deliverability-incident-response

Run a spam placement test first to confirm inbox placement below 70%, then check the spam filter details report for specific failures like DKIM_INVALID, HTML_MESSAGE, or LINK_REDIRECT. Fix the identified issue, cut send volume by 50% per inbox, and re-test after 14 days.

First identify whether bounces are hard (invalid addresses) or soft (temporary). Hard bounces indicate a list quality problem — verify remaining leads with MillionVerifier and keep only 'ok' status emails. Soft bounces indicate reputation issues — slow sending volume for two weeks.

Replace domains under 30 days old since cleanup is not worth the effort. For domains older than 90 days, stop sending for 7 days, submit delisting requests to the blacklist operators, and slowly resume. Spamhaus DBL or SURBL listings often require full replacement.

The is_warmup_blocked flag usually means warmup emails looked like spam to the warmup network or the provider is rate-limiting. Young inboxes under 30 days should be retired and replaced; established inboxes can try re-enabling warmup with a lower daily warmup count.

Reduce email 1 to zero or one link, remove all images and heavy HTML styling, eliminate marketing phrases like 'act now', and simplify signatures to plain text. A/B test the stripped-down version against your current copy with 50 leads each.

Expect 1-14 days for spam placement recovery and 7-30 days for blacklist removal. Reputation rebuilds slowly, so wait at least 7 days before re-auditing and 2 weeks before expecting full recovery if domains or inboxes were replaced.