# Email deliverability Email deliverability is the ability of the emails you send to reach the recipient's inbox, rather than the spam folder, being blocked, or silently dropped. It depends on authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), sender reputation, list quality and how recipients respond to your mail. Canonical page: https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/email-deliverability. Updated 2026-10-15. ## Delivery is not deliverability When you send an email, two different things can go right or wrong. **Delivery** is whether the receiving server accepted it. **Deliverability** is whether it then reached the inbox. Mailbox providers like Gmail and Outlook accept plenty of mail they then file under spam. For a founder, only the inbox counts: a launch announcement in the spam folder might as well not exist. ## What drives deliverability **Authentication.** Three DNS records prove an email really comes from you. SPF says which servers may send for your domain. DKIM signs each message so the receiver can check it came from your domain unchanged. DMARC tells receivers what to do with mail that fails, and sends you reports. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required bulk senders to have all three, to offer one-click unsubscribe, and to keep spam complaints low (Google asks for under 0.3% of messages). **Sender reputation.** Providers keep a running score for your sending domain and IP address, built from how your past mail was received. It is the biggest single factor, and it has its own page: [sender reputation](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/sender-reputation). **List quality.** Every address that doesn't exist bounces, and a high bounce rate tells providers you don't know who you are mailing. Mistyped addresses, [disposable email](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/disposable-email) inboxes and [spam traps](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/spam-trap) are the usual culprits. Confirming addresses with [double opt-in](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/double-opt-in) keeps most of them out. **Engagement and complaints.** Providers watch what recipients do. Opening, replying and moving a message out of spam help. Marking it as spam hurts a lot, and an unsubscribe link that's hard to find turns unsubscribes into complaints. **Content and pattern.** Misleading subject lines, a page of links, or one image with no text look like spam. So does a sudden, large send from a domain that has sent little before. ## Why waitlists are at risk A waitlist has a deliverability problem built in. People sign up, then often hear nothing for weeks or months. On launch day the whole list gets one large email at once. By then some addresses are dead, some people have forgotten they signed up and mark the email as spam, and the send is far bigger than anything the domain has sent before. Every factor above points the wrong way on the one day it matters most. The fix is to keep the list clean and in touch before launch: - Confirm addresses at signup, so dead and fake ones never join. - Send occasional updates, so people remember you and their inbox learns that your mail is wanted. - Remove addresses that bounce and honor unsubscribes at once. - Make the unsubscribe link easy to find. - Watch your bounce and complaint rates on every send. ## Email deliverability in LaunchList Every email LaunchList sends is authenticated with SPF, DKIM and DMARC and carries the one-click unsubscribe Gmail and Yahoo ask bulk senders for. You can connect a subdomain like mail.yourcompany.com with three CNAME records, so your mail comes from you and a marketing send never touches the reputation of your team's everyday email. Until your domain is connected, mail sends from a shared domain that is already authenticated. Addresses that can't receive mail and throwaway inboxes are left out of every send, and anyone who unsubscribed, bounced or marked an earlier email as spam is skipped when the email sends, not only when you picked the audience. If too much of an audience looks undeliverable, the broadcast is held. A broadcast released in batches pauses itself if too many bounce or complain, and says why. You can also check any signup's email for a credit to see whether the address is real. See [email](https://getlaunchlist.com/features/email) for broadcasts, automations and the confirmation emails every signup needs. Further reading: [waitlist email templates that get opened](https://getlaunchlist.com/blog/waitlist-email-templates-that-get-opened). ## Frequently asked questions ### What's the difference between delivery and deliverability? Delivery means the receiving server accepted the email instead of bouncing it. Deliverability means it reached the inbox. An email can be delivered and still land in spam, which is why a high delivery rate on its own says little. ### What deliverability rate is normal for a waitlist? There is no fixed benchmark worth chasing, because inbox placement depends on your list, your authentication and how people respond to your mail. Watch your own bounce and spam complaint rates over time, and treat a rise in either as the early warning. ### Does sending from my own domain improve deliverability? It lets you authenticate mail as yours with SPF, DKIM and DMARC and build a reputation of your own, which mailbox providers increasingly expect. Sending marketing mail from a subdomain, such as mail.yourcompany.com, also keeps it apart from the mail your team sends every day. ### Why do my waitlist emails go to spam? The usual causes are missing or broken authentication, a list with many bad or unconfirmed addresses, spam complaints from people who forgot they signed up, and a sudden large send from a domain with little history. Start by checking authentication and removing addresses that bounced. ### What are SPF, DKIM and DMARC? SPF lists the servers allowed to send mail for your domain. DKIM adds a signature that proves the email was not changed and came from your domain. DMARC tells receiving servers what to do when a message fails those checks, and asks them to send you reports. ## Related terms - [Sender reputation](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/sender-reputation.md) - [Spam trap](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/spam-trap.md) - [Double opt-in](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/double-opt-in.md) - [Disposable email](https://getlaunchlist.com/glossary/disposable-email.md)