Mission Inbox - Email Deliverability Management Hub

Here’s the 5-tool framework I use to diagnose exactly WHY an email landed in spam: Deliverability isn’t about luck — it’s about understanding the exact systems that ESPs (like Gmail & Outlook) use to filter your emails. I use a 5-tool framework to diagnose exactly why emails are landing in spam and how to fix it fast. Here’s the step-by-step process: 1. MxToolBox — to verify DNS records and identify authentication issues. 2. Whois — to check domain trustworthiness and provider reputation. 3. Domain Age Checker — to identify if a domain is too “fresh” for reliable deliverability. 4. ChatGPT — to analyze email headers and detect spam triggers most people miss. 5. MailReach — to test real-world placement across Gmail, Outlook, and other ESPs. Each tool uncovers a different layer of the problem — and together, they create a complete diagnosis. If you’ve been guessing why emails land in spam… this framework will change the game for you. Go watch my first YouTube tutorial where I follow this workflow step by step! (Link in the comments) ?? Re-post or tag a colleague! This will save them money and time, tell them to buy you dinner next time ;D

Your emails are going to spam because of your DNS records, even with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configured You did everything right. — SPF? ? Passed. — DKIM? ? Passed. — DMARC? ? Configured. Yet, your emails are still landing in spam. What’s going on? ?? Alignment Google (and other providers) don’t just check if SPF and DKIM pass They check if they’re aligned with your “From” address If they’re not? Your email looks spoofed Even if it’s 100% legit ?? Look at the screenshot. — SPF ? — DKIM ? — Alignment ? → Google throws a warning. DMARC is only fully effective when SPF or DKIM aligns with the “From” domain. If they don’t match? Spam. This is why so many emails fail silently—they pass authentication but still get filtered. How to Fix It? — Make sure your sending domain is consistent across SPF, DKIM, and “From.” — Use strict alignment in your DMARC (aspf=s; adkim=s) if you want real protection. — Check your email headers. Gmail → “Show Original” → Look for domain mismatches. Most people think just setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is enough Or worse, they *think* they're aligned. It’s not. Alignment is the missing piece Fix it. Get out of spam because of technicalities If you need help figuring out if your DNS records are aligned, drop me a comment and I'll do a quick audit for you :D

+200 people connected to watch our live webinar today, one of the best ones I’ve had so far! ?? Thanks to everyone for joining and listening. I’m receiving lots of requests and messages, so, I’ll open more slots next week to chat with everybody that’s facing Cold Email challenges. Happy to help! Special thanks for everyone at the Sell Better team and Jed Mahrle for making this possible. Excited for the next one, be prepared!

Cold email is killing businesses in 2025: Not because it doesn’t work—but because most people don’t know how to adapt. - Outlook’s BCL filters are blocking entire campaigns. - Google is flagging emails based on sequencing software fingerprints. - ESPs are scanning specific keywords and marking emails as spam before they even hit the inbox. Reply rates are plummeting. Deliverability is tanking. And if you don’t fix this now, you’re at risk of: ? Losing clients. ? Burning domains and infrastructure. ? Watching revenue disappear. But here’s the thing: If you understand and fix these issues today, you’ll thrive while everyone else scrambles. So, how do we send 100,000+ emails/month safely? How do some of my clients scale up to 1M-3M emails/month without getting blocked? This Friday, I’m breaking it all down with Jed Mahrle from Sell Better. ?? Friday, June 28th at 12 PM EST ?? Link in the comments If you run cold email campaigns and you’re serious about inboxing in 2025, you need to be there. See you at the webinar. ?? Join me LIVE with Jed Mahrle from Sell Better on the 28th of February. Link to join in the comment section!

If you’re sending cold emails in 2025, here’s what you’re up against: ? Outlook is tanking reply rates. ? Gmail is flagging emails for “salesy” content. ? Spam filters are more aggressive than ever. And most senders have no clue what’s actually going wrong. - They rewrite copy. - They change domains. - They burn infrastructure—without fixing the real issue. I’m breaking all of this down LIVE with Sell Better: ? The new Gmail & Outlook updates that are silently killing inbox placement. ? How I send 100k+ cold emails a month without getting blocked. ? The exact infrastructure setup & best practices to scale safely. ?? Join me LIVE with Jed Mahrle from Sell Better on the 28th of February. Link to join in the comment section!

People keep throwing away domains after hitting 50% spam on Google—then just buy more and repeat. That’s not how you fix deliverability. Here’s what actually matters when analyzing placement tests: ?? Lead List & Provider Breakdown Your placement test results mean nothing unless you compare them against your sending strategy. → 50% spam on Google? Then yes, you might need new domains to target Gmail accounts. → 100% spam on Outlook, 100% inbox on Google? Then your cold email strategy needs to be different for each provider. ?? Copy Is Usually the Culprit For Google, content sensitivity is higher. A bad copy triggers spam faster (at least since 3rd week of Jan 2025) For Outlook, shorter emails = better deliverability. If your tests show spam issues, start here: → Change subject lines. → Remove common spam trigger words. → Rewrite your email copy before switching domains. ?? Burned Domains? Reuse for Outlook Remember those domains you stopped using after October’s deliverability meltdown? They’ve aged now. If they’re 3+ months old, you can repurpose them for Outlook sending. → Check inbox placement first. → If the copy was the problem, don’t let an aged domain go to waste. ?? How are you testing your copy right now? Drop a comment!

Your spam placement test is lying to you. Because not all placement tests are created equal: I see people running one GlockApps test and assuming their deliverability is solid. Then they send a campaign and get 0 replies. Here’s why: 1?? GlockApps ≠ Real Cold Email Traffic ?? GlockApps and MailReach log into a mailbox and send test emails to seed addresses. ?? But they’re internal tests, not real outbound emails. Outlook and Google treat these differently than emails sent to prospects. 2?? Smartlead Smart Delivery & Instantly.ai ≠ Traditional Testing ?? These tools test placement directly from their infrastructure—so they mimic real-world sending conditions better (if you will send your outreach from the same tools) ?? If your email lands in spam in these tests, it’s likely to land in spam when sending to prospects. 3?? Your "Inbox Rate" is Misleading ?? Getting 80% inbox placement on GlockApps? That doesn’t mean 80% of your cold emails are hitting primary inboxes. Because Glock’s seed emails aren’t your actual prospects—they don’t behave the same way. ?? Your real inbox rate depends on engagement, past interactions, and sender history. How to Actually Test Deliverability? ? Run tests across multiple platforms (GlockApps, MailReach, Instantly.ai, Smartlead). ? Compare results: If Smartlead shows spam but Glock shows inbox, trust Smartlead’s result since they’re the ones with the sending infra itself. Same applies for any other sequencer with placement testing. Also keep in mind the tenants, usually platforms will have all their domains in single msft tenants or google workspace admin — meaning that results are extremely likely to duplicate across the rest of the domains. Most senders don’t know their true deliverability because they only trust one test. Stop assuming. Start testing smarter. ?? How are you testing your inbox placement right now? Drop a comment—I’ll break it down.

If your reply rate is under 3%, you have a deliverability problem. People try to fix reply rates by changing the CTA, tweaking the offer, or changing the subject line. And while that’s something you have to do, it doesn’t end there… Here’s how to fix your deliverability first, so you can actually get replies ?? 1?? Check if your inbox is already flagged—pause and reset. ? If your reply rate suddenly drops to <3% overnight, you’ve been flagged. ? If you're getting under 3% replies for multiple campaigns, you're being deprioritized in inboxes. Here’s what to do: ? Stop sending from that inbox immediately. Don’t make it worse. ? Rotate in fresh domains (at least 90+ days old) to take over volume. ? Test inbox placement. Use GlockApps or MailReach to see if you're hitting spam. Fix your placement before changing anything else. 2?? Warm-up and aging is the new black. No warm-up = no inbox = no replies. How to fix it? ? Use a strong warm-up: 80% reply rate, mark emails as important, pull them out of spam. ? Google & Outlook need different warm-ups: - Gmail: 14-30 days before outbound. - Outlook: 60-90 days before outbound. ? Ramp volume up slowly: Start with 5 emails/day per inbox. Increase by 5 per day till 30. The inboxes that are warmed properly are the ones that will get consistent replies. 3?? Stop using LinkedIn templates and overused scripts. Spam filters don’t just look at who is sending. They use AI to track what’s being sent. If you and 50 other senders are using the same generic “quick question” or “company + personalization” templates, forget it. Instead: ? Rewrite scripts with unique sentence structures (based on proper segmentation and personalization) ? Use SpinTax to randomize phrasing at scale. ? Test your copy’s inbox placement before scaling volume. Inbox first. Then optimize for replies. 4?? Keep your email-to-domain ratio lean. Most people blast from the same domains until they burn them. Instead, follow this: ? Gmail: 2 mailboxes per domain → 30 emails/day per inbox. ? Outlook: Just follow your provider recommended settings. ? Rotate domains every 2-3 weeks to avoid degradation. ?? If an inbox underperforms for more than 3 weeks, retire it and switch domains. High reply rates come from fresh, trusted domains, and conversational copy. I’m breaking this all down and solving real cases in a live webinar on Wednesday 12th of February. ?? Comment "Webinar" below, and I’ll get you in. ??

??????’???? ?????????????? ???? ?? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ?????? ??????’?? ???????? ?????????????? ????... tl;dr: If you’ve been sending only to Google since November 2024, those mailboxes are now 3+ months old—which means they’re primed for Outlook inboxing. Yesterday, I ran my first solo webinar and shared one of the most overlooked deliverability hacks… If you switched everything to Google after Outlook cracked down, DO NOT kill those mailboxes. Here’s why: — Google and Outlook have completely different spam filters. — A domain struggling with Google isn’t necessarily dead for Outlook. — If your domains are +90 days old, they’re now at the sweet spot for Outlook inboxing. Action Plan: — Don’t kill mailboxes just because they’re landing in Google spam. — If they’re 3+ months old, start sending to Outlook today. ?? Worst case? No responses. ?? Best case? You unlock leads you weren’t getting before. I’m breaking down more hidden deliverability plays in my free webinar series. ?? Next session: February 12th—drop “Webinar” in the comments if you want in.

Here’s how to spot and respond to deliverability shifts in Cold Email 1?? Watch for Patterns Across Clients/Colleagues If only one client/colleague is seeing issues, it’s likely an isolated case. But if multiple clients are reporting similar drops in responses or increased bounce rates, there’s a bigger problem brewing. ?? Pro Tip: Ask the community. If no one else is experiencing these issues, it’s likely just you. But if others confirm the same trends, you’re probably in the middle of a spam filter update. 2?? Monitor Bounce Rates Closely Bounce rates are your first red flag. ?? A sudden spike in bounce rates across campaigns is a strong indicator of a system-wide deliverability shift. Specially if you verified your lists before the campaign. 3?? Leverage Out-of-Office Replies Out-of-office responses are more valuable than you think. Why? They confirm you’re hitting the inbox. If they disappear entirely, it’s a sign you’ve been flagged or blocked. 4?? Run Inbox Placement Tests Regularly Don’t guess—test. - Smartlead SmartDelivery - GlockApps - MailReach These tools will help identify whether your emails are landing in spam or bypassing filters altogether. Deliverability shifts aren’t subtle. If you’re seeing unusual trends, analyze your data, check with the community, and run placement tests. ?? Want to prepare for the shifts ahead? On January 29th, I’m hosting a free webinar breaking down the biggest deliverability changes coming in 2025 and how to adapt. If you want to join, drop "Webinar" in the comments, and I’ll send you the invite. Let’s get ahead together.