How Email Deliverability Works
Email delivery depends on authentication, sender reputation and recipient feedback. Follow current mailbox-provider requirements and distinguish delivery acceptance from inbox placement.
The key factors that determine whether your email reaches the inbox:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) — a DNS record listing which servers may send email for your domain
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) — a cryptographic signature proving the email was not altered in transit
- DMARC — a policy telling receiving servers what to do with emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks
- Sender reputation — a score maintained by email providers based on bounce rates, complaint rates, and engagement
- List hygiene — removing invalid, catch-all, and unengaged addresses to maintain low bounce rates
Why Deliverability Matters for Recruitment Outreach
Delivery failures reduce the audience reached. Measure qualified replies and meetings on your own campaigns instead of applying an assumed recruitment response rate.
Improving Email Deliverability for Australian Agencies
Practical steps to improve deliverability:
- Authenticate your domain — configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records before sending any outreach
- Warm up new domains — gradually increase sending volume over 2-4 weeks to build sender reputation
- Verify before sending — use email verification to identify invalid or ambiguous addresses; monitor actual failures
- Monitor per-provider performance — track inbox placement rates separately for Gmail and Microsoft 365
- Limit daily volume — start at 20-30 emails per inbox per day and increase as reputation builds
Kolvera provides email verification, sending controls and deliverability checks. These support monitoring and review but do not guarantee inbox placement.