Overview
Deliverability is often overlooked, yet it’s one of the most important factors in outbound success.
In this guide, you’ll learn what it means, why it matters, and how to improve it step by step.
Key benefits
Reach more leads: Make sure your emails land in inboxes, not spam folders.
Protect your domain reputation: Avoid blocks and long-term damage.
Boost performance: Improve your open, click, and conversion rates.
What is deliverability?
Email deliverability refers to the likelihood that your email reaches a lead’s inbox.
In simple terms, it’s your ability to successfully deliver your message to your audience.
A drop in deliverability can come from:
Poor technical setup
Spammy copywriting
Invalid or bouncing email addresses
Key benchmarks
Email open rates
Your open rate reflects the overall performance of your campaigns.
Benchmarks:
Below 60%: Poor — likely a technical issue to fix.
60–80%: Average — focus on improving segmentation and copywriting.
Above 80%: Excellent — great job!
100%: Suspicious — an antivirus or bot might be opening your emails.
Note: Open tracking works through a pixel embedded in your email. Each time it’s loaded, it counts as an open.
Click-through rates
Clicks are the best indicator of lead engagement and interest.
Benchmarks:
0%: You probably forgot to enable link tracking.
Below 5%: Weak.
5–8%: Good.
Above 8%: Excellent.
Tip:
Always use embedded hyperlinks instead of pasting full URLs. It makes your emails cleaner and improves click rates.
Bounce rates
A high bounce rate harms your domain’s reputation and can land you in spam.
Benchmarks:
Below 7%: Very low risk.
7–12%: Acceptable if sending fewer than 200 emails/day.
12–20%: Risky, especially at higher volumes.
Above 20%: Dangerous at scale.
Important: Don’t just look at percentages — the number of emails sent also matters.
How to improve your deliverability
1. Fix your technical setup
Your setup determines how email servers trust your domain.
Make sure the following records are properly configured:
SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Verifies the sender’s IP address.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Authenticates the sender’s domain.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): Protects your domain from spoofing.
In LaGrowthMachine (LGM), any setup error appears directly in your email identity settings.
Useful tools:
MxToolBox: Quickly checks for critical and non-critical issues.
EasyDMARC: Verifies each certificate individually.
2. Use a Custom Domain Tracking (CDT)
A Custom Domain Tracking (e.g., tracking.yourdomain.com) helps you track clicks and opens more reliably.
Why it matters:
The shared tracking domain used by default in LGM is common to all users — which lowers its reputation.
Your own CDT improves your domain reputation and therefore your deliverability.
👉 Check out this article on CDT to learn more.
3. Adjust your copywriting
Great copywriting keeps your emails out of spam folders and makes your outreach more human.
Tips to improve your content:
Use spins to create unique variations of your message.
→ Example: 3–4 spin variables can generate dozens of message combinations.
📚 Learn more about using spins effectively to improve engagement.
Avoid spam words like “special promotion,” “save up to,” “best deal,” or “buy now.”
You can follow this list of good recommendations.
4. Warm up your domain
A new email domain must be “warmed up” before sending high volumes.
Two options:
Manual: For about 3 weeks, send real emails to external contacts and subscribe to newsletters.
A proper warm-up builds trust with email providers and prevents early bounces.
5. Avoid bounces
In LGM:
Emails enriched by LGM are verified unless you enable catch-all mode.
This is the safest approach but sometimes may yield a low enrichment rate. Learn what the catch-all feature means and why sometimes you may choose to activate it.
If you import emails from external sources:
Validate them yourself with tools like ZeroBounce.
Avoiding bounces
Then, there is the question of where the email comes from. In La Growth Machine, this will vary depending on the source of the email.
When using La Growth Machine to enrich emails, LGM only provides you with an email we’re able to verify so long as you haven’t activated catch-all emails.
If you’re using outside sources to find emails, La Growth Machine will not verify their authenticity. You’ll have to do it yourself and you might do it by using email validation services such as Zerobounce.
Best practices to remember
Regularly test your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
Use your own tracking domain.
Vary your content and subject lines.
Avoid mass sending right away.
Monitor open and bounce rates after each campaign.
FAQs
Can I reach 100% deliverability?
Can I reach 100% deliverability?
No, and that’s okay. Aim for 90–95% — that’s already great performance.
What if my open rate suddenly drops?
What if my open rate suddenly drops?
Check your technical setup (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), review your email content, and avoid bulk sends after inactivity.
In short:
You’ll never be perfect, but with these optimizations, you can make sure most of your leads actually read your emails.