Deliverability Infrastructure

Deliverability tools provide monitoring, diagnostics, and insights but don't actively improve reputation. They show you what's wrong (spam scores, blacklists, authentication issues) and guide you on fixes.

Warm-up services actively send and receive emails from your domain to build reputation gradually.

Key differences:

(1) Deliverability tools = diagnostic (identify problems)

(2) Warm-up services = proactive (build reputation)

(3) Many modern platforms combine both capabilities

If you're launching cold outreach on a new domain, you need warm-up first. If you're an established sender troubleshooting inbox placement, diagnostics tools are sufficient.

Common use cases include:

(1) Launching new email domains and ensuring proper authentication setup before sending

(2) Troubleshooting sudden drops in reply rates or engagement (often caused by spam folder placement)

(3) Monitoring sender reputation for high-volume outbound teams sending 10,000+ emails/month

(4) Testing email templates before launching campaigns to avoid spam triggers

(5) Maintaining compliance with ISP requirements and avoiding blacklists

(6) Recovering from reputation damage after accidental spam complaints or bounces

Pricing tiers:

(1) Basic monitoring tools: $30-100/month for inbox placement testing and spam score checks

(2) Mid-tier platforms: $100-300/month for real-time monitoring, warm-up, and alerts

(3) Enterprise solutions: $500-2,000+/month for multi-domain monitoring, API access, and dedicated support

ROI justification: If deliverability improves from 60% to 85%, you're effectively getting 40% more pipeline from the same email volume. For a team sending 50,000 emails/month at a 2% meeting rate, that's 250 extra meetings per month.

Common mistakes include:

(1) Skipping email warm-up and immediately sending high volumes from new domains (causes instant spam folder placement)

(2) Ignoring authentication setup (missing or incorrect SPF, DKIM, DMARC records)

(3) Using free email providers (Gmail, Outlook) for cold outreach instead of dedicated sending domains

(4) Not monitoring deliverability until it's too late (after sender reputation is already damaged)

(5) Sending to purchased or unverified email lists (causes high bounce rates and spam complaints)

(6) Failing to rotate domains or use subdomains to isolate cold outreach from transactional emails