I get asked this question on occasions in my work and it usually comes with frustration. As someone who spends a lot of time helping businesses with HighLevel, I, Julian Mills, can tell you that most people start by blaming HighLevel itself. It feels like the obvious answer. But the truth is that the platform you use, be it MailChimp, Keap, ActiveCampaign et al is only one small part of the story. The biggest factor in your inbox placement is your sender quality score. And the biggest influence on that score is you – it’s what you do and what you do not do.
Mailbox providers like Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail etc judge every action your emails generate – opens, clicks, complaints, bounces, unsubscribes and engagement patterns. If your behaviour looks trustworthy you get inbox placement. If your behaviour looks sloppy or risky you get filtered into the Spam folder. So poor HighLevel email deliverability is almost never caused by the software – it is caused by how the software is being used.
To make things even more interesting, HighLevel uses three different email servers. Every account begins on the best performing server. If you follow good sending practice you stay there. If you ignore best practice you are moved to the next server down. If things get worse you eventually end up on the lowest tier server where HighLevel groups unsafe senders and spammers. Emails sent from that server will always perform worse. So yes, HighLevel can influence your deliverability – but only because your actions determine which server you get placed on.
The good news is that nothing is final. If your deliverability has dropped you can improve it and move back to better servers by following the best email sending practices. Below is a clear list based on real world deliverability behaviour, not theory.
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Things you should do
Authenticate your domain properly
Ensure you set up your own Email Sending Domain, do not use the default one set by either HighLevel or the White Label agency. Ensure you set up your Email Sending Domain properly. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC and verify that each record is aligned correctly.
Warm your domain and IP gradually
Start with small volumes. Focus on engaged contacts first who will respond, rely and click links. Increase slowly.
Build a genuine relationship with your list
Send helpful, valuable, entertaining content. Add personality and value rather than pushing constant “buy my stuff “sales emails. When people value and enjoy your emails they open and click more all this boosts your sender reputation.
Keep your list clean
Remove bounces, spam traps, invalid addresses and long term inactive contacts. Drive early engagement – ask for replies, clicks. Even actively encopurage people to unsubscribe if they are no longer interested. Do not send to anyone who has not opened or clicked in over 90 days. Having a big email list may boost your ego, but if half of it is unresponsive then it is damaging your email marketing by negatively affecting your deliverability.
Send only to people who expect to hear from you
Mailbox providers reward high engagement. Consistent opens and clicks improve inbox placement.
Segment your audiences
Smaller targeted sends perform better and help protect your sender score.
Monitor signals from Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo
Watch for patterns in bounce codes and spam complaints. Set up the Google Postmaster Tool in your HighLevel account. ( HighLevel > Settings > Email Services > Postmaster Tools)
Use a consistent from name and domain
People trust what they recognise which increases engagement. Use a real name – not from Sales with an email address like sales@… info@…
Write honest subject lines
Avoid misleading or sensational subjects. They trigger complaints and reduce deliverability.
Provide a clear unsubscribe link
If people cannot find it they mark you as spam. Actively ask them to opt out if they are not interested.
Use a professional website and domain
Your linked domain reputation matters.
Run deliverability tests
Check for spam keywords, link issues, authentication errors and HTML problems.
Keep HTML clean and simple
Avoid complicated code or oversized images that can trigger filters. Golden rule – one link and one image per email. (how often do you send your friends an email with 20 links and 10 images – at best it makes you look like a marketer selling stuff and you end up in the Promotions tab, or worse the Spam folder)
Read “Sell Like Crazy” by Sabri Suby
Check out the section on Email Sender Reputation starting on page 404 you will find it very educational on email deliverability. Check out my review on Sell Like Crazy (not an affiliate link btw)
Things you should not do
Do not buy or scrape lists
They contain problems that destroy deliverability. Plus it could get you in GDPR trouble if it is a list of consumers.
Do not blast your entire list
Sending to unengaged contacts lowers your sender score.
Do not send from free email domains
Use your own authenticated domain.
Do not use URL shorteners
They are often filtered or flagged as suspicious.
Do not rely on spam trigger wording
Heavy use of urgent language reduces trust.
Do not mix transactional and marketing emails without planning
Use separate subdomains to protect important system emails.
Do not hide your unsubscribe link
This causes recipients to compain to the ISP which instantly damage your score. Plus HighLevel do not look kindly on receiving compliants from your email sends directly from ISPs like Outlook and Gmail
Do not attach large files
Host them externally to reduce risk.
Do not skip device and layout testing
Poor rendering reduces engagement.
Do not ignore bounce codes or spam complaints
They are early warnings that you must act on.
HighLevel gives you tools to improve deliverability
HighLevel has built in ways to help you fix and improve your sender reputation.
1. Switch on Email Validation
This filters out invalid and risky email addresses before you send.
2. Connect your own SMTP sending system
You can ask HighLevel or your white label agency to enable external email sending via SMTP. This lets you plug in MailGun, SendGrid or similar to send your emails rather than LeadConnector. When you do this then HighLevel and it’s reputation is taken out of the picture. It gives you more control and often lowers cost because you pay wholesale email rates. But it does take additional set up.
3. Consider a private IP address – for high volume senders
This isolates your reputation from other senders. It is an extra cost and only worth it for very high volume email senders. Ask HighLevel or the white label agency about a Private IP address.
Summary
Before blaming HighLevel or any other email platform (for that matter) when your email deliverability is reduced – think about your own sending habits. Your sender quality score is what Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo etc care about. HighLevel simply moves you between its three servers based on your behaviour. Follow best practice and you stay on the best server. Ignore it and you end up on the poor server.
The positive news is that HighLevel gives you real tools to fix the problem. Email validation, external SMTP email sending options and private IP addresses all help rebuild your sender score. Start doing the right things and your deliverability will rise again.
Written by Julian Mills. HighLevel consultant.
About Julian Mills: https://ha00mbk4f8.wpdns.site/about-julian/
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