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What Is Email Deliverability? Why Do I Care?

Updated over a month ago

Your email list is only as valuable as the inbox placement you earn. That’s why the Email Flow Analytics panel in Rally.Fan tracks key deliverability metrics in real-time. Below is a crash course on what those numbers mean, why they matter, and how to fix anything that slips “At Risk.”

Key Metrics in Rally.Fan

Metric

What It Tells You

Emails Sent

Total messages fired by Rally.

Delivery Rate

% of messages accepted by the recipient’s mail server (bounce-free).

Open Rate

% of delivered emails that were opened at least once.

Good to know: We surface a yellow warning badge when any metric drifts below industry benchmarks for seven consecutive days.

Deliverability vs. Delivery—What’s the Difference?

  • Delivery answers: Did the server take the message?

  • Deliverability answers: Where did it land? Primary inbox, promotions tab, or spam?*

You need both for a healthy list—but deliverability is the harder nut to crack.

Why Inbox Placement Matters

  • Revenue: No open = no click = no sale.

  • Reputation: Repeated spam hits lower future deliverability across all campaigns.

  • Cost Efficiency: High bounce/complaint rates waste sending credits and skew analytics.

Understanding the “At Risk” Flag

When any metric displays an At Risk label, it’s under-performing versus peer accounts of similar size and niche. Common causes:

  1. High Spam Complaints – Too many “Report Spam” clicks.

  2. Stale or Bought Lists – Invalid or disengaged addresses drag you down.

  3. No Segmentation – One-size-fits-all blasts lack relevance.

  4. Poor Creative – Broken links, heavy images, or spam-trigger words.

  5. Aggressive Cadence – Daily emails on a cold list raises alarms.

  6. Inconsistent Cadence – Vanish for months, then email five times in a week—ISPs get suspicious.

  7. Data-Grab Links – Forms requesting sensitive info without clear consent.

Left unchecked, prolonged “At Risk” status forces us to throttle or pause sending to protect your domain reputation.

Six Steps to Better Deliverability

  1. Authenticate Your Domain
    SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records tell ISPs “Yep, this email is legit.” Follow our Domain Auth Guide to set these up once.

  2. Run a Quarterly List Clean-Up
    Remove hard bounces and anyone who hasn’t opened in 180 days.

  3. Segment & Personalise
    Send different flows to buyers, freebies, and VIPs. Relevance = higher opens, fewer spam clicks.

  4. Mind Your Cadence
    Warm lists: 1–2 emails/week. Cold or new lists: start weekly, then ramp. Consistency beats volume.

  5. Trim the “Spam Vocabulary”
    Skip click-bait phrases like “100% GUARANTEED” or “MAKE $$ FAST.” Plain language wins.

  6. Monitor Analytics Weekly
    Set a calendar reminder to review delivery, open, and complaint rates. Small tweaks early prevent big problems later.

Quick Fixes for Common Issues

Symptom

First Thing to Try

Bounce spike

Verify new imports with a list-cleaning tool.

Open rate crash

Check if your subject line trips spam filters; A/B test a softer headline.

Spam complaints

Segment disengaged contacts and send a re-engage series—or sunset them.

Need a Hand?

Inbox health can feel like wizardry. If you’re staring at an “At Risk” badge and can’t pinpoint why, shoot an email to friends@rally.fan with:

  • Account email

  • Flow/Broadcast name

  • Screenshot of the metric in question

  • A CSV sample (max 100 rows) of the list you sent

Our deliverability team will review and send you an action plan—usually within one business day.

Keep those emails flying high!

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