By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres argues that a well-designed email template is not enough; product teams must also manage deliverability, the process of getting messages past ISP and client spam filters into real inboxes. She outlines how mail moves through provider filters, why sending too fast triggers throttling and blacklisting, and how whitelisting restores trust. She then covers compliance and spam-avoidance basics, the damage caused by recipients marking mail as spam, and the importance of keeping recipient lists clean through bounce handling and easy unsubscribes. The piece is dated 2013, so specific vendors and rules have changed, but the underlying mechanics remain a useful primer for anyone sending product email at scale.
01Key takeaways
- Design alone won't get email delivered; plan for deliverability as a separate workstream.
- Route product email through a throttling service so you don't exceed each ISP's sending limits.
- If blacklisted, contact the ISP to explain your product and volume, then aim for whitelisted status.
- Follow CAN-SPAM basics: easy unsubscribe, accurate subject lines, physical address, and honest headers.
- Remove hard-bounced addresses immediately and drop soft-bounce addresses that keep failing.
- Tell recipients why they're getting each message and make unsubscribing simple to limit spam complaints.
02Key sections
- How email gets delivered
- Mail passes through the recipient's provider filters and then any client-side filters before reaching the inbox. Recipients can also flag messages as spam, which feeds back into delivery decisions.
- Throttling and whitelisting
- ISPs limit sending rates, so outgoing mail should be queued through a throttling service. When blacklisted, contacting the ISP and passing its review can restore trust through whitelisting.
- Getting past spam filters
- Follow CAN-SPAM requirements such as easy unsubscribes, accurate subject lines, and a physical address, then test messages with spam scorers before sending.
- Preventing spam complaints
- Make it clear why each recipient received a message and keep unsubscribing simple, since enough complaints from one ISP can block delivery to all its users.
- Managing the recipient list
- Remove hard bounces promptly, track soft bounces and drop repeat offenders, and honor unsubscribes so you only email people who want your messages.
- Use outside services
- Deliverability services for sending, throttling, and whitelisting let teams avoid building this expertise in-house.
03From the post
“It's not enough to just design a good email template. You also have to put in the work to make sure your email gets delivered. Fortunately, there are a lot of great services to help make this happen. Understand Email Deliverability First, let's go over how your email”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.