A practical checklist for email deliverability

This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. Run through this the next time email deliverability comes up.

Security is a maintenance habit rather than a purchase, which is why it drifts. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

The checklist

• Authentication records decide whether mail reaches the inbox
• Sending from a shared address hurts your reputation
• Monitor bounces before a campaign, not after
• Someone is named as the owner
• There is a date to review it again

Why this earns attention

Authentication records decide whether mail reaches the inbox. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

The short version

The cheapest security work is the boring kind done on a schedule. Three things worth confirming about email deliverability before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Sending from a shared address hurts your reputation — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.