> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Diagnose Email Deliverability Issues

> Triage bounce or complaint spikes and recover sender reputation step by step

Email deliverability is reputation, and reputation can erode quickly. This guide gives you a triage checklist when bounce rate climbs, complaint rate jumps, or your campaigns start landing in spam.

The single best tool here is the [Deliverability dashboard](/email-marketing/deliverability) at `/dashboard/marketing/email/deliverability`. The Email Coach can run the same triage on demand: *"audit my deliverability for the last 30 days."*

## When to start triaging

You should walk this checklist if any of these are true:

* Bounce rate is above 2% over the last 7 days.
* Complaint rate is above 0.05% over the last 7 days.
* Open rate has dropped 15%+ in the last 30 days with no obvious audience change.
* AWS SES status shows `under review` or worse.
* A specific recent campaign got a noticeably worse response than usual.

The earlier you catch it, the easier the fix.

## The triage checklist

Walk these in order — most issues resolve at one of the first two steps.

### 1. Domain verification

DKIM, SPF, and DMARC are the three signatures that prove your sends are legitimately you.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Check the domain status">
    Go to [Email > Domains](/email/domains). Each domain shows DKIM, SPF, and DMARC status. All three must be green.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Re-verify if anything's red">
    DNS records sometimes get edited or expire. Click **Re-verify** to re-run the DNS lookup. If a record is missing, the dashboard shows the exact value to add to your DNS provider.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check DMARC alignment">
    A DMARC record can pass technically but mis-align with your sending domain (e.g., `From:` says `acme.com` but DKIM signs `mail.acme.com` and your DMARC policy is strict). The domain detail page surfaces alignment issues.
  </Step>
</Steps>

If domain verification was the issue, fix it and wait 1-2 hours before sending again. DNS changes take time to propagate to recipient mail servers.

### 2. Recent list quality

A bad list is the most common cause of bounce or complaint spikes. Look for:

* **Hard bounces in the last campaign** — the dashboard segments bounces by campaign. If one campaign caused 70%+ of recent bounces, that's your suspect.
* **Stale audiences** — lists older than 6 months without an engagement filter routinely produce 5%+ bounce rates.
* **Imported third-party lists** — buying or scraping lists is the #1 way to get suspended. If a recent campaign used an external list, that's almost certainly the cause.
* **Complaint pattern** — complaints clustered on contacts who hadn't opened in 90+ days suggests the list has gone cold.

Fixes:

* Suppress the hard-bounced addresses (Hiveku does this automatically, but make sure they're not still in static audience rosters).
* Tighten dynamic filters: *"opened in the last 90 days"* added to a filter typically drops bounce rate by 1-3 percentage points.
* Run an external email-verification pass on the audience before re-sending.

### 3. Content

Some content patterns trip spam filters or invite complaints:

* **Spammy subject patterns** — ALL CAPS, currency symbols, excessive `!`, urgency language ("ACT NOW"). The template quality check flags these.
* **Image-heavy emails** — emails that are 90% images and 10% text are correlated with spam folder placement. Add real text.
* **Missing unsubscribe link** — Hiveku auto-injects one if your template lacks it, but verify it's actually visible.
* **Suspicious links** — URL shorteners (`bit.ly`, etc.) hurt reputation. Use full URLs or Hiveku's tracking links.
* **No plain-text alternative** — Hiveku auto-generates one, but a manual override is sometimes cleaner. Multipart MIME is a deliverability signal.

Run the **Quality check** on every template you send.

### 4. Engagement

Mailbox providers (especially Gmail and Microsoft) score your reputation per-recipient based on whether your past emails got opened, replied to, or moved to spam. Persistent low engagement = inboxing problems even if your bounce/complaint rates are fine.

Signs:

* Open rate has been falling without a list change.
* Recipients on Gmail show much lower opens than recipients on other providers.
* A test campaign to a few colleagues across providers lands in spam folders for some.

Fix by tightening to engaged audiences only for a stretch:

1. Build a dynamic audience of contacts who opened anything in the last 60 days.
2. Send only to that audience for the next 4-6 weeks.
3. Watch open rate climb back as recipients re-engage and reputation rebuilds.
4. Gradually re-introduce dormant segments once metrics stabilize.

### 5. Warmup

If you're on a new domain or a fresh dedicated IP, you can blow through a warmup ramp by sending too much too soon. Symptoms:

* Bounce rate climbs each time you scale a campaign up.
* Recipients on Gmail consistently show "via" the sending domain (Gmail's "this sender is new" warning).
* IP shows up on a Sender Score blocklist with a low score.

Fix: drop volume, follow the [warmup ramp](/email-marketing/deliverability#dedicated-ip-warmup) (50/200/1000/5000/full), and only scale once Sender Score climbs back into the 90s.

## Using the dashboard

The deliverability dashboard surfaces concrete suggestions when metrics drift:

* *"Bounce rate climbed from 1.8% to 3.4% in the last 7 days. Campaign 'April newsletter' to audience 'All leads — created 2023+' contributed 67% of bounces."*
* *"Complaint rate at 0.08%. Most recent complaints came from contacts who hadn't opened in 180+ days."*
* *"Open rate down 15% in last 30 days, no bounce/complaint change. Possible inboxing issue."*

Each suggestion includes a recommended next action. The coach can execute most of them with one confirmation: *"yes, tighten the audience to 90-day openers and re-run the campaign."*

## When AWS pauses sending

If AWS SES pauses your account, every campaign and sequence stops immediately. To recover:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Stop sending">
    All scheduled campaigns auto-pause. Don't try to bypass.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Find the source">
    Use the dashboard to identify the campaigns and audiences that contributed to the spike.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Clean the list">
    Remove hard-bounced and complained addresses from any static audiences that include them. Re-verify older lists with an external tool.
  </Step>

  <Step title="File a reinstatement request">
    From the dashboard, click **Request reinstatement**. The coach drafts a remediation note describing what changed and what you'll do differently. Reviews typically resolve in 24-48 hours.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Resume slowly">
    Send to your most-engaged segment first. Watch metrics. Gradually expand.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Asking the AI coach

The Email Coach has a `campaign-deliverability-triage` skill specifically for this. Useful prompts:

* *Audit my deliverability for the last 30 days. Rank the top three issues.*
* *Why did my bounce rate jump on Tuesday?*
* *I'm under AWS review. Walk me through getting reinstated.*
* *Suggest a re-engagement plan for our cold subscribers.*

The coach reads the same dashboard data you do and runs the diagnostic with full context.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Dashboard says I'm healthy but emails are landing in spam">
    Account-level health is necessary but not sufficient — Gmail and Microsoft also weigh per-recipient signals. Run a small test campaign and have recipients on different providers report whether it inboxed. If only one provider has the issue, focus there.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Bounce rate spiked overnight with no obvious cause">
    Almost always a stale list. Pause any in-flight campaigns immediately and run an external verification pass before re-sending.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My dedicated IP got blocklisted">
    Click the blocklist hit in the dashboard for the delisting URL. Most blocklists self-clear if you stop the offending behavior; some require a manual delisting request. The coach can draft the request.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Open rate is fine but click rate dropped">
    Usually a content issue, not a deliverability one. Recipients are opening but not engaging. Try simpler CTAs or re-write the lead paragraph.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Deliverability dashboard" icon="shield-check" href="/email-marketing/deliverability">
    The metrics view in detail.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Email suppressions" icon="ban" href="/how-tos/email-suppressions">
    Manage the do-not-send list.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dedicated IP" icon="server" href="/how-tos/dedicated-email-ip">
    When to upgrade and how warmup works.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Raw deliverability" icon="gear" href="/email/deliverability">
    Lower-level controls for transactional email.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>