Email deliverability in 2025: What businesses need to know

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Getting an email delivered doesn’t mean it reached the inbox. Delivery only confirms the message made it to the server, but inbox placement determines whether it lands in spam or gets seen by your subscribers.

With major providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook tightening their standards in 2025, sender reputation, authentication, and compliance play a bigger role than ever, especially for marketing campaigns and transactional emails sent in bulk. While one-to-one business emails sent through platforms like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 follow a different path, many of the content and best-practice guidelines below still apply across the board.

This checklist focuses on the essentials – the 20% of actions that yield 80% of your deliverability success. Let’s dive in!

Design emails that render correctly

Poor design can break your message or cause it to be clipped, blocked, or ignored, especially on clients like Outlook or Gmail. You can design beautiful, compliant email templates with AI using Touchpoint.

Even if you use a drag-and-drop editor, make sure your email is designed to display reliably across inboxes.

Comply with sending regulations

Email laws vary by region, but most have a few non-negotiable rules in common. Failure to comply can not only get you blocked, but it can also get you fined.

Most email platforms automatically include unsubscribe links and manage opt-outs for you, but it’s your responsibility to understand what’s required in your region.

Authenticate emails properly

Without authentication, mailbox providers may see your emails as suspicious, even if your content is solid.

Most email service providers guide you through SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup during onboarding, and you usually only have to do it once per domain.

Build and maintain sender reputation

Sender reputation is the #1 reason emails get filtered. Providers look at your past behavior to decide where your next email lands.

Textmagic’s Email Lookup feature helps verify if an email address is valid and associated with a custom domain, an important step for improving deliverability and sender reputation. You can check addresses individually or validate emails in bulk using our lookup service. Supported file types for import include Excel (.xls or .xlsx) and CSV (.csv).

If you don’t yet have a custom domain or website, you can easily build one using AI tools to get started quickly.

Send content that drives engagement

Your content is one of the top behavioral signals mailbox providers use to determine if your messages deserve inbox access.

Most platforms provide drag-and-drop editors with clean, tested templates, but it’s still important to avoid content that looks like spam.

Keep your email list healthy

A clean, well-maintained list is one of the strongest signals of a legitimate sender. 

Nearly all modern tools remove hard bounces automatically and offer re-engagement campaigns to help you manage inactive subscribers.

Prefer a printable version? Download the full checklist and share it with your team.

Conclusion

Improving email deliverability in 2025 isn’t about doing everything, but doing the right things consistently. When you combine strong adherence to sender regulations with technical best practices and thoughtful content, your emails will reach more inboxes and perform better overall.

Use the checklist in this guide as your go-to reference, and revisit it often to stay compliant, visible, and successful in the long run.