How to Improve Email Deliverability in HubSpot Like a Pro

This guide will cover essential strategies to improve email deliverability in HubSpot, from authenticating emails and optimising contact lists to boosting engagement and reducing spam risks. You'll also learn how to monitor key metrics and troubleshoot common issues to ensure your emails consistently reach inboxes.

Understanding Email Deliverability in HubSpot

What Is Email Deliverability?

Email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to successfully land in recipients' inboxes rather than being filtered into spam or promotions.

It goes beyond just sending emails—it's about whether they actually reach your audience in a way that ensures visibility and engagement.

Improving email deliverability in HubSpot is crucial for maintaining strong open and click-through rates, as poor deliverability can significantly hinder the success of your email marketing campaigns.

The Difference Between Deliverability and Delivery Rate

Many marketers confuse email deliverability with delivery rate, but these are two distinct metrics.

• Delivery rate measures the percentage of emails that were accepted by the recipient’s server, meaning they didn’t bounce. However, this does not guarantee that the emails landed in the inbox.
  
  
• Email deliverability focuses on whether those delivered emails actually reach the primary inbox or get diverted to spam or other folders.

For example, an email might have a high delivery rate but poor HubSpot email deliverability if many of those messages end up in junk folders.

To optimise your email marketing, it’s important to focus on improving both.

Factors That Impact Whether Emails Land in Inboxes, Spam, or Promotions

Several factors influence whether your emails reach inboxes or get flagged by spam filters. These include:

• Sender reputation: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) evaluate your domain's history, engagement rates, and spam complaints. A poor reputation lowers email deliverability in HubSpot and increases the risk of emails being blocked.
  
  
• Email authentication: Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records ensures your emails are verified and trusted by ISPs. Without these, your messages are more likely to be marked as suspicious.
  
  
• Contact list quality: Sending emails to outdated or purchased lists leads to high bounce rates and spam complaints, both of which negatively affect HubSpot email deliverability.
  
  
• Engagement rates: Low open and click-through rates signal to email providers that your emails are unwanted, reducing inbox placement over time.
  
  
• Email content and formatting: Spam filters analyse subject lines, formatting, and wording. Overuse of capital letters, excessive links, or misleading language can increase the chances of emails being filtered out.
  
  
• Sending frequency and consistency: Irregular sending patterns can trigger spam filters, while excessive email blasts can cause recipients to mark messages as spam.

Addressing these factors is key to improving email deliverability in HubSpot and ensuring your campaigns perform effectively.

How HubSpot Handles Email Deliverability

HubSpot provides a range of built-in tools and safeguards to help businesses improve email deliverability in HubSpot and maintain a strong sender reputation.

• Email Health Dashboard: HubSpot’s analytics tools allow marketers to track deliverability metrics such as open rates, click rates, and bounce rates. This data helps diagnose potential issues and refine email strategies.
  
  
• Email Sending Reputation Management: HubSpot actively monitors sender reputation and enforces strict guidelines to prevent spammy behaviour. Accounts with poor email practices may be restricted to protect overall deliverability.
  
  
• Automatic Suppression of Unengaged Contacts: To prevent emails from being marked as spam, HubSpot automatically suppresses contacts who haven’t engaged with previous emails, ensuring campaigns target active users.
  
  
• Spam Testing and Recommendations: HubSpot provides insights on potential spam triggers before sending emails, allowing marketers to adjust content and formatting for better inbox placement.
  
  
• Domain Authentication Support: HubSpot encourages users to authenticate their email domains using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, reducing the risk of emails being flagged as suspicious.

By leveraging these tools, businesses can improve email deliverability in HubSpot and ensure their messages consistently reach the right audience.

Best Practices to Improve Email Deliverability in HubSpot

Ensuring high email deliverability in HubSpot requires a proactive approach.

 

From domain authentication to list hygiene and content optimisation, following best practices can significantly improve inbox placement and engagement rates.

1. Authenticate Your Domain for Better Reputation

One of the most effective ways to improve email deliverability in HubSpot is to authenticate your email-sending domain using SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance).

These protocols verify that HubSpot is authorised to send emails on your behalf, reducing the likelihood of your messages being flagged as spam.

• SPF prevents unauthorised sources from sending emails on your domain’s behalf, helping to avoid phishing attempts.
  
  
• DKIM adds a digital signature to emails, proving their legitimacy and preventing tampering.
  
  
• DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM, providing instructions to email providers on how to handle unauthenticated messages.

Without proper authentication, ISPs may classify your emails as untrustworthy, significantly damaging your HubSpot email deliverability.

To set up authentication in HubSpot, navigate to Settings > Domains & URLs > Email Sending Domains, where you can update DNS records for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

Once configured, you can verify your settings in HubSpot’s Email Health Dashboard to ensure everything is correctly implemented.

2. Build and Maintain a High-Quality Email List

A well-maintained contact list is essential to improving email deliverability in HubSpot. Sending emails to outdated, invalid, or disengaged contacts increases bounce rates and spam complaints, which negatively impact your sender reputation.

• Remove invalid and inactive contacts: Regularly clean your email list by removing addresses that have hard-bounced or haven’t engaged with your emails in a long time.
  
  
• Avoid purchased lists: Buying email lists may seem like a shortcut, but these contacts are often unverified and can contain spam traps, which severely hurt HubSpot email deliverability.
  
  
• Use HubSpot’s segmentation tools: HubSpot allows you to create dynamic lists that target engaged contacts, ensuring emails are sent to those who are most likely to open and interact with them.

 

A high-quality list not only boosts email deliverability in HubSpot but also increases engagement, leading to better marketing performance overall.

3. Follow HubSpot’s Email Sending Best Practices

Email content plays a crucial role in whether messages land in inboxes or spam folders. By following HubSpot’s email best practices, you can enhance engagement and ensure your emails comply with ISP filters.

• Avoid spammy subject lines: Words like “FREE,” “LIMITED OFFER,” or excessive capital letters and exclamation marks can trigger spam filters. Instead, use clear, relevant subject lines that encourage recipients to open your emails.
  
  
• Go for headlines that your subscribers would want to click on. The more personalised they are, the more likely your subscribers are to open them.
  
  
• Maintain a balanced text-to-image ratio: Emails overloaded with images and little text are often flagged as promotional or spam. Aim for a 60:40 text-to-image ratio to ensure better inbox placement.
  
  
• Use personalisation: Adding the recipient’s name, company, or other relevant details makes emails feel more tailored and increases engagement. HubSpot’s personalisation tokens help automate this process, improving open and click-through rates.
  
  
• Write in a conversational, one-to-one style. Not only does it come off as friendly and interactive, it helps prevent your email from getting tagged as spam.

4. Monitor Email Engagement Metrics in HubSpot

Monitoring engagement metrics is crucial for improving email deliverability in HubSpot, as low engagement signals to ISPs that your emails may not be relevant or wanted, increasing the likelihood of them being filtered into spam. HubSpot’s Email Health Dashboard provides key insights into:

• Open rates – A declining open rate may indicate poor subject lines, unengaged contacts, or inbox placement issues.
  
  
• Bounce rates – A high bounce rate (above 2%) suggests that your contact list contains invalid or outdated email addresses, which can harm your sender reputation.
  
  
• Spam complaints – If recipients repeatedly mark your emails as spam, ISPs may start blocking your emails altogether.

 

To improve email deliverability in HubSpot, regularly review these metrics and identify underperforming campaigns.

If certain emails have consistently low open rates or high spam complaints, adjust your strategy by refining subject lines, improving personalisation, or segmenting your list more effectively.

Additionally, A/B testing can help optimise your campaigns by comparing different versions of subject lines, email content, and sending times.

HubSpot’s A/B testing feature allows you to measure what resonates best with your audience, ultimately boosting engagement and deliverability.

5. Use a Dedicated Sending IP (For High-Volume Senders)

For businesses that send a high volume of emails, using HubSpot’s shared IPs may not always be ideal. Shared IPs pool multiple senders together, meaning your HubSpot email deliverability can be affected by the behaviour of other users on the same IP.

A dedicated IP gives you complete control over your sender reputation, which is beneficial for organisations sending over 100,000 emails per month.

However, simply switching to a dedicated IP isn’t enough—you need to warm it up properly to establish a strong reputation.

Warming up a dedicated IP involves:

• Gradually increasing your sending volume over 2–4 weeks rather than sending a large batch immediately.
  
  
• Prioritising emails to your most engaged contacts first to build a positive sender reputation.
  
  
• Monitoring key deliverability metrics and adjusting frequency based on engagement levels.

By properly warming up your IP, you can prevent deliverability issues and ensure your emails consistently reach inboxes.

6. Manage Email Frequency and Sending Volume

Email frequency plays a key role in maintaining high email deliverability in HubSpot. Sending too many emails in a short period can overwhelm recipients, leading to unsubscribes and spam complaints. Conversely, sending too few emails can reduce brand awareness and engagement.

Best practices for email cadence include:

• Avoiding excessive email blasts – If contacts receive too many emails in a short time, they are more likely to disengage or mark them as spam.
  
  
• Segmenting based on engagement – Send more frequent emails to engaged subscribers while limiting emails to those who rarely interact.
  
  
• Using HubSpot’s email throttling tools – HubSpot allows you to schedule and distribute emails at optimal times, rather than sending all at once, reducing the risk of being flagged as spam.

Striking the right balance ensures that your emails remain welcome in inboxes rather than being ignored or flagged.

7. Ensure Your Emails Are Mobile-Friendly

With over 50% of emails being opened on mobile devices, mobile optimisation directly impacts engagement and HubSpot email deliverability. If your emails are difficult to read or interact with on a mobile screen, recipients are more likely to delete them or mark them as spam.

Best practices for mobile-friendly emails in HubSpot:

• Use responsive email templates – HubSpot provides mobile-optimised email designs that automatically adjust for different screen sizes.
  
  
• Keep subject lines concise – Mobile devices display fewer characters, so keep subject lines under 40 characters for better readability.
  
  
• Optimise CTA buttons – Ensure call-to-action buttons are large enough to tap easily on a touchscreen.
  
  
• Avoid large images – Overly large images can slow down loading times, leading to poor user experience and higher email abandonment rates.

By ensuring your emails are mobile-friendly, you increase engagement, reduce spam complaints, and ultimately improve email deliverability in HubSpot.

Avoiding Spam Filters & Compliance with HubSpot

Ensuring your emails land in inboxes rather than spam folders is a key part of improving email deliverability in HubSpot.

Email providers use advanced filtering systems to protect users from unwanted messages, and if your emails trigger these filters, they may never reach your audience.

By following best practices and staying compliant with regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR, you can maintain a positive sender reputation and avoid being blacklisted.

Why Emails Land in Spam and How to Avoid It

Emails can be flagged as spam for several reasons, including poor sender reputation, spam-triggering content, and low engagement rates. HubSpot has built-in tools to monitor email health, but avoiding spam filters starts with understanding what causes emails to be flagged:

• Spammy Subject Lines – Words like “100% FREE,” “URGENT,” “GUARANTEED,” or excessive use of capital letters and exclamation marks can trigger spam filters. Instead, write clear and relevant subject lines that match the content of your email.
  
  
• Misleading Sender Information – Always use a verified business domain instead of free email providers like Gmail or Yahoo. HubSpot allows you to authenticate your sending domain to prove legitimacy, which improves inbox placement.
  
  
• Low Engagement – ISPs track how recipients interact with your emails. If users frequently delete them without opening, mark them as spam, or don’t engage, your HubSpot email deliverability will suffer. Using segmentation and personalisation can increase engagement and reduce spam complaints.
  
  
• Too Many Images, Too Little Text – A poor text-to-image ratio makes your email look like a promotional message rather than a valuable communication. Aim for at least 60% text and 40% images.

Regularly checking your spam score using HubSpot’s email health tools can help identify issues before they impact deliverability.

Follow CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and HubSpot’s Email Policies

Compliance with email regulations is essential for both legal reasons and maintaining trust with your recipients. HubSpot enforces strict policies to help users comply with anti-spam laws, ensuring ethical email marketing practices.

• CAN-SPAM (US): Requires marketers to provide clear sender information, avoid misleading subject lines, and offer an unsubscribe option in every email.
  
  
• GDPR (EU & UK): Requires explicit consent from recipients before sending marketing emails. You must also give users the option to withdraw consent easily. HubSpot’s double opt-in feature ensures compliance by confirming that recipients genuinely want to receive your emails.
  
  
• HubSpot’s Email Policy: Prohibits purchased lists and requires users to send emails only to contacts who have opted in. Ignoring this policy can result in email suspension or a drop in deliverability.

HubSpot’s Email Health Dashboard allows you to track compliance-related issues, ensuring that your campaigns meet legal and platform-specific requirements.

Use the Unsubscribe Link Properly and Avoid Misleading Opt-ins

Offering a clear and accessible unsubscribe link is not just a legal requirement—it also helps maintain a healthy sender reputation. If recipients can’t find an easy way to opt out, they are more likely to mark your email as spam, which negatively impacts your HubSpot improve email deliverability efforts.

Best practices for handling unsubscribe options:

• Make it easy to find – The unsubscribe link should be placed in the email footer, using clear language like “Unsubscribe” instead of vague phrases like “Manage Preferences.”
  
  
• Avoid misleading opt-ins – Do not pre-check opt-in boxes on forms or use deceptive wording to trick users into subscribing. Transparency builds trust and reduces spam complaints.
  
  
• Use a preference centre – HubSpot allows you to set up an email subscription preference page, letting users adjust how often they receive emails rather than opting out completely.

By following these guidelines, you can prevent spam complaints, ensure compliance with global email laws, and improve email deliverability in HubSpot for long-term success.

Troubleshooting Email Deliverability Issues in HubSpot

Even with the best email marketing practices, you may still encounter deliverability challenges that prevent your emails from reaching inboxes.

Understanding how to improve email deliverability in HubSpot requires diagnosing the root cause of poor inbox placement and taking corrective action.

HubSpot provides several tools to help identify and fix these issues, ensuring that your emails land where they should.

Common Reasons for Poor Email Deliverability

Poor email deliverability can stem from multiple factors, including technical issues, low engagement, or sender reputation problems. Some of the most common reasons include:

• High Bounce Rates – If your emails are bouncing frequently (hard or soft bounces), ISPs may flag your domain as unreliable, lowering your deliverability. This often happens when sending to invalid or inactive email addresses.
  
  
• Spam Complaints – If too many recipients mark your emails as spam, ISPs may start blocking your messages altogether. This usually happens when contacts receive unexpected emails or find your content irrelevant.
  
  
• Low Open and Click Rates – Email providers monitor engagement levels. If your emails consistently have low opens or clicks, ISPs assume they’re unwanted and may start filtering them into spam.
  
  
• Sending Too Many Emails at Once – A sudden increase in email volume, especially from a new or unverified domain, can trigger spam filters. Gradually scaling up sending volume and using HubSpot’s email throttling features can help mitigate this risk.
  
  
• Lack of Domain Authentication – Without proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication, your emails may be flagged as suspicious, reducing inbox placement rates.

How to Diagnose and Fix Low Inbox Placement Issues in HubSpot

If your emails are landing in spam or not reaching inboxes at all, HubSpot provides tools to analyse and fix deliverability issues:

1. Check the Email Health Dashboard – HubSpot’s email performance reports highlight key metrics like bounce rates, open rates, and spam complaints. If any of these are abnormally high, it signals a problem with your sender reputation.
   
   
2. Verify Domain Authentication – Go to HubSpot Settings > Domains & URLs to check if SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication are correctly set up. If not, update your DNS records as per HubSpot’s recommendations.
   
   
3. Clean Your Email List – Remove hard bounces, inactive contacts, and unengaged recipients to improve your sender reputation. Use HubSpot’s list segmentation to send emails only to engaged contacts.
   
   
4. Optimise Email Content – Avoid spam-triggering words, keep subject lines clear, and maintain a good text-to-image ratio. A/B testing in HubSpot can help identify content that resonates better with your audience.
   
   
5. Use a Dedicated Sending IP (If Needed) – If you send a high volume of emails, consider using a dedicated IP address to improve your sender reputation and inbox placement rates.

Regularly reviewing your email performance and making adjustments ensures better email deliverability in HubSpot over time.

Steps to Request an Email Sending Reputation Review with HubSpot Support

If you’ve followed all best practices and are still experiencing deliverability issues, HubSpot’s support team can help by reviewing your email sending reputation and identifying potential blocks. Here’s how you can request a review:

1. Go to HubSpot Support – Navigate to Help > Contact Support in your HubSpot account.
   
   
2. Submit a Deliverability Review Request – Clearly explain the issue, including bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics. Provide details on recent changes in your email strategy.
   
   
3. HubSpot’s Investigation – The support team will analyse your sending history, check for blacklist issues, and review any ISP-related restrictions affecting your deliverability.
   
   
4. Receive Recommendations – Based on their findings, HubSpot will provide customised solutions, such as authentication fixes, sender reputation improvements, or IP warm-up strategies.

Understanding how to improve email deliverability in HubSpot means staying proactive in monitoring your email health, optimising content, and taking immediate action when issues arise.

By following these troubleshooting steps, you can maintain strong email performance and ensure your messages consistently reach your audience’s inbox.

How to Improve Email Deliverability in HubSpot for Long-Term Success

Improving email deliverability isn’t a one-time fix—it’s an ongoing process that requires consistent monitoring, optimisation, and adherence to best practices.

By understanding how to improve email deliverability in HubSpot, you can ensure that your emails reach inboxes rather than being lost in spam folders or blocked by ISPs.

To recap, the key steps for improving deliverability include:

• Authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to establish trust with email providers.
  
  
• Building and maintaining a high-quality email list by removing invalid or disengaged contacts.
  
  
• Following HubSpot’s email sending best practices, including using engaging, non-spammy content and an optimal text-to-image ratio.
  
  
• Monitoring email performance metrics in HubSpot’s dashboard to identify and address deliverability issues early.
  
  
• Managing sending frequency to avoid overwhelming your recipients and triggering spam filters.
  
  
• Ensuring mobile optimisation for seamless readability across all devices.

A strong email marketing strategy depends on email hygiene and engagement tracking. Regularly reviewing your email health score in HubSpot, running A/B tests, and refining your segmentation strategy will help maintain high deliverability rates and maximise your email marketing ROI.

💡 Take action now: Check your email deliverability score in HubSpot, review your sender reputation, and apply these best practices to ensure your emails consistently land in inboxes.

The sooner you optimise your HubSpot email deliverability, the better your email performance will be!

FAQs: How to Improve Email Deliverability in HubSpot

1. What is email deliverability, and how does it differ from delivery rate?

Email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to reach the recipients' inboxes, whereas the delivery rate measures the percentage of emails successfully delivered to the email servers, regardless of whether they land in the inbox or spam folder.

Understanding this distinction is crucial when aiming to improve email deliverability in HubSpot.

2. How can I authenticate my domain in HubSpot to enhance email deliverability?

Authenticating your domain involves setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records in your DNS settings. In HubSpot, navigate to your account settings, select "Domains & URLs," and follow the instructions to connect and authenticate your email sending domain.

This process helps establish your legitimacy as a sender and is a key step in how to improve email deliverability in HubSpot.

3. Why is maintaining a clean email list important for deliverability in HubSpot?

A clean email list ensures that you're sending emails to valid and engaged contacts, reducing bounce rates and the likelihood of spam complaints.

Regularly updating your list by removing inactive or invalid contacts is essential for improving email deliverability in HubSpot.

4. What are some best practices for creating email content that enhances deliverability in HubSpot?

To improve email deliverability in HubSpot, craft clear and relevant subject lines, avoid using spam-triggering words, maintain a balanced text-to-image ratio, and personalise content to increase engagement.

HubSpot's email editor offers tools to optimize your content and ensure it aligns with these best practices.

5. How can I monitor and improve my email engagement metrics in HubSpot?

HubSpot provides detailed analytics on open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints.

Regularly reviewing these metrics can help you identify areas for improvement.

Implementing A/B testing for different email elements can also provide insights into what resonates best with your audience, aiding in your efforts to improve email deliverability in HubSpot.

6. When should I consider using a dedicated IP address in HubSpot?

If you're sending a high volume of emails, a dedicated IP can help build a consistent sender reputation, as it won't be affected by other users' activities.

HubSpot offers options for dedicated IPs, and properly warming up the IP is crucial to ensure optimal deliverability.

7. How does email frequency impact deliverability in HubSpot?

Sending emails too frequently can overwhelm recipients, leading to lower engagement and higher unsubscribe rates.

Conversely, infrequent emails might result in recipients forgetting about your brand.

Finding the right balance and using HubSpot's tools to schedule emails at optimal times can significantly improve email deliverability.

8. What steps can I take if I'm experiencing deliverability issues in HubSpot?

Start by reviewing your email performance metrics in HubSpot to identify potential issues.

Ensure your domain is authenticated, maintain a clean email list, and adhere to best practices in email content creation. If problems persist, consider reaching out to HubSpot's support for a comprehensive review of your email sending reputation.

By following these guidelines and utilising HubSpot's robust features, you can effectively improve email deliverability and ensure your messages reach your audience's inboxes.

 

Improving email deliverability in HubSpot requires a combination of strategic planning, regular monitoring, and adherence to best practices.

At Pixcell, HubSpot Gold Partner Consulting Agency, we specialise in helping businesses optimise their HubSpot email strategy for better deliverability, engagement, and ROI.

If you're just starting with HubSpot, be sure to check out our Beginners' Guide to Getting Started with HubSpot CRM for a seamless introduction to the platform.

💡 Want to improve your email deliverability and overall HubSpot performance? Get in touch with our team today—we’re here to help you achieve email success!