Improve inbox placement
Diagnose why accepted mail misses the inbox and remediate reputation, auth, and engagement.
- Difficulty:
- Advanced
- Prerequisites:
- Placement samples or panel data, Auth baseline
- Last updated:
- 2026-07-15
- Author:
- empire
Objective
Improve inbox placement
Raise primary/inbox placement by fixing reputation, auth, and engagement.
Starting state
Acceptance looks fine but primary/inbox placement is weak
Prerequisites
- Placement samples or panel data
- Auth baseline
Estimated time
2–4 hours
Difficulty
advanced
Required access
- ESP
- Postmaster tools
- CRM
Inputs
- Affected providers
- Streams impacted
- Recent metric changes
Step-by-step instructions
- Separate acceptance from placementConfirm SMTP success vs junk/promotions/missing outcomes by provider.
- Remediate signalsFix auth alignment, complaints, traps, and cold volume patterns.
- Rebuild engagementPrefer engaged cohorts and stabilize From identity while monitoring placement.
Verification
- Provider placement samples improve over a multi-day window
Common mistakes
- Chasing open rate without checking junk placement
- Is Promotions acceptable for this stream vs a true junk problem?
Rollback / recovery
- Reduce volume and tighten to engaged segments
Expected outcome
Inbox/primary placement recovers without sacrificing acceptance.
When to escalate
- Placement collapses across multiple major providers
Related Learn Articles
- Inbox PlacementWhether accepted mail lands in the primary inbox versus secondary or junk folders.
- ReputationHow mailbox providers judge senders from IP, domain, and behavioral signals over time.
- DeliverabilityWhether mail is accepted and where it is placed — inbox, promotions, spam, or rejected.
- AuthenticationIdentity signals for email: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and related controls.
- Engagement signalsPositive and negative recipient actions (opens, clicks, deletes, ignores) that influence filtering.