Sending rules and good delivery (why did my email go to spam?)
The limits that protect your reputation, when sending is paused and the practices that get email into the inbox.
Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo decide whether an email goes to the inbox or to spam by looking at the sender's reputation: is the domain authenticated? Do the recipients exist? Do they open, click, or mark it as spam? Hermod takes care of the technical side and has rules that protect your reputation and that of every customer.
What Hermod already does for you
- Authentication: signs every email with your domain (DKIM) and requires DMARC. See Verify your domain.
- Clean list: leaves out non-existent, mistyped, disposable and blocked emails. See List health.
- One-click unsubscribe: in the footer and in the email header, as Gmail and Yahoo require.
- Pace: controls emails per minute and each domain's daily limit.
Sending limits
- A new domain starts with low volume and grows gradually as deliveries go well. A new account has a low daily cap, which the Hermod team raises once it knows your usage.
- Plan: each plan has a number of sends per month. At 80% you get a warning; at 100%, new campaigns wait for the next period (or an extra pack).
Your account's limits are shown in Organization.
When sending is paused
The whole organization's sending is paused automatically if, in the last 7 days:
- more than 5% of emails bounce as non-existent (from 100 sends); or
- more than 0.1% of recipients mark them as spam (from 2 complaints).
You get an email explaining why. Only the Hermod team can release it, after reviewing the list with you.
| Pause | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1st in 12 months | Released after the list is cleaned. |
| 2nd in 12 months | Released with a reduced daily cap (probation), which doubles every 7 days of good numbers until it's back to normal. |
| 3rd in 12 months | Sending is blocked; only the Hermod team can review it. |
Good practices that make a difference
- Only send to people who asked or have a relationship with your company.
- Start slowly on a new domain: few emails per minute, first to your most engaged contacts.
- Leave out people who haven't engaged for a long time (option in the Audience step).
- Honest subject, without exaggeration, capital letters or "FREE!!!".
- Real text, not just one big image. Many apps block images.
- A recognizable sender and replies reaching someone.
- Steady frequency: disappearing for months and coming back with a big send looks like spam.
My email went to spam. What now?
- Check that the domain is Ready to send in Domains.
- See in Domain health whether providers approve your sends (SPF and DKIM).
- Look at Sending health on the Dashboard: high bounces and complaints weigh a lot.
- Test with a few engaged contacts before sending to the whole list.
Still having trouble? Open a ticket in Support with the campaign name: the team will look into it with you.