# 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.

- Topic: Marketing & Brand
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Email, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/diagnose-email-deliverability-and-falling-open-rates

## Prompt

```text
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.
```

## What to fill in

- TOOL
- sends per week, any recent spike

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