Deliverability

Email deliverability is the rate at which your emails reach the recipient's inbox (vs. spam folder or being blocked). TinyEmails designs the email; sending happens in TinyCampaigns or through your own email provider. Follow these best practices to maximize deliverability.

Sending from your own domain (TinyCampaigns)

Until you verify a domain, campaigns send from the shared TinyCommand address. Verifying a domain you own lets TinyCampaigns send from any address on it. Verification uses DKIM, a cryptographic signature that proves the email came from your domain and wasn't changed on the way.

Verifying a sending domain

In TinyCampaigns, open Sending domains (or click Manage sending domains in the campaign composer)
Enter your domain (e.g., mail.acme.com) and click Add domain
Copy the CNAME records shown for the domain
Open your DNS provider (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, Route 53…) and add each record
Save, then click Verify. Propagation can take a few minutes to a few hours.

Once the domain is verified, add the from-addresses you want to send from.

Note

TinyCampaigns checks DKIM only. It does not set up or check SPF or DMARC records, so manage those with your DNS provider if your domain needs them.

Content best practices

Practice	Do	Don't
Subject lines	Clear, specific, relevant to the content	ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation (!!!), spam trigger words ("FREE", "ACT NOW")
From name	Your company or person name	No-reply addresses, generic sender names
Content ratio	Good balance of text and images	Image-only emails (spam filters can't read images)
Links	Use your own domain for links	Shortened URLs (bit.ly, tinyurl); they look suspicious
Unsubscribe	Always include an unsubscribe link	Hiding or omitting the unsubscribe option
HTML	Clean, well-structured HTML	Broken HTML, excessive inline styles, JavaScript
Size	Under 100KB total (including HTML)	Large attachments or embedded images

Sending practices

Practice	Details
Warm up new domains	Start with small volumes (50-100/day) and gradually increase over 2-4 weeks
Clean your list	Remove bounced addresses, unsubscribes, and inactive contacts regularly
Segment your audience	Send relevant content to relevant people; this improves engagement rates
Monitor bounce rates	Keep hard bounce rate under 2%. Remove hard bounces immediately.
Monitor spam complaints	Keep complaint rate under 0.1%. High complaints damage your sending reputation.
Send consistently	Regular, predictable sending patterns build reputation

Troubleshooting delivery issues

Emails going to spam

Check	How to fix
Authentication	Send from a verified domain so your mail is DKIM-signed
Content	Remove spam trigger words, add more text content
Sending history	If domain is new, warm it up gradually
Blacklists	Check if your sending IP is blacklisted at mxtoolbox.com
Engagement	Low open rates signal spam; clean your list

Emails not arriving at all

Check	How to fix
Hard bounce	The email address doesn't exist; remove from list
Soft bounce	Mailbox full or server temporarily unavailable; try again later
Blocked	Receiving server rejected the email; check authentication
Invalid address	Typo in the email address; verify with the recipient

Sending reputation

Your sending reputation is a score that email providers assign to your domain based on:

Factor	Impact
Bounce rate	High bounces = bad reputation
Spam complaints	Complaints severely damage reputation
Engagement	High open/click rates improve reputation
Volume consistency	Sudden spikes in volume look suspicious
Authentication	Unauthenticated mail hurts reputation
Blacklists	Being on a blacklist destroys reputation

Warning

Never purchase email lists. Sending to people who didn't opt in generates spam complaints, bounces, and can get your domain permanently blacklisted. Build your list organically through forms and opt-ins.

Tip

Before sending to your full list, send a test to your own Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo addresses. Check that the email renders correctly and doesn't land in spam.