How Shopify Merchants Can Improve Email Deliverability

If your Shopify marketing emails are hitting the spam folder, you're leaving money on the table. It's a harsh truth, but when your messages don't land in the inbox, your promotions go unseen, and your sales suffer. The key to fixing this is to improve email deliverability by earning the trust of major inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook.

This trust isn't given freely; it's built on a foundation of technical authentication, a solid sending reputation, and genuine subscriber engagement.

Why Your Emails Land in Spam and How to Fix It

It’s a scenario I see all the time. A store owner pours hours into crafting the perfect email campaign, hits send, and… nothing. The campaign disappears into the digital abyss of the spam folder. This isn't just random bad luck; it’s a clear sign that inbox providers don't trust you as a sender yet.

Think of Google and Microsoft as the incredibly strict gatekeepers of their users' inboxes. They use complex algorithms to weed out anything that looks even slightly suspicious or unwanted. And the problem is bigger than you might think. Recent industry data shows the average email deliverability rate sits at just 83.1%.

That means nearly one out of every six emails you send might not even make it to the main inbox. For a Shopify brand, a 17% failure rate means missed opportunities, unrecovered abandoned carts, and loyal customers who never see your new products.

To get your emails delivered consistently, you have to understand how these inbox providers think. It all boils down to three core concepts.

The Three Pillars of Email Deliverability

I always tell my clients to think of deliverability as a three-legged stool. If one leg is wobbly, the entire thing comes crashing down. This table breaks down what those three "legs" are and why they are so crucial for your Shopify store.

Pillar	What It Means	Why It Matters for Shopify Stores
Authentication	This is your digital ID card. It's the technical proof (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) that verifies you are who you claim to be and that your emails haven't been forged.	Without it, you look like a potential phisher or spammer. Gmail and others are far more likely to junk your emails, killing your campaign's ROI before it even starts.
Reputation	This is your sender "credit score." Inbox providers constantly monitor your sending history, tracking bounce rates, spam complaints, and how many people ignore your emails.	A poor reputation gets you flagged. Your promotions for new product drops or flash sales will be sent straight to spam, making them completely ineffective.
Engagement	This is all about how your subscribers interact with what you send. Positive actions like opens, clicks, and replies signal to inbox providers that your content is valuable.	High engagement tells providers your emails are wanted. This not only boosts your deliverability but also directly correlates with higher conversions and sales.

These pillars work together to build a complete picture of you as a sender. Neglecting any one of them can undo all your hard work on the others.

Mastering these three pillars is one of the highest-impact marketing activities you can undertake. It ensures your messages are seen, your promotions are effective, and your revenue potential is maximized.

At the end of the day, great deliverability comes from smart marketing. When you send relevant, valuable content to a well-maintained and engaged list, you're naturally doing what inbox providers want to see. This is the surest way to land in the inbox every single time.

To learn more about keeping your list in top shape, check out our guide on https://www.emailwiz.ai/post/shopify-email-list-management-done-right. For a detailed look at other potential pitfalls, explore these common reasons your emails land in spam and how to fix them.

Mastering Email Authentication for Your Store

Think of email authentication as your store's digital passport. When you send an email, inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook need to verify that you are who you say you are. Without this proof, you look like a potential imposter, and your messages are far more likely to get a one-way ticket to the spam folder.

This is the technical bedrock for great deliverability, and getting it right is non-negotiable.

Just imagine getting an order confirmation from "sarahs-boutique@gmail.com" versus "support@sarahsboutique.com." The second one immediately feels more legit and trustworthy, right? That’s exactly how email filters see it, too. This whole process boils down to setting up a few special records in your domain's settings: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. They sound technical, but their job is simple: prove your emails are authentic and haven't been messed with.

The Big Three: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

Let's quickly break down what these acronyms actually do for your Shopify store. You don't need to be a developer to get the gist, and they work together to build a powerful layer of trust every time you hit "send."

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This is basically a list of approved senders for your domain. It tells the world, "Only trust emails claiming to be from my domain if they come from these specific servers," like the ones your email platform (think Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or Email Wiz) uses.

• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): This acts like a digital wax seal on your emails. It adds a unique, encrypted signature to every message. The receiving server checks this signature to confirm the email's content wasn't altered on its way to the inbox.

• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): This is the enforcer. It tells inbox providers what to do if an email fails the SPF or DKIM checks. You can instruct them to quarantine the sketchy message, reject it outright, or just monitor it.

Setting up these three records is a critical first step. It signals to inbox providers that you're a serious, legitimate sender and is one of the first things they check when deciding where your email lands.

Why You Can’t Rely on Shopify’s Default Email Settings

By default, Shopify sends emails on your behalf, but they often come from a shared Shopify domain. This creates an authentication mismatch because the "from" address doesn't perfectly align with the sending server's domain—a huge red flag for spam filters.

The solution? Use a custom sending domain. This means sending from your own branded domain, like . It’s a small change with a massive impact on your sender reputation.

Using your own authenticated domain isn't just a best practice; it's a requirement for building a strong, long-term sender reputation. You stop being a "guest" on Shopify's domain and become the "owner" of your email identity.

How to Get Your Authentication Set Up

The process involves adding specific records, which your email marketing platform provides, to your domain's DNS (Domain Name System) settings. You’ll typically manage this where you bought your domain, whether it's GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains.

Your email service provider (ESP) will give you the exact values to copy and paste. These are usually TXT or CNAME records. Once you add them, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours for the changes to go live across the internet. Most platforms have a verification tool that gives you a green light when everything is configured correctly.

This setup is just as vital for your automated messages—like order confirmations and shipping updates—as it is for your marketing campaigns. For a deeper dive on that, check out our guide on transactional email best practices.

This one-time setup is one of the most powerful things you can do to secure your spot in the inbox. It builds a foundation of trust that every single email you send will benefit from, giving your messages the best possible chance of being seen.

Building a Healthy Sender Reputation from Day One

Now that your technical authentication is locked in, the real work begins: building and protecting your sender reputation. Think of it as a credit score for your email domain. Just like you can't get a huge loan with no credit history, you can’t just blast an email to 50,000 subscribers from a brand-new domain and expect to land in the inbox.

Inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook are always watching. You have to earn their trust over time by proving you're a responsible sender who delivers real value. Trying to send too much, too soon is one of the fastest ways to get your domain flagged as suspicious, which can seriously derail your efforts to improve email deliverability right from the start.

The key? Start small and grow with intention.

The Art of the Warm-Up

A proper domain warm-up is non-negotiable. It's the process of gradually increasing your email sending volume over a period of weeks. This gives inbox providers a chance to see your sending patterns, observe positive engagement, and build confidence that you're one of the good guys.

Your goal during the warm-up is simple: send to your most engaged subscribers first. These are the people most likely to open, click, and interact, sending all the right signals to those all-important inbox filters.

Think of it this way: you're making a first impression. By sending to your superfans first, you're guaranteeing that the first thing inbox providers see is a room full of people excited to hear from you.

Here’s a practical schedule you can adapt for your own store. The idea is to start with a small, hyper-active segment—like customers who purchased in the last 30 days—and then slowly expand your reach.

• Week 1: Send to 250-500 of your most engaged contacts per day. This could be recent buyers or people who just signed up via your pop-up form.

• Week 2: Bump your daily volume to 1,000-2,500 contacts. Now you can bring in subscribers who have opened an email in the past 60 days.

• Week 3: Double your volume again, aiming for 5,000-10,000 daily sends. At this point, you can start including less-active but still valid segments.

• Week 4 and Beyond: Continue to methodically increase your volume—but by no more than double each week—while keeping a close eye on your engagement rates. If your open or click rates dip, slow down.

This methodical approach proves you're a legitimate business building a relationship with your audience, not a spammer trying to hit as many inboxes as possible.

Keeping Your List Squeaky Clean

While you're warming up your domain, you absolutely have to focus on list hygiene. A clean email list is critical for maintaining a strong sender reputation. Every time you send to an invalid address or an uninterested person, you generate negative signals like bounces and spam complaints that drag your deliverability down.

The two pillars of good list hygiene are managing bounced emails and honoring unsubscribes instantly.

Handling Bounces Like a Pro

You'll run into two types of bounces:

• Hard Bounces: These are permanent failures, usually because the email address is invalid or doesn't exist. You must remove these from your list immediately. Continuing to email hard-bounced addresses is a massive red flag for inbox providers.

• Soft Bounces: These are temporary hiccups, like a full inbox or a server being down. Most email platforms retry a few times, but if an address soft-bounces repeatedly (say, three times in a row), it’s best to treat it as a hard bounce and remove it.

Making Unsubscribes Easy and Instant

Never, ever make it difficult for someone to unsubscribe. A frustrated subscriber who can't find the link is far more likely to just mark your email as spam. A spam complaint is significantly more damaging to your reputation than a simple opt-out.

Make sure your unsubscribe link is clear and that the removal process is immediate. No hoops to jump through.

By actively cleaning your list, you send fewer, more effective emails. This leads to higher engagement rates, which in turn helps improve email deliverability across all your campaigns. These proactive steps show inbox providers that you respect your audience's time and inbox—a hallmark of every trusted sender. For more on this, check out our guide covering email segmentation best practices for Shopify stores.

Crafting Content That Gets Delivered

Once your technical house is in order with authentication and a solid sending domain, it's time to focus on what's inside your emails. This is where the rubber really meets the road. Your subject lines, your copy, and your images can either signal to inbox providers that you're a trusted sender or get you flagged as spam.

Getting this right isn't about finding some magic formula. It’s about being thoughtful, relevant, and writing for humans.

Think about it from the perspective of a service like Gmail or Outlook. They see a constant firehose of emails and have to decide in a split second which ones are legitimate. An email packed with aggressive sales-speak, over-the-top promises, or just a giant, single image looks suspiciously like the junk they’re paid to block. This is a common tripwire for even the most well-meaning Shopify stores trying to improve email deliverability.

Sidestepping the Most Common Content Traps

Spam filters have gotten incredibly sophisticated over the years. They’re pattern-recognition machines with a long memory for the kinds of tactics spammers use. Your first line of defense is simply avoiding these rookie mistakes.

One of the biggest red flags is still the use of "spammy" words and phrases. While there’s no official, public blacklist, years of data show that certain terms consistently set off alarm bells, especially when you lean on them too heavily.

• Words to Handle with Care: FREE!, URGENT, Act Now, Limited Time, Winner, $$$

• Formatting Faux Pas: SHOUTING IN ALL CAPS in your subject lines, using way too many exclamation points (!!!), or going wild with flashy, multicolored fonts.

• Misleading Subject Lines: Whatever you do, don't use deceptive prefixes like "Re:" or "Fwd:" to trick subscribers into opening an email. A classic no-no is a subject line like "Your Recent Order Status" for a purely promotional message. That kind of thing kills trust instantly, both with your audience and the inbox providers.

Another big one is your image-to-text ratio. An email that consists of one large, single image is a massive red flag. Spammers have long used this trick to hide spammy text from filters, so providers are extremely wary of it. A good rule of thumb is to aim for a healthy balance—at least 60% text to 40% images.

A/B Testing Your Way Into the Inbox

You simply can't improve what you don't measure. When it comes to content, A/B testing is your secret weapon for figuring out what your audience—and by extension, the inbox providers—actually like. Stop guessing and start gathering real data on what drives opens and clicks.

An engaged audience is the single most powerful signal you can send to inbox providers. When your subscribers consistently open and click your emails, you're telling Gmail and Outlook that your content is valuable and wanted.

Here are a couple of practical tests you can run for your Shopify store right away:

1. Plain Text vs. Highly Designed: Pit a simple, personal-feeling plain-text welcome email against a glossy, heavily branded one. You might be shocked to find the simpler, more authentic version drives way more engagement.

2. Subject Line Tonality: Test a direct, benefit-driven subject line (like "Save 20% on Your Favorite Tees") against something more intriguing ("The Secret to the Perfect T-Shirt"). See what actually gets your audience to open.

The Power of Sending People What They Want

At the end of the day, the most reliable way to create content that inbox providers love is to send people things they are genuinely interested in. This is where smart segmentation becomes your superpower. Blasting the same generic newsletter to your entire list is a one-way ticket to low engagement and deliverability headaches.

Instead, dive into the goldmine of data you already have in Shopify to create targeted segments. This is especially true if you’re in B2B. While B2B emails often see high server delivery rates of around 98.16%, the actual inbox placement rate can plummet to nearly 80% because of stringent corporate filters. Sending highly relevant, personalized content is the only way to navigate that. You can find more B2B deliverability stats at trulyinbox.com.

Here are a few segmentation ideas you can put into action today:

• By Purchase History: Announcing new running shoes? Send that email only to customers who have bought athletic gear from you before.

• By Website Behavior: Target subscribers who browsed a specific product category but didn't buy. You could send them a helpful guide or a small offer related to those exact items.

• By Customer Lifecycle: A brand-new customer needs a different message than a loyal, repeat buyer. The new person might benefit from educational content, while a VIP would love early access to a new collection.

When you tailor your content like this, you dramatically boost your chances of getting those opens and clicks. That positive engagement loop is the true foundation of long-term, sustainable email deliverability.

Using Subscriber Engagement to Boost Inbox Placement

Getting your technical house in order with authentication and a solid sender reputation gets your foot in the door. But it’s what happens after your email lands that truly keeps you in the primary inbox. Deliverability isn't just about getting an email sent; it's all about what your subscribers do once it arrives.

Think about it from the perspective of Gmail and Outlook. Their systems are incredibly sophisticated, watching every little interaction—opens, clicks, replies, even how long someone pauses to read your email. They use all this data to decide if your content is valuable or just more noise. These positive interactions are powerful signals that tell their algorithms, "Hey, people actually want to see this."

This creates a powerful feedback loop. High engagement leads to better inbox placement, which then gets your emails in front of more people, driving even more engagement. The trick is to build your automated flows specifically to generate these positive signals from the get-go.

Designing Flows That Drive Positive Interactions

The best way to improve email deliverability through engagement is to be deliberate. Don't just send another standard marketing message. Instead, think about how you can prompt a specific, positive action from your subscribers at every stage of their journey.

Your automated flows in Shopify are the perfect place to start. Since they’re triggered by a customer's own actions, the timing and relevance are already baked in.

Here are a few practical ways I’ve seen this work wonders:

• A "Reply-Worthy" Welcome Series: In your very first welcome email, go beyond a simple "hello." Ask a direct question like, "What are you shopping for today?" or "What's the #1 thing you're hoping to find?" This simple prompt encourages a reply, which is arguably the strongest positive engagement signal you can get.

• The Click-Generating Post-Purchase Email: After a customer buys, send a follow-up that practically begs to be clicked. You could ask for a product review, offer a downloadable guide on how to use their new item, or link to a quick video tutorial. Every single click reinforces that your content is genuinely useful.

• A Proactive Re-Engagement Campaign: For subscribers who have gone quiet, send a campaign that asks them to take a specific action to stay on your list. A simple "Click here to keep receiving our deals" button is far more effective for deliverability than just waving goodbye.

These aren't just clever marketing tactics; they're direct deliverability strategies. If you're looking for more ways to automate your engagement sequences and turn interest into action, you can explore powerful drip campaign examples.

Global Engagement and Deliverability Nuances

Keep in mind that the bar for what counts as "good engagement" isn't the same everywhere. Europe, for example, has some interesting dynamics. We see data pointing to inbox placement rates as low as 80.2% in some studies, while others report a healthier 89.1%.

This gap is partly due to stricter privacy laws and higher engagement thresholds enforced by providers like Gmail and GMX in the region. The irony is that GDPR compliance, while a headache for many, often forces marketers to maintain cleaner, more engaged lists—which ultimately results in better deliverability for those who adapt. This really just underscores the need for a targeted, engagement-first approach, no matter where your customers are.

Your email deliverability isn't a "set it and forget it" metric. It’s a living, breathing reflection of your relationship with your subscribers. Every email you send is a chance to strengthen that relationship and prove your value.

By focusing on generating genuine interactions, you shift from just blasting emails to actually having conversations. This one change in mindset is what separates brands that constantly struggle to reach the inbox from those who practically own their space within it. Every click, every reply, every positive interaction builds your sender reputation, making it that much easier for your next campaign to succeed.

Keeping an Eye on Your Deliverability Health

You can't fix what you can't see. When it comes to email deliverability, flying blind is a surefire way to end up in the spam folder. Proactively monitoring your performance is the only way to catch issues before they do real damage to your sender reputation and, ultimately, your sales.

This means looking past vanity metrics. A sudden drop in engagement isn't just a fluke; it's a symptom of a deeper problem. By keeping a close watch on a few critical numbers, you can diagnose problems early, take action, and turn your data into your best tool for staying in the inbox.

The Metrics That Actually Matter

Let's forget about open rates for a second. With privacy changes like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, they've become an increasingly unreliable signal. Instead, it's time to focus on the numbers that inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook actually use to judge your credibility as a sender.

Here’s what you should be watching like a hawk:

• Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of your emails that never made it to the recipient's server. A high bounce rate—anything creeping over 2%—is a huge sign that your email list needs cleaning. It's crucial to separate hard bounces (permanent failures, like an invalid email address) from soft bounces (temporary issues, like a full inbox).

• Complaint Rate: This one is a killer. It measures how many people are hitting the "spam" button on your emails. Anything above 0.1% is a massive red flag for inbox providers and the fastest way to get your domain blocklisted. This metric is a direct reflection of whether your audience finds your content relevant.

• Inbox Placement Rate: This tells you where your emails are actually landing: the primary inbox, the promotions tab, or the spam folder. You can't track this perfectly from your email platform alone, which is why tools like Google Postmaster Tools are so valuable. They give you direct insight into how Gmail, the biggest player in the game, perceives your sending reputation.

Your goal is to keep your bounce rate under 2% and your complaint rate below 0.1%. Hitting these numbers consistently sends a powerful signal to inbox providers that you're a trustworthy sender who deserves a spot in the primary inbox.

A Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

So, you've noticed a sudden dip in performance. Don't panic. Before you start randomly changing things, run through this quick diagnostic checklist to figure out what's really going on.

Have You Been Blocklisted?

First things first, check if your sending domain or IP has landed on any major blocklists. You can use a free tool like MXToolbox to get a quick scan. Getting listed can happen for all sorts of reasons—maybe you sent to an old list and hit a spam trap, or you had a sudden spike in complaints. If you find your domain on a list, the tool will link you to the blocklist's site, where you'll find instructions for getting removed (which always starts with fixing the problem that got you listed).

What Changed in Your Recent Campaigns?

Take a hard look at the last few emails you sent out, especially the one right before you noticed the drop. Did you try out a new, super-aggressive subject line? Did you send a "we miss you" campaign to a segment that hasn't opened an email in two years? More often than not, a performance nosedive can be traced back to a single campaign that sent a lot of negative signals to the inbox providers.

Is One Email Client the Problem?

Dive into your analytics and segment your performance by email client. Is the drop happening across the board, or is it concentrated with one provider, like Gmail or Outlook? If your numbers suddenly tank only for Gmail users, that’s a pretty clear sign you've got a specific reputation issue with Google. This is exactly when Google Postmaster Tools becomes your best friend, giving you the direct feedback you need to fix the problem.

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