Mailbox providers weigh hundreds of signals when deciding whether an email lands in the inbox or the spam folder. Work through this checklist in order—these are the most common causes we see, and how to fix each one.
1. You're sending from a public domain
If you send from a free address like gmail.com or yahoo.com, your messages will likely go to spam. Send mail from a domain you own that matches your branding.
2. You're sending internal mail
Sending to the same domain the message comes from—for example, from info@exampledomain.com to bob@exampledomain.com—often lands in spam. Your mailbox sees a message from itself that it didn't send (Kit did), suspects spoofing, and files it as spam.
If you're only sending internal mail to test your messages, use a free address like gmail.com instead. If you need to send internal mail beyond testing, ask whoever manages mail for your domain to allowlist Kit's IPs.
3. Your domain isn't verified for DMARC
If your sending domain has a DMARC policy but you haven't verified the domain in Kit, your messages will likely go to spam. Follow the steps in Using a verified domain for email sending so your Kit messages pass DMARC.
4. Your forms are being listbombed
If you collect subscribers through online signup forms, listbombing may be affecting your deliverability. Learn what listbombing is and how to fix it.
5. Your list health needs attention
Once the technical pieces above are covered, list health and list collection are the next most important factors in deliverability. Check that:
Everyone on your list gave direct consent to receive email marketing from you
Your cold subscribers are cleaned from your list regularly
Your forms are secured with double opt-in
To learn more about why messages go to the inbox or the spam folder, read Deliverability 101.