Diagnose email deliverability and falling open rates
A step-by-step check of authentication, sender reputation, list health, and content to get emails back in the inbox.
The prompt
Help me diagnose why my marketing emails are underperforming or landing in spam.
Email platform: [TOOL]
What changed: [e.g. "open rate fell from 32% to 18% over 6 weeks", "Gmail sending to promotions/spam"]
Recent metrics: [opens, clicks, bounces (hard/soft), spam complaints, unsubscribes - by send if possible]
Sending setup: [domain, dedicated or shared IP, SPF/DKIM/DMARC status if known]
List practices: [how contacts are collected, double opt-in?, last cleaned, purchased lists?, sending to inactive contacts?]
Volume and frequency: [sends per week, any recent spike]
Work through:
1. Measurement first: whether privacy features (like automatic image loading) inflate or distort open rates, and why clicks and conversions are better signals.
2. Authentication: SPF, DKIM, DMARC alignment, and current bulk-sender requirements from major mailbox providers (one-click unsubscribe, low complaint rates). Tell me how to check each.
3. Reputation: complaint rate, bounce rate, volume spikes, sending to old or unengaged contacts, spam traps.
4. Content and format: link domains, image-to-text ratio, misleading subject lines.
5. Engagement: segment by recent activity and stop mailing long-inactive contacts after a re-permission attempt.
Return a prioritized fix list (do today, this week, this month), a sunset policy for inactive subscribers, and a warm-up plan if volume needs rebuilding. Note which checks I need my email tool's docs or an expert to verify.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
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What to fill in
- TOOL
- sends per week, any recent spike
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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