What is Email Deliverability?
Email deliverability is the ability to successfully deliver emails to recipients' inboxes rather than spam folders, measured as a percentage of emails that reach their intended destination.
Email deliverability refers to whether your emails successfully reach recipients' inboxes. It's not the same as delivery rate (whether the email was accepted by the server)—an email can be "delivered" but still end up in spam. True deliverability means inbox placement.
Multiple factors affect deliverability: sender reputation, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), content quality, engagement rates, and list hygiene. Email providers use sophisticated algorithms that consider all these factors when deciding whether to inbox, spam, or reject your emails.
Deliverability is typically measured as a percentage. A 95%+ inbox placement rate is considered good for transactional emails. Marketing emails often see lower rates due to lower engagement and more promotional content.
Why Email Deliverability Matters
Poor deliverability directly impacts your business. If password reset emails go to spam, users can't access their accounts. If order confirmations don't arrive, support tickets increase. For transactional emails especially, deliverability isn't just a metric—it's critical infrastructure that affects user experience and trust.
How Ark Handles Email Deliverability
Ark is built for deliverability. We maintain strict sending standards, automatically configure authentication, manage IP reputation across our network, and provide real-time delivery tracking. Our focus on transactional-only email means our infrastructure isn't polluted by low-quality marketing sends, resulting in 99.9% deliverability for our customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I improve my email deliverability?
Focus on authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintain a clean sender list by removing bounces and unsubscribes, send relevant content that gets engagement, and use a reputable email service provider with good IP reputation.
What's a good deliverability rate?
For transactional emails, aim for 99%+ inbox placement. Marketing emails typically see 85-95% depending on your list quality and content. Anything below 80% indicates serious issues that need immediate attention.
Why are my emails going to spam?
Common causes include missing authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), poor sender reputation, spammy content or subject lines, low engagement rates, or sending to invalid addresses. Check your authentication first, then review content and list quality.
How long does it take to improve deliverability?
Technical fixes like authentication can improve deliverability immediately. Rebuilding sender reputation from a poor state can take weeks to months of consistent good sending practices.
Related Terms
Bounce Rate
Email bounce rate is the percentage of emails that couldn't be delivered to recipients, categorized ...
Suppression List
A suppression list is a database of email addresses that should not receive emails, including bounce...
Spam Trap
A spam trap is an email address used to identify spammers, either recycled from abandoned accounts o...
Email Authentication
Email authentication is the process of verifying that an email was actually sent by the claimed send...
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