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Erica Greene
Erica Greene
Community Manager
September 22, 2026

How do I troubleshoot email deliverability issues?

  • September 22, 2026
  • 0 replies
  • 15 views

Even with strong practices in place, you may occasionally see drops in open rates, messages landing in spam, or inconsistent results across mailbox providers. This article walks you through a structured, step-by-step approach to diagnosing and resolving deliverability problems, starting with the most common causes.

Step 1: Confirm your authentication is in place

Authentication problems are one of the most common causes of deliverability issues, and one of the easiest to confirm. Mailbox providers expect SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to be fully in place before trusting your domain.

  1. Go to Targeted Email → Settings → Deliverability and enter your domain.

  2. Check that all three records show as configured:

    • SPF — All of your sending platforms (Targeted Email, Google Workspace, Office 365, etc.) should be listed.

    • DKIM — Verify your DNS record matches the key shown in your Targeted Email settings.

    • DMARC — Even a monitoring-level p=none record builds trust and catches alignment problems.

  3. Check alignment — the From domain in your email header should match one of the domains in your SPF or DKIM record. Targeted Email is DKIM-aligned by default.

If you find a gap, fix authentication first before investigating other causes.

Step 2: Analyze your engagement signals

Mailbox providers weight engagement heavily when deciding inbox vs. spam. Declining engagement is often the earliest sign that something is wrong and the most actionable.

Positive signals (build reputation):

  • Opens, clicks, replies, and forwards

  • Recipients moving your mail out of spam

  • Recipients adding your address to their contacts

Negative signals (damage reputation):

  • Deletions without reading

  • Spam complaints (even a small fraction is damaging)

  • Bounces

  • Chronic inactivity

If your open or click rates are declining:

  • Suppress unengaged contacts (no opens or clicks in the last 3–12 months).

  • Run a re-engagement campaign for borderline contacts.

  • Focus future sends on your most active supporters while reputation recovers.

Step 3: Review your list quality

Poor list practices are one of the fastest ways to damage deliverability, and the effects often show up weeks after the original issue.

Ask yourself:

  • Have you recently added contacts from an external source (trades, rentals, purchased lists)? These are very high risk and should not be mailed.

  • Are typo domains sneaking into your list? (e.g., gmal.com, hotmial.com, yaho.com)

  • Are role accounts in your list? (e.g., info@, admin@, webmaster@) — these rarely belong to individuals and frequently generate complaints.

  • Are you mailing old, inactive contacts who haven't engaged in over a year?

Run a list hygiene check and remove or suppress problematic addresses. Consider enabling Confirmed Opt-In for all future sign-ups.

Step 4: Examine your sending patterns

Mailbox providers dislike surprises. Sudden changes in volume, frequency, or infrastructure trigger spam filters, even if your content and list are clean.

Ask yourself:

  • Did you recently increase volume dramatically (e.g., doubled or tripled your send size)?

  • Did you restart sending after a long pause?

  • Did you switch to a new domain or subdomain?

  • Are you sending in irregular bursts rather than a consistent cadence?

If any of these apply, scale back and rebuild gradually with your most engaged contacts.

Step 5: Evaluate your content

Content fingerprinting can push mail into spam if your emails contain patterns commonly associated with spam. Review your most recent campaigns:

  • Subject lines — Are you using ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation, or misleading claims?

  • HTML — Do you have broken links, missing images, or malformed code? Test across email clients.

  • Links — Are any links on third-party block lists? Are you using URL shorteners that obscure destinations?

  • Content patterns — Are you sending the same body text or subject line repeatedly? Refresh and vary your content.

  • Image-to-text ratio — Emails with very little text and mostly images are a common spam signal.

Step 6: Contact Bonterra Support

If you've worked through steps 1–5 and are still seeing issues, contact Bonterra Support. To speed up diagnosis, have the following ready:

  • Which campaigns are affected (and when the issue started)

  • Any recent changes to your domain, sending platform, or list

  • Your current authentication status (from Targeted Email → Settings → Deliverability)

  • Screenshots of your campaign engagement reports showing the drop

What else do you need help with?

Why did my open rates suddenly drop in EveryAction? | Why is my EveryAction email landing in spam? | How do I diagnose email deliverability problems in Targeted Email? | How do I check my authentication status in Targeted Email? | Why did my deliverability drop after increasing send volume? | How do I contact support about a deliverability issue in EveryAction? | How do I fix declining email engagement in Targeted Email?

 

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