If you’ve been building an email list as an online coach or practitioner, you already know that email marketing is your most valuable asset. But here’s the thing nobody talks about enough — it doesn’t matter how good your emails are if they never make it to your subscriber’s primary inbox.
I’ve been running into this issue lately with a couple of my students inside HCA, and it honestly caught me off guard. These are smart, hardworking coaches who were doing everything right on paper — running ads, getting leads, writing emails — but their open rates were in the gutter. And the reason why shocked me, because it had nothing to do with their content. It had nothing to do with their subject lines. It was something far more technical, and it had been silently sabotaging their business for months.
So I want to break down the five things you need to know about email deliverability if you want your emails to actually get seen, get opened, and ultimately get you paid. Whether you’re brand new to email marketing or you’ve been at it for a while and your open rates are slipping, this one’s for you. Because poor email deliverability is genuinely the difference between a business that thrives and a business that fails.
Why Email Marketing Still Beats Social Media (And It’s Not Even Close)
Before we dive into the deliverability strategies, let me remind you why email matters so much — because if you’re not fully bought in on email marketing yet, none of the rest of this will matter to you.
Social media has fundamentally changed. It’s become interest media. If you go look at your Explore page on Instagram or scroll through your feed right now, you’ll notice something: you’re not seeing content from people you actually follow. You’re seeing content the algorithm thinks you’re interested in because you engaged with something similar one time, and then the algorithm just keeps serving you more of that type of content.
That means we have no idea if our followers are going to see our posts. And even if they do eventually see them, we have no clue when. I started following a pop culture news account the other day — because I’m completely obsessed with reality TV and I’ve been deep in the Bachelorette drama — and I kept thinking she was posting new content constantly. Turns out I was being shown posts from a month ago, three weeks ago. The algorithm was just feeding me her old stuff because I’d engaged with it.
So here’s the reality: on social media, maybe one to ten percent of your followers actually see your content. You don’t know who. You don’t know when. And you can’t control any of it. Unless someone is in your DMs, you have almost no reliable way to communicate with your audience through social media alone.
With email, you can get open rates as high as 30, 40, even 50 percent. And you can guarantee that an email is going to land in someone’s inbox at a specific time. That kind of control is incredibly powerful for selling, nurturing, and building relationships with your audience. But — and this is a big but — it only works if you’re actually making it to the primary inbox. Not the promotions folder. And definitely not spam.
Now, some amount of your emails will always end up in promotions or spam. That’s just the reality. It’s never going to be 100 percent primary inbox. But if you follow these five strategies, you’re going to give yourself the greatest possible chance of landing where you want to land.
1. Set Up Your DMARC, SPF, and DKIM (The Bouncers at the Door of Every Inbox)
This is the one that got my students. And honestly, I feel a little responsible because it’s just not something I had really encountered as a widespread issue before. It’s technical, it’s nerdy, and it’s the most important thing on this entire list.
DMARC, SPF, and DKIM — think of them as the bouncers at the door of your subscriber’s inbox. They tell Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Apple Mail, whoever, “Hey, this email actually came from Kendra. She’s legit. Let her in.” If these aren’t set up properly, then the email service provider looks at your email like you’re a stranger at a house party, and they say nope — straight to spam.
Most email platforms — Kit (formerly ConvertKit), Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign — will walk you through setting these up when you first register for the platform. What it involves is adding a few records to your domain’s DNS settings. Your domain is whatever your website URL is. For example, mine is kendraperry.net, and my emails come from support@kendraperry.net. These DNS records basically prove that the emails coming from that domain are actually authorized by you.
It should take about 15 minutes and you only have to do it once. But here’s where things go wrong.
Sometimes it’s not done properly. Sometimes there are extra steps depending on your platform. A couple of my students were hosting their email marketing through FG Funnels, and there are additional setup requirements with that platform that aren’t immediately obvious. Both students missed these steps. One of them didn’t realize anything was wrong for over a year because she wasn’t monitoring her open rates. The other student — we spent weeks trying to figure out what was happening. I kept saying it had to be her subject lines. But nothing was adding up.
Here’s what finally tipped me off: her ads were converting incredibly well. She had a high link click-through rate, meaning people were loving the ad and clicking through. She had a great cost per lead. But then absolutely nobody was opening the emails. That disconnect made zero sense to me until we went down the rabbit hole and discovered her domain wasn’t properly verified.
Since then, we’ve actually created a form inside HCA where we offer to check this for our students. My tech VA will go in and verify that everything is set up correctly, because this issue is that important. We never want someone spending months building a list only to find out none of those people were ever actually receiving their emails.
How to Check If Your Domain Is Properly Authenticated
Go into your email marketing platform, head to Settings, and look for something called “Authentication” or “Domain Verification.” If it says “Not Verified,” you need to fix this today. Not tomorrow. Today.
You can also reach out to the support team at your email marketing provider and simply ask: “Can you make sure my domain is properly verified?” They’ll be able to tell you within minutes.
And if you get confused by the tech side of things — which is totally normal, because DNS settings are not exactly intuitive — just go to Upwork.com and hire someone to do it for you. It’s a quick job. It’ll cost you very little. And it could be the single reason your open rates have been tanking this entire time.
If you already have an email list and your open rates look solid — say, consistently in the 30s or above — you’re probably fine here. But if you’re seeing open rates below 20%, below 15%, below 10%? This is almost certainly the culprit, and you need to check it before you do anything else.
2. The “Did You Get This?” Email That Trains Gmail to Trust You
This strategy is simple, takes minutes to set up, and does double duty for both your deliverability and your relationship with new subscribers. I use it for every single freebie and training I offer, and it’s one of my favorite email marketing tactics.
Here’s how it works. After someone opts in for your free thing — whether it’s a training, a guide, a checklist, whatever — you obviously send them the delivery email right away. But then, about three hours later, you send a second email as part of your nurture sequence. And this email says something like:
“Hey, I sent you the Group Program Checklist a few hours ago and I just want to make sure it landed in the right place. Can you hit reply with the words ‘got it’ so I know you received it? And if you have a little extra time, let me know — what’s your biggest challenge with launching your group program?”
That’s the whole email. It’s short. It takes minutes to write. And it’s incredibly powerful.
Why Replies Are Deliverability Gold
When someone replies to your email, it sends a massive signal to Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Apple Mail — all of them — that there is a real, legitimate relationship between you and that subscriber. And that signal makes it significantly more likely that your future emails will land in their primary inbox rather than promotions or spam.
The subject line on this email matters too. You want something like “did you get this?” or “quick question” — all lowercase, no fancy punctuation. It should look like it came from a friend or family member, not a business. That makes people far more likely to open it, and the casual nature of the subject line means it’s less likely to get flagged as promotional in the first place.
The Hidden Bonus: Free Market Research
If all you ever get back is people typing “got it” — that’s amazing. Mission complete. The deliverability signal has been sent. But here’s what actually happens a lot of the time: people open up. They tell you what they’re struggling with. And that, my friend, is absolute gold-level market research that you didn’t have to pay a dime for.
I keep every single one of these replies. I track what people are telling me they’re struggling with, and I use those insights to inspire my content, my emails, my podcast topics, and even how I position my offers.
I also personally reply to every one of these emails. I validate their struggle, give them a bit of encouragement, and sometimes I’ll link them to a relevant podcast episode — because at this point I have over 325 episodes, so chances are I’ve covered whatever they’re dealing with. It brings them deeper into my ecosystem, which is always the goal.
And here’s what surprises people: they can’t believe they’re actually hearing back from a real person. Especially when they know you have tens of thousands of followers. They assume they’re going to download your freebie and disappear into a faceless funnel. So when you actually respond, it creates this moment of genuine connection and trust that you simply cannot manufacture any other way.
Now, one of my students asked me — if she replies to someone and they never get back to her, does she need to keep following up? No. Absolutely not. You provide the helpful response, and then you move on. The point isn’t to chase people. The point is to show them that you actually care, improve your deliverability, and gather insights. If the conversation goes further, great. If not, you’ve already won.
3. Write Curiosity-Based Subject Lines and Avoid Spam Triggers
If your DMARC is set up properly and your deliverability foundations are solid, then your open rates come down to subject lines more than almost anything else. Subject lines are the gatekeeper to everything that happens inside your email.
The subject lines that consistently perform best are what I call curiosity-based subject lines. The idea is that you open a loop but you don’t close it — and the only way for the reader to close that loop is by opening the email and reading the body. You hint at something interesting, pair together two unlikely things, or tease a result without revealing it.
Something like “What does a sperm test and a unicorn have in common?” — random? Absolutely. But you’d open that email, wouldn’t you? That’s the power of curiosity. When two things don’t seem like they belong together, the brain needs to know why.
You can also use organic-looking subject lines — things like “quick question” or “hey [first name]” or “did you see this?” These perform well because they look like they came from someone the reader actually knows. But here’s the catch: if you overuse them, people catch on and stop responding. So sprinkle them in strategically rather than making them your default.
Use A/B Split Testing on Every Email
Every major email platform offers A/B split testing for subject lines, and you should be using this feature with every single email you send. Here’s how it works: your provider sends one subject line to 10% of your list and a different subject line to another 10%. Based on which one performs better in that small test, it automatically sends the winning subject line to the remaining 80% of your subscribers. It gives you two shots at nailing the subject line every time, and over time, you’ll start to learn what language resonates most with your specific audience.
Words and Formatting That Trigger Spam Filters
Certain words and phrases will trigger spam filters and tank your deliverability, even if your domain is properly authenticated. Here’s what to watch out for: free, 100% free, act now, limited time, buy now, guaranteed, risk free, no obligation, no cost, earn money, extra cash, double your income, miracle cure, lose weight, anti-aging, winner, congratulations you’ve been selected, click here, and verify your account. Basically, anything that sounds like it came from a sales page or a Nigerian prince email.
Beyond individual words, formatting matters too. Writing your entire subject line in ALL CAPS will get flagged — Gmail literally has a rule for this. Using multiple exclamation marks or question marks can flag it. Too many emojis can flag it — one or two is fine, but a string of five is asking for trouble. And never, ever use a fake “Re:” or “Fwd:” prefix to trick people into thinking your email is a reply or forward. Gmail flags that instantly.
Keep Your Emails Ugly
This one might surprise you, but heavy HTML templates with images, graphics, and branded headers will push you into the promotions tab. Sure, a pretty email with a logo header looks professional. But it also screams “business” to Gmail, and Gmail responds by filing you under Promotions instead of Primary.
I’m a big fan of ugly emails. Plain text. Maybe a Giphy or a single photo thrown in here and there for personality. But ditch the branded templates, ditch the image-heavy headers, and keep your links minimal. If you have too many links in a single email, that can hurt you too. The occasional roundup email with multiple links is fine, but it shouldn’t be your standard format.
And always — always — send from your personal name, not your business name. “Kendra Perry” lands in Primary. “Kendra Perry Coaching Inc.” lands in Promotions. It’s that simple.
4. Niche Down Your Email Content (Yes, This Directly Affects Your Open Rates)
You didn’t think you were going to get through this without me talking about niching, did you?
Here’s the connection most people miss: open rates aren’t just about subject lines and technical setup. They’re also about content fit. And content fit is a direct result of how niched down you are.
If you’re a general wellness practitioner and one week you’re emailing about UTIs, the next week it’s PCOS, then Hashimoto’s, then cancer, then healthy habits, then weight loss, then GLP-1 medications — you’ve got a list full of people with completely different problems. When you send that email about UTIs, only the people dealing with UTIs are going to be interested enough to open it. Everyone else sees the subject line, decides it’s not relevant to them, and ignores it.
Do that enough times and your open rates crater — not because your emails are bad, but because your audience is too broad to care about any single topic consistently.
If you’re a weight loss coach who helps busy moms lose weight, then every email you send needs to be about weight loss, about being a busy mom, or ideally about both. When your content is consistently relevant to one type of person with one type of problem, your open rates stay high because every email feels like it was written specifically for that reader. There’s no guesswork. There’s no “this doesn’t apply to me.” It’s always relevant.
5. Clean Your List, Monitor for Spam, and Check Your Sender Reputation
I’ll be honest — I hate this one. I pay a lot for my email subscribers and deleting them causes me genuine pain. But keeping dead weight on your list can drag down your entire sender reputation over time.
If someone hasn’t opened an email from you in six to twelve months, they’re not engaged. Your email platform will typically flag cold subscribers after about 90 days of inactivity. Now, I’ll say this: I don’t think 90 days is the right threshold. That feels too aggressive to me. I’ve had people purchase HCA who told me they’d been on my list for years, hadn’t noticed my emails in forever, and then one day one caught their eye and they bought. So people can come back from the dead.
That said, best practice is to periodically run a re-engagement campaign. Send two to three emails specifically to your cold subscribers — people who haven’t engaged in about six to twelve months. Say something like: “Hey, I noticed you haven’t opened my emails in a while. Totally cool. But I don’t want to keep sending you stuff you’re not interested in. If you still want to hear from me, click this button. Otherwise, I’ll remove you next week.” Anyone who doesn’t respond gets removed. You won’t get a ton of replies from this group — they’re cold for a reason — but it keeps your list healthy.
I personally do this every two to three years, targeting subscribers who haven’t engaged in about a year. It’s not as frequent as the experts recommend, but it works for me.
Watch for Spam Subscribers
This is something that caught me off guard with a client a few years ago. She had what looked like a great list — somewhere around 8,000 to 15,000 subscribers — but her open rates were terrible and her webinar registrations were inexplicably low. When we dug in and actually looked at the email addresses on her list, page after page after page was spam. She had a pop-up on her website that was getting hammered by bots over time, and her list had been filling up with fake addresses.
I’ve experienced this personally too. Someone spammed one of my Facebook ads with hundreds of fake email addresses — all some version of my name with something explicit or inappropriate attached. It was clearly targeted harassment, and I was able to catch it quickly because I check my incoming email addresses at least once a week. It takes a few seconds. Just scan the new subscribers and make sure they look like real email addresses — real names, recognizable domains. Spam addresses are obvious when you know what to look for: random strings of numbers and letters, unfamiliar domains, addresses in unexpected languages.
When you start running Facebook ads especially, make this a regular habit. A list full of spam addresses destroys your sender reputation even if you’re doing everything else right.
Check Your Report Card With Google Postmaster Tools
If you want to know exactly where you stand with email deliverability, go to Google Postmaster Tools. It’s completely free. You connect your domain and it shows you your IP reputation, domain reputation, spam rate, and whether your emails are being authenticated properly. Think of it as your report card.
You want to see high reputation scores for both domain and IP, and a low spam rate. It takes five minutes to set up. If your numbers look bad, go back to the beginning of this post and start with your DMARC. If your authentication checks out, then look at your subject lines, your content fit, and your list hygiene.
The Bottom Line: Monitor Your Open Rates
If there’s one takeaway from all of this, it’s this: you have to actually look at your email open rates. If you’re sending weekly emails — and ideally you should be sending two to three per week — check them regularly. You don’t need to obsess over every individual email, but you need to know your baseline and notice when things shift.
Every major deliverability disaster I’ve seen with my students could have been caught early if they’d simply been monitoring their open rates. One student went a full year without realizing no one was seeing her emails. If she’d caught it in week two, the fix would have taken 15 minutes. Instead, it cost her a year of lost sales and a year of wasted ad spend.
Ideally, you want to see open rates of 30% and above. If you’re between 20 and 30%, it’s likely a subject line issue — experiment with more curiosity-driven hooks. If you’re below 20%, something deeper is going on, and your first stop should be checking your domain authentication.
Your emails are only powerful if people actually see them. So make sure they do.
