# What can I do to improve my email deliverability?

## Want to avoid going to spam? Read our suggestions below.

To achieve optimal deliverability and inbox placement rates, it is crucial to establish your credibility as a sender and build a positive reputation with mailbox providers, such as Gmail and Hotmail.

Follow these guidelines to accomplish that:

1. **Obtain Permission**: Only send emails to individuals who have actively subscribed to receive your content.  Letterhead sends a verification email to ensure a subscriber legitimately subscribed to receive your content.
2. **Be Transparent**: Ensure that your email content is relevant to the recipient. Provide meaningful information in the Subject, From, and Reply-to headers.
3. **Eliminate Hard Bounces**: Immediately remove any invalid recipient addresses (hard bounces) from your future email campaigns **(Letterhead does this for you automatically).**
4. **Stop Sending to Uninterested Recipients**& take the following steps:
   - Remove inactive users who haven't opened or clicked your emails in the last 30 days.
   - Set up and verify DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) for your sending domains.
     - If you use the **'@a.letterhead.email'** domain, no action is required.  It is setup for our domain.
- If you have a custom domain that you setup with Letterhead during your onboarding, this is setup for you.

**Avoid the Following Poor Practices:**

- Sending messages without proper testing and proofreading.
- Concealing the sender's identity or using deceptive subject lines.
- Hiding or ignoring unsubscribe links and requests.
- Purchasing email lists, particularly from untrustworthy sources.
- Selling your list to third parties without obtaining permission.
- Establish custom bounce and tracking domains (Letterhead does this for you during onboarding).

For more detailed information on this topic, we recommend reviewing the [MAAWG (Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group) Sender Best Common Practices](https://www.m3aawg.org/documents/en/m3aawg-sender-best-common-practices-version-30).

### Need Help?

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact our support team at [support@tryletterhead.com](mailto:support@tryletterhead.com) or log a support ticket through the [Help Center](https://help.tryletterhead.com/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en)!