How to Fix Low Open Rates and Improve Deliverability In Your Email Marketing

Have your email open rates dropped? Or perhaps they never reached the level you had hoped for. Either way, you’re not alone. Even brands with great content struggle to get subscribers to open their emails. Low open rates aren’t necessarily just a “content problem.” More often, they’re a deliverability problem.

If your emails never make it into the inbox, subscribers never get the chance to read them. The good news? Improving deliverability is doable and often faster than you think. At KBDC, Inc., we help businesses strengthen their email marketing from the ground up. Here’s what might be dragging down your open rates and how to fix it.

Your Sender Reputation Needs Help

Your sender reputation is like a credit score for your email domain. If inbox providers see high bounce rates, low engagement, or spam complaints, they may start filtering your messages out.

Even one technical misstep can tank deliverability so it’s crucial that your infrastructure is properly set. Use a verified sending domain and enable DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. Consistently clean your list (more on that below) and warm up new email domains slowly to build trust.

Your List Hygiene Has Been Ignored

If your list includes inactive, outdated, or fake email addresses, your sender score takes a hit. Over time, mailbox providers assume people don’t want your content and they’ll automatically push more of your emails to spam.

To fix this issue, start by keeping your subscriber list clean. Regularly remove contacts who haven’t opened an email in 90–180 days, use double opt-in to prevent bots and mistyped addresses from slipping in, and run your list through a verification tool to catch invalid emails. And best practice is to never purchase email lists. Ever.

Healthy, well-maintained lists might be smaller, but they almost always see stronger open rates. This is because inbox providers view them as trustworthy, engaged, and far less likely to trigger spam filters.

You’re Sending Too Often…or Not Enough

Sending too frequently can overwhelm your audience, while sending infrequently can make them forget who you are. Both scenarios increase the risk of unsubscribes and spam complaints.

The best approach usually falls somewhere in between. For many businesses, a healthy range is 1–3 emails per week though the ideal cadence still depends on your industry, audience behavior, and overall goals.

Whatever schedule you choose, stick to it. Consistency helps subscribers know when to expect your emails, building familiarity and trust over time. It also helps inbox providers recognize your sending patterns, which can improve deliverability.

Give subscribers the option to choose how often they want to hear from you and monitor engagement to learn what rhythm works best for your audience. The “right” cadence isn’t universal, but staying consistent almost always leads to better results.

Your Subject Lines Aren’t Pulling Their Weight

Even if your email makes it into the inbox, a weak subject line stops people from opening. Overused phrases, clickbait, or generic wording can all reduce engagement over time.

Look over your subject lines and make sure they’re clear, benefit-driven, and personalized. Your subject lines should also be tested so that you know what actually works. A/B testing is your best friend here, as it’s a quick and easy way to see which small tweaks improve performance.

Your Content Isn’t Matching the Subscriber’s Intent

If the content inside your emails doesn’t deliver on the promise of the subject line or isn’t relevant to the reader, they’ll disengage. And once engagement drops, so does deliverability.

Segment your list based on interests, behaviors, purchase stage, and more. Send content based on what people actually interact with.

Make sure to maintain message consistency from subject line to CTA. When you have good alignment, your overall email health becomes stronger.

Your Emails Look Spammy to Algorithms

Even if your audience loves your content, algorithms may not. Emails with too many images, spam-triggering words, excessive punctuation, or poor formatting often get blocked.

To ensure your emails don’t look questionable to algorithms, you’ll want to follow a few tips: keep a healthy text-to-image ratio, avoid trigger words like “FREE!!”, make sure your emails are fully mobile responsive, and ensure your unsubscribe link is visible and functional.

Anything that signals “low quality” or “noncompliance” will harm your deliverability.

You Haven’t Built Sender Consistency

Switching sending platforms, changing domains, or altering your design too often can confuse inbox algorithms. This is another reason why consistency is so important. When your email identity keeps shifting, providers like Gmail and Outlook have a harder time determining whether you’re a legitimate sender or a potential risk.

Stick to a recognizable sending time, maintain a consistent brand voice and formatting, and warm up any new domain before heavy sending. When you roll out updates, do so gradually and intentionally, giving inbox providers time to “learn” your patterns. The more predictable and stable your sending behavior looks, the better your chances of landing in the inbox instead of the junk folder.

You Don’t Have a Reactivation Strategy

Inactive subscribers quietly damage your performance month after month. But many of them can re-engage—you just need to invite them back. How do you do this? Send a friendly reactivation sequence and ask what content they prefer. If they remain inactive after multiple attempts, you need to remove them.

Let’s Bring Your Email Strategy Back to Life

Fixing low open rates is a structured process. When businesses work on deliverability, engagement naturally follows. And when more people open your emails, more of them click, convert, and come back again.

If you want expert guidance on improving your email performance, KBDC, Inc. specializes in diagnosing hidden technical issues, strengthening your sender reputation, and developing messaging that your audience wants to open.

Reach out to our team today at 844-412-8786 and we’ll help you rebuild your deliverability from the ground up so your emails land where they belong: in the inbox, not the spam folder.