor reputation can lead to emails being blocklisted (or blacklisted) and routed to spam folders. This is particularly challenging with a distributed sales team, as one rep's poor sending habits can negatively impact everyone.
I always advise closely monitoring your domain and IP reputation. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools provide insights into your reputation with Gmail. To prevent a negative impact, it's essential to educate sales reps on best practices. For instance, sending highly personalized and relevant emails at an appropriate frequency can improve engagement rates, which positively impacts reputation. You can read more about how to improve your domain reputation.
Additionally, a clean email list is non-negotiable for maintaining a good sender reputation. This means regularly validating email addresses and removing inactive or invalid contacts. A high bounce rate, especially from invalid addresses, signals to ISPs that you are sending to unengaged recipients, which can quickly lead to your domain being placed on a blacklist or blocklist. You can check if your domain is on a blocklist and read about B2B email marketing best practices.
Positive reputation actions
To build and maintain a strong sender reputation, focus on these proactive measures:
Consistent sending: Maintain a regular sending volume, avoiding large, sporadic blasts. Warm up new domains or IPs gradually to build trust.
High engagement: Encourage opens and clicks through compelling content, clear calls to action, and effective subject lines. This shows ISPs your mail is valued.
Low complaints: Minimize spam complaints by ensuring your audience genuinely wants to receive your emails. Make unsubscribe options clear.
Managing sales rep sending
Managing individual sales rep sending habits is where many B2B organizations encounter significant challenges. While centralized marketing email is relatively easy to control, sales reps often send emails directly from their personal or company-assigned inboxes. This can lead to inconsistent messaging, poor list hygiene, and a lack of proper authentication, all of which harm deliverability.
To address this, I recommend a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, educate your sales team on the importance of email deliverability and how their actions directly impact it. Secondly, implement strict guidelines for list acquisition and data cleanliness. Sales reps must understand the risks associated with purchased or unverified lists, which are often riddled with spam traps and invalid addresses.
Consider implementing sales engagement platforms or CRM integrations that allow for templated, personalized outreach while still routing emails through your authenticated domains. This gives you more control and visibility over sales emails. It's about finding a balance between empowering sales reps and maintaining the integrity of your sending infrastructure.
Unmanaged sales sending
Direct outlook/gmail sending: Sales reps send emails individually, potentially bypassing official channels and authentication. This can negatively impact domain reputation.
Lack of authentication: Emails sent directly from personal inboxes might lack proper SPF, DKIM, or DMARC alignment, increasing spam filter risk.
Inconsistent messaging: Without templates or guidelines, content quality and consistency can vary wildly, affecting engagement.
Poor list hygiene: Sales reps may acquire lists that include invalid or unengaged contacts, leading to high bounce rates and spam complaints.
Managed sales sending
Sales engagement platforms: Utilize tools that integrate with CRMs to streamline outreach while maintaining control over email flow.
Centralized sending: Route sales emails through an ESP or dedicated sales platform that handles proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
Templated outreach: Provide approved email templates that sales reps can personalize, ensuring brand consistency and deliverability best practices. This can also help with email deliverability for sales.
Mandatory list validation: Enforce the use of email validation services before any outreach to minimize bounces and protect sender reputation.
Content strategy for sales emails
Effective content strategy goes hand-in-hand with technical deliverability. Even with perfect authentication and a pristine reputation, irrelevant or poorly crafted content can trigger spam filters or lead to low engagement. In B2B sales, personalization is key, but it needs to be done strategically.
I advise sales teams to focus on providing value in every email. Generic, batch and blast emails are a recipe for low open rates and spam complaints. Instead, encourage sales reps to research their prospects and tailor their messages to specific pain points or needs. This significantly increases the likelihood of engagement and positive responses, which in turn reinforces a good sender reputation.
Additionally, pay attention to email frequency and timing. Over-sending can quickly lead to recipient fatigue and unsubscribes. Establishing clear guidelines for how often sales reps should contact prospects, and even providing insights into optimal sending times, can make a big difference. Remember, the goal is to build relationships, not just send emails.
Implementing the right tools and processes can streamline B2B email deliverability efforts and empower your sales team. This involves more than just setting up an ESP for marketing emails. It extends to how individual sales reps conduct their outreach.
For individual sales rep sending, integrating your CRM with sales engagement platforms can provide the necessary oversight and control. These platforms can enforce email templates, track engagement metrics, and ensure emails are sent within established deliverability parameters. This helps in avoiding account shutdowns that can arise from aggressive or non-compliant sending.
Beyond platforms, a robust blocklist monitoring strategy is crucial. Regularly checking if your domain or IPs are on any major blocklists allows you to react quickly to potential issues. Furthermore, establishing an internal communication channel for deliverability concerns ensures that any problems are reported and addressed promptly. This proactive approach helps maintain consistent inbox placement and protects your overall email program.
Key metrics for sales email deliverability
Tracking the right metrics can help you diagnose and improve your deliverability for sales emails.
Bounce rate: A high bounce rate indicates a poor list and can harm your sender reputation. Aim for less than 2%.
Spam complaint rate: Keep this below 0.1% to avoid major issues. This is a critical signal to ISPs.
Open rate: While not a direct deliverability metric, low open rates can indicate inbox placement issues or irrelevant content.
Click-through rate: Shows engagement with your email content, another positive signal for ISPs.
Final thoughts
Navigating the complexities of B2B email deliverability and managing decentralized sales rep sending requires a comprehensive approach. From strengthening your technical infrastructure with proper authentication to educating your sales team on best practices and utilizing appropriate tools, every step contributes to better inbox placement.
By focusing on sender reputation, maintaining clean email lists, and personalizing your outreach, you can significantly improve your B2B sales email deliverability. This not only ensures your messages reach their intended recipients but also protects your domain from being blocklisted (or blacklisted), ultimately supporting your sales efforts and contributing to overall business growth.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Implement email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for all sending domains, including those used by individual sales reps.
Educate sales teams on the importance of email deliverability and the impact of their sending habits.
Utilize sales engagement platforms to centralize and standardize sales outreach, including templated emails.
Regularly validate email lists used by sales reps to remove invalid or unengaged contacts.
Monitor domain and IP reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and blocklist checkers.
Common pitfalls
Sales reps buying email lists, which often contain spam traps and invalid addresses.
Lack of proper email authentication for individual sales rep email accounts.
Inconsistent messaging or overly aggressive sending from sales teams leading to spam complaints.
Failure to monitor sender reputation, allowing problems to escalate undetected.
Not providing clear unsubscribe options in sales outreach, increasing spam complaint rates.
Expert tips
Implement subdomains for different types of outreach, such as `outreach.yourdomain.com` for sales. This can help isolate any negative reputation impacts to a specific subdomain rather than your primary domain. You can read more about
strategies for repairing email domain reputation
to avoid this.
Develop a warm-up plan for new sales rep email addresses or when increasing sending volume, gradually building up their sending reputation. Learn about
warming up established email addresses
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says implementing software like Outreach or Salesloft can help streamline sales outreach and provide better control over messaging.
2019-11-01 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says integrating sales platforms with CRM systems can provide visibility and help align email marketing campaigns with sales efforts.
