074: Alyssa Dulin – Secrets of Email Deliverability

What It Covers

Alyssa Dulin, ConvertKit's head of deliverability, explains how email reputation systems work, what impacts inbox placement, why list cleaning matters despite revenue loss, and how positive subscriber signals like replies boost deliverability performance.

Key Questions Answered

• •Positive Engagement Signals: Inbox providers track opens, clicks, replies, safe sender additions, and spam folder removals to build sender reputation. Getting subscribers to reply to emails provides particularly strong positive signals that messages are transactional and valuable, helping algorithms favor primary inbox placement over promotions.
• •List Cleaning Strategy: Sending to unengaged subscribers who leave consecutive messages unread creates negative signals that suddenly tank reputation and trigger spam filtering. Clean lists proactively using engagement scores, reduce frequency to cold subscribers, or implement reengagement campaigns at three to six month intervals to maintain healthy sender reputation.
• •Open Rate Benchmarks Post-iOS: Apple Mail Privacy Protection automatically opens tracking pixels regardless of actual user engagement, inflating open rates across the industry. Aim for 40 percent or above open rates now versus 30 percent pre-iOS changes. Focus on conversions and replies rather than opens for accurate engagement measurement.
• •Custom Domain Considerations: Using verified sending domains or dedicated IPs removes ConvertKit's reputation boost, requiring minimum 10,000 messages monthly and consistent sending frequency to maintain independent reputation. Shared IPs provide buffer against mistakes, time off, or engagement drops through pooled reputation with other quality creators.
• •MOG Membership Advantage: ConvertKit belongs to M3AAWG, an exclusive anti-abuse organization requiring strict application processes and proven spam fighting. Membership provides direct relationships with Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo postmasters and Spamhaus, enabling immediate issue resolution that individual creators cannot access independently.