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Deliverability Guide
Learn how to get: 109% improvement in reply rate with the same set of contacts with 2 simple changes
(plus a ton of other how-to and FAQ's)
First, let's tease it out, we only did 2 things:
  • cleaned the list with a better tool
  • changed the P.S. to employ a powerful form of reverse psychology and cognitive dissonance.
The Result!
Follow along for just how you can do it too!
Table of contents
  • Mastering Inbox Placement: A Step-by-Step Guide
Mastering Inbox Placement: A Step-by-Step Guide
Ensuring your emails reach their intended recipients is crucial. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the essential steps to master inbox placement, helping you overcome spam filters and improve your email deliverability.
By following these actionable strategies, you'll learn how to authenticate your domain, optimize your content, and implement best practices that will significantly increase your chances of landing in the primary inbox. Let's dive in and unlock the secrets to email marketing success!

by Jason Pulliam

Meet Jason Pulliam
  • Jason Pulliam is F-CMO for B2B companies and has a focus on RevOps.
  • Leveraging ENTREPRENEURIAL OPERATING SYSTEM® to drive measurable results.
  • He founded and runs a marketing agency for the last 10 years that leverages Facebook, LinkedIn Ads, heavy automations and cold email outreach to achieve client goals.
  • Passionate about the importance of email deliverability in driving successful marketing campaigns.
  • Developed InboxAssure to automate deliverability testing and optimization, ensuring emails reach their intended recipients.
Before you try to fix your deliverability make sure your emails are valid!
BOUNCES HURT
  • Assigns sender reputation scores based on email behavior, with high bounce rates lowering scores and increasing spam flags
  • Evaluates IP primarily, potentially throttling or blocking emails from poor-reputation sources
  • Uses Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) to monitor senders, where persistent bounces can lead to "Poor" reputation status
  • Employs machine learning-based spam filters that identify poor sender practices through bounce rates
  • Prioritizes emails based on user engagement metrics, with bounce rates indicating poor audience targeting
  • Maintains domain reputation scoring where high bounce rates can damage future inbox placement
Multiple Email Validations Cut Bounce Rate
I like Zerobounce as it provides a PDF with an overview of results and for extra credit will give you activity of the Last known activity period - Checks for activity in the last 30, 60, 90, 180, 365, or 365+ days, helpful if you want to get an idea of how 'active' your email list might be.
Optional: Catch-All Validation
For Small Total Addressable Markets
Small TAM Challenge
When dealing with a small Total Addressable Market, every contact counts
Connect To Tools
You can connect your Zero Bounce or other verifier to Scrubby and it will clean your list and then only verify the catch-alls
Quality Over Quantity
Focus on list quality becomes even more critical with limited market size

Scrubby

Scrubby | Complete Email Validation Tool

Scrubby is the only complete email validation tool that goes beyond standard SMTP validation, uniquely incorporating risky and catch-all email checks to provide complete validation, ensuring an impressive 98% deliverability for your entire list.

Email #1 In The Sequence is Do or Die
Your first email is crucial for establishing a sender reputation. Keep it simple and clean.
No HTML
Start with plain text only for your first email to maximize deliverability.
No Images or GIFs
Skip all images, including email signatures, to avoid triggering spam filters.
No Links
Avoid including any hyperlinks in your first contact.
Once you've successfully reached the inbox with your first email, subsequent messages have more flexibility for testing additional elements.
Step 1: Domain Authentication
1
Start by navigating to emailguard.io, a trusted platform for email authentication and security. (Glock Apps, MailReach are others in the marketplace if you want to a/b test)
2
Connect and Verify Domains
Follow the platform's instructions to connect and verify your domains. This step establishes your ownership and legitimacy.
3
Confirm Configuration
Ensure proper setup of DMARC, SPF, and DKIM protocols. These authentication methods are crucial for proving your emails' authenticity to receiving servers.
Step 2: Spam Filter Test

1

Run Initial Header Check
Begin by analyzing your email headers. This crucial step helps identify any red flags that might trigger spam filters.

2

Validate Email Composition
Examine the structure and content of your email. Ensure it adheres to best practices for email composition to avoid triggering spam filters. NO LINKS, NO HTML inside the first email.

3

Fix Technical Issues
Address any technical problems identified in the previous steps. This may include modifying content, or updating server settings.
Step 3: Inbox Placement Test

1

Launch Placement Test
Initiate the inbox placement test using your chosen email testing tool. Send it as close to the real source as possible. Using 'preview' from Instantly for example.

2

Copy Test Code
Insert the provided test code into the body of your email. This unique identifier helps track your email's journey.

3

Use Plain Text Format
For the most accurate results, send your test email in plain text format, avoiding HTML elements that could influence placement.

4

Send to Test Inboxes
Dispatch your email to the selected test inboxes, representing various email providers and user types.
Step 4: Content Optimization
Use Content Spam Checker
Based on the results, do you have a copy problem or inbox problem?
Copy problem: you don't inbox no matter what inbox you send from
Inbox problem: message is successfully delivered except when sent from certain providers or individual inboxes
Modify Problematic Terms
Adjust money-related terms that might trigger spam filters. For example, replace "$1 Million" with "1M" to reduce the risk of being flagged.
Retain necessary proper nouns, but be mindful of how they're used in context. Replace obvious spam-triggering words with more neutral alternatives that convey the same meaning.
Write Better PS and Subject Lines
Subject Lines
Spintax
PS Lines
note: GPT still likes to ignore system instructions, so sometimes tell it to review the instructions.
How To Write Great Copy
Everything I have learned is from Aaron Fletcher of Growthworks and Mario and Luke from CopyCoders.ai

secures.copycoders.ai

Genesis

Plug In Our “Wild Card Copywriting System” So You Can Land MORE Clients, Charge 10X More PER Client, And Consistently Produce The BEST Copy Of Your Life With 100% Certainty… (Faster And Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible!)

Step 5: Validation Test

1

2

3

4

1

Run Second Placement Test
Conduct another inbox placement test with your optimized content.

2

Compare Results
Analyze the differences between your initial and optimized tests.

3

Maintain Optimized Content
Keep track of successful changes for future campaigns.

4

Document Improvements
Record all enhancements and their impact on deliverability.
This iterative process helps refine your email strategy over time, ensuring consistent improvement in inbox placement rates. Remember to regularly revisit and update your optimization techniques as spam filters and email algorithms evolve.
Step 6: Inbox Provider Issues
1
Identify Provider Issues
Determine if your inboxing problems are due to your sending account or your email copy.
2
Limit Sending
If the sending account is the issue, run a test for each inbox.
  • Set the sending limit for that specific account to zero emails per day.
3
Monitor and Reassess
After a few days or weeks, check the inbox using an inbox placement test.
  • If the account is no longer going to spam, adjust its daily sending volume back to normal.
4
Understand Recovery Time
Google and Outlook panels take longer to recover than providers like MailReef or Maildoso.
5
Use EmailGuard's API to run your testing and pause sending at scale.
Using Instantly, Bison or SmartLeads API and Email Guard you can automate the checks and pause sending accounts
Automated Inbox Placement Testing Options
Email Bison with EmailGuard
Uses the integrated EmailGuard system to test inbox placement across all inboxes for a selected campaign. While EmailGuard does not support setting sending to zero (the lowest sending rate is one email per day), Email Bison allows users to leverage their robust APIs to automate sending adjustments based on test results.
Instantly
Allows automatic testing and pausing of sending for accounts that fail to meet an overall inbox placement threshold, including the ability to set sending to zero when necessary.
SmartLeads
Focuses on scheduled testing only, providing a reliable option for those who prioritize planned, periodic inbox placement assessments.
InboxAssure Advanced Features
Outlook-Specific Testing Accuracy
Multi-panel testing system for Outlook placement provides diverse and precise insights, avoiding the uniformity seen in single panel testing systems.
Flexible Pause Thresholds
Set pausing conditions based on overall inbox placement scores or provider-specific thresholds. Perfect for campaigns targeting specific providers like Google-only accounts.
Smart Protection
Avoid unnecessary campaign interruptions by isolating provider-specific performance issues, ensuring continuous delivery to performing inboxes.
Notes:
  • Blacklist checks are typically lagging indicators to not inboxing
  • Increase in bounces for the day is typically a leading indicator of inbox problems
  • 1% reply rate is just with out of office alone, if you do see that, you are likely bouncing, check your other or bounce folder
  • Instantly inbox placement testing is a new fast way to test copy, I still use EmailGuard after Instantly as the results are more accurate
  • Run multiple validation checks to ensure your list are clean, I like all the bells and whistles of ZeroBounce
Outlook Inboxing Death? | Oct 18th 2024
"As part of ongoing improvements to bulk email filtering in Microsoft Defender for Office | Exchange Online Protection, we are refining our detection capabilities by recalibrating and redistributing bulk senders across different bulk complaint levels (BCL). This would automatically make the current bulk thresholds slightly more aggressive. As a consequence, we are updating bulk threshold for standard preset policy to 7 from current value of 6. In response to general customer feedback around receiving more bulk email, we are keeping current default BCL threshold of 7 in default policy as is."
Will Microsoft change it back?
Appears to be maybe: "If false positives occur, we recommend IT admin adjusting thresholds to higher BCL levels (including above default) and experimenting to find the right balance for your organization. This feature is on by default, and admins can adjust their bulk threshold based on tenant preference."
FAQ
Why is my email reply rate low?
Many things you can isolate. Low reply rates often indicate deliverability issues, poor inbox placement, or content that isn't resonating with your audience. Check you bounce rate for each inbox, it should be below 1%.
What is a good email reply rate to aim for?
A healthy reply rate should be above 1% just from out-of-office responses alone. If you're seeing less than this, you likely have deliverability issues to address.
How can I improve my email reply rate?
Focus on inbox placement, clean email lists through validation, authenticate your domains, and optimize your content. Testing your emails for spam triggers before sending can also help significantly.
I had a same day spike in bounce rate, why?
Sudden spikes in bounce rates often indicate you are sending to an SEG (Barracuda, Proofpoint, etc) and your message was tagged as spam and now ALL your messages that use that same SEG will bounce even if you have never sent to them with the same sending domain.
What if some of my inbox placement test fail or don't come back on time?
If you are using EmailGuard, it will wait up to 12hrs for your email to land in the inbox, but typically it's a fast process depending on the number of inboxes. If you see that some test never start or never complete, 99% of the time it means your emails are worse than spam, they are bouncing before they get to the placement test. With InboxAsssure our testing shows a '000' code letting you know the test failed. With EmailGuard UI, you will need to watch for inbox placement test that are still waiting to finish and never do.
Should I delete inboxes that bounce or go to spam?
With inbox placement testing, you can rest them and see if they recover between 2-10 days. After 10 days of going to spam or still bouncing, it's likely they won't recover. Be sure you use EmailGuard or similar to check all blacklist as some are easily removed with a free submission.
Should I send cold emails to companies using Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) like Barracuda, Microsoft Defender, Proofpoint, or Cisco?
No, it’s generally a bad idea. SEGs operate at the domain level, meaning if your email is flagged as spam by just one recipient, the entire system can block your messages across all users of that SEG—even if you’ve never emailed them before.
The risk increases significantly if you send to multiple people at the same company. Once one recipient marks your email as spam, your sender reputation can tank across the entire domain, leading to widespread deliverability issues.
If you must reach out to a company using an SEG, it’s best to:
• Use a highly personalized approach to avoid looking like mass outreach.
• Limit sends to a single person per domain.
Domain authentication is crucial for email deliverability. Properly configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records significantly improve your chances of reaching the inbox. Without these authentications, many email providers will automatically flag your messages as suspicious or route them to spam folders.
How can I know if my copy is burned?
Most email sequencers like Bison, Instantly, and SmartLead allow you to test a single campaign and set of inboxes. To determine whether your sender reputation or email copy is the issue, follow these steps:
1. Run a test campaign using a single set of sending emails (all from the same provider—e.g., all Maildoso or all CheapInboxes).
2. Rotate out the copy by sending a neutral, transactional-style email, such as a mock appointment reminder or a simple one-liner like:
“See you next week! – Jason”
3. Compare results—if deliverability improves with the neutral email but not with your sales copy, then your copy is likely the issue.
By isolating variables, you can pinpoint whether the problem is your email content or the reputation of your sending addresses.Start
Should I monitor my SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?
Yes! Using EmailGuard, you can upload all your domains and then it will monitor if your inbox provider accidentally changes your DNS settings. If the settings are wrong, contact your inbox provider to have them fix it. Your bounce rate will be very high if they records are invalid.
Validate your email list before every major campaign and at least once every 3 months for regular sending. For high-volume senders, monthly validation is recommended. Using multiple validation services can help catch different types of invalid emails and reduce bounce rates more effectively.
Does campaign bounce metric cover warm up bounces too?
NO! each email sequencer company has different ways they report bounces. There is not a programmatic way to track ALL bounces except with EmailBison sequencer which provides it via API. Check the 'other' tab inside Instantly inbox will at least show you if there are bounces that are not associated with any campaign (aka, warm up bounces)
Bonus: The Short-Form Strategy for Outlook
Brevity is Key
Keep your initial email concise and to the point. Outlook users often prefer shorter messages that respect their time.
Focus on Initial Reply
Aim to elicit a response rather than closing a deal. Your primary goal is to start a conversation.
Full Pitch After Engagement
Once you've established a connection, you can provide more detailed information in subsequent emails.
Reframe for Quick Response
Structure your offer to encourage a quick and easy reply. Make it simple for the recipient to engage with your message.
For more detailed guidance on breaking down longer emails into shorter, more effective messages, visit this helpful resource: AI Prompt / System Instruction
Thank You
This document is complete with links to products and services that I personally use and recommend. Some of these links are affiliate links I only endorse products and services that I genuinely love and believe will add value to your experience. Your support helps me continue to create valuable content—thank you!