Loading tutorials…
Loading tutorials…
If your Brevo open rate just dropped 5-15 points or your campaigns are landing in Promotions/Spam, you're seeing a deliverability problem — not a content problem. The diagnosis is methodical; the recovery takes 30-60 days. Here's the playbook.
Who this is forBrevo account holders whose open rate dropped suddenly or has trended down over 60-90 days. Or accounts where customers report 'I'm not getting your emails.' This is the diagnostic + recovery flow.
What you'll need
Step 1
Before fixing: confirm the drop is real, not statistical noise. Compare 30-day rolling averages across 3 months.
Brevo → Statistics → Email → set range to last 90 days.
Compare 30-day rolling open rate: Month -3, Month -2, Month -1. Is the drop sustained or one-off?
Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens 30-50% — focus on CLICK RATE, not open rate. A drop in opens with stable clicks = MPP noise. A drop in BOTH = real problem.
Bounce rate: was it under 2% and now over 5%? That's a list-quality problem.
Complaint rate: was it under 0.1% and now over 0.3%? That's a content/cadence problem.
Document the baseline: 'Open rate dropped from 28% (Jan-Feb) to 19% (Mar-Apr) on the same list segment.' Specific numbers before fixing.
Step 2
Send a real campaign to a mail-tester.com address. Read the score + the recommendations.
Visit mail-tester.com → copy the test email address.
In Brevo → Campaigns → Create a new test campaign. Add the mail-tester address to a small test list.
Send the campaign to the test address (don't send the real campaign yet).
Return to mail-tester.com → click 'Then check your score.'
Read the report: SpamAssassin score (target 9-10/10), DKIM/SPF/DMARC status, suspicious content flags, broken links, image-to-text ratio, blacklist status.
Address each issue. Common findings: 'Your domain isn't authenticated' (fix DKIM), 'Too many images, not enough text' (rebalance content), 'Blacklisted on Spamhaus' (most serious — requires investigation).
Step 3
Use mxtoolbox.com to verify your sending domain's auth records. They can break silently when DNS is edited.
Visit mxtoolbox.com → SuperTool.
Run 'DKIM lookup' on your sending domain. Verify the DKIM selector Brevo uses (brevo._domainkey.yourbrand.com) returns a valid public key.
Run 'SPF lookup.' Verify the record includes 'include:spf.brevo.com.' Common failure: someone added a new sending service (Mailchimp, SendGrid) and removed Brevo's include.
Run 'DMARC lookup' on _dmarc.yourdomain.com. Should return v=DMARC1; p=quarantine or p=reject for mature sends.
If ANY record is broken: fix immediately in DNS, wait 24-48 hours for propagation, then re-verify.
Common silent break: SPF record was edited to remove Brevo's include during a vendor change. Open rate craters silently.
Step 4
Use Google Postmaster Tools + Microsoft SNDS + talosintelligence.com to see what mailbox providers think of your domain.
Google Postmaster Tools (postmaster.google.com): add and verify your sending domain. Wait 48 hours for data.
Check: Domain reputation, IP reputation, Spam rate, Delivery errors. Target: domain reputation 'High,' spam rate under 0.1%.
Microsoft SNDS (postmaster.live.com) for Outlook/Hotmail/Live deliverability stats.
TalosIntelligence (talosintelligence.com): check your domain's reputation score. Anything below 'Good' = deliverability damage.
Multi-RBL check (multirbl.valli.org): is your domain on any blacklists? Most common: Spamhaus, SORBS, UCEPROTECT. If listed, follow that blacklist's removal process.
If reputation is damaged: you're now in recovery mode (next steps).
Step 5
Contacts → Lists → filter to 'No open or click in 180 days' → bulk unsubscribe. Aggressive but necessary.
Brevo → Contacts → Segments → create segment "Dormant 180d" → filter: last activity > 180 days ago, AND status = subscribed.
Review count. Likely 30-50% of your list. Painful but necessary.
Bulk action: select all in segment → Mark as Unsubscribed. Brevo permanently suppresses them from future sends.
Also: review hard bounce list → these should auto-suppress, but verify. Contacts → filter status = 'Hard bounce' → confirm none are still receiving sends.
Send a 'thank you for being here' campaign to your REMAINING engaged list. This positive engagement signal helps mailbox providers see the list change as healthy.
Step 6
Drop campaign cadence by 50% for 30 days. Send only to engaged-30d during recovery.
If you were sending 4 campaigns/week, drop to 2/week for 30 days.
Send ONLY to your 'Engaged 30d' segment (anyone who opened or clicked in last 30 days). NOT the broader list.
Content: high-value, low-promo. Pure newsletter or content drops, NOT discount blasts. Mailbox providers favor low-complaint content during recovery.
Avoid: image-heavy emails, all-caps subject lines, 'FREE/URGENT/LIMITED' words in subject, shortened URLs (use full links).
After 30 days of clean recovery: check Google Postmaster + Mail-Tester score. If reputation is back to 'High,' gradually resume normal cadence.
Step 7
Set up automation that auto-removes dormant contacts. Monthly deliverability audit. Don't let it slip again.
Build the sunset workflow (covered in Tutorial 2): contacts inactive 180+ days get a re-engagement series, then auto-unsubscribe if non-responsive.
Monthly: send a test campaign to mail-tester.com. Track score over time.
Quarterly: check Google Postmaster + Microsoft SNDS for reputation changes.
Annually: audit your sending domain's DNS records. Make sure no vendor changes broke SPF or DKIM.
Hire a deliverability specialist for ongoing monitoring if you send 100K+/month. The math always favors prevention over recovery.
Common mistakes
Confusing Apple MPP-inflated open rates with real engagement
What goes wrong: Owner sees 40% open rate, assumes deliverability is fine. Actually 60% of those are MPP false-positives. Real engagement is closer to 20%. Decisions based on inflated opens lead to over-sending dormant contacts. Reputation tanks silently.
How to avoid: Track CLICK rate over time, not open rate. Clicks are still reliable. Compare YoY clicks to detect real engagement drops Apple MPP can't hide.
Skipping the DNS audit — assuming auth is still configured
What goes wrong: A vendor change 3 months ago broke SPF. Or DNS host migrated and didn't carry DKIM. Open rate has been dragging for 90 days. Owner blames content; real cause is broken auth.
How to avoid: Use mxtoolbox.com monthly. Verify DKIM + SPF + DMARC. Takes 5 minutes; catches the silent breaks that cost thousands.
Refusing to suppress dormant contacts
What goes wrong: Owner doesn't want to 'lose' 30-50% of their list. Keeps sending to dormant contacts. Engagement rate stays low. Mailbox providers keep downranking. Even the engaged 20% start getting filtered. Total email revenue collapse: $5,000-30,000/month over 6-12 months for mid-size stores.
How to avoid: Suppress dormant 180d. The 30-50% loss feels bad but recovers within 60-90 days as remaining engaged contacts see higher inbox placement. Net: more revenue from a smaller engaged list than less revenue from a 'big' damaged list.
Continuing normal send cadence during recovery
What goes wrong: Owner panics about open rate drop, sends MORE campaigns to recover revenue. Each campaign at the damaged reputation level. Compounds the problem; recovery takes 90+ days instead of 30-60.
How to avoid: Cut cadence 50% during recovery. Send only to engaged 30d. Focus on positive engagement signals (high open, high click, low complaint). Cadence ramps back up after reputation recovers.
Image-heavy emails with little text
What goes wrong: Mailbox providers flag image-heavy content as spam. Even unauthenticated images (no alt text) trigger filters. Drops inbox placement from 90% to 50%.
How to avoid: Balance: 60% text, 40% images by area. Always include alt text on images. Avoid using a single hero image with all the content as text-in-image — that's a spam signal.
Buying or borrowing a list to "recover faster"
What goes wrong: Owner desperate to recover revenue buys a list. Spam-trap addresses + high complaint rate within 7 days. Account permanently suspended on Brevo + domain blacklisted across providers. Catastrophic.
How to avoid: NEVER buy or rent a list. Recovery happens through hygiene + cadence reduction. Slow but reliable. Bought lists are the most expensive shortcut in email marketing.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to set up a Brevo account from scratch (sender, DKIM/SPF/DMARC, GDPR)
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Deliverability recovery is methodical work that compounds — every week of broken auth or bad cadence makes recovery longer. A specialist who's recovered 30+ damaged accounts will compress 60-day recovery to 30 days by knowing exactly what to suppress and what to send. Typical engagement: $500-1,000 of one-time work at $14-16/hr.
See specialist rates
Five usual causes: (1) DKIM/SPF/DMARC broke after a DNS change, (2) you imported a new low-quality list, (3) Apple MPP shift if you compare to 2021 baselines, (4) Gmail/Yahoo's 2024 bulk-sender rules now apply to you, (5) you're sending to too many dormant contacts and engagement rate dragged down. Diagnose with mail-tester.com + Google Postmaster Tools before fixing.
30-60 days for moderate damage; 60-90 days for severe damage; 90+ days if you ignored it for a year. Recovery requires consistent action: suppress dormant, reduce cadence, send only to engaged, fix auth. There's no shortcut.
Only if you send 100K+/month consistently AND have engaged list with low complaints. Dedicated IPs need warm-up (30-60 days of careful volume ramp) and reputation builds from zero. Shared IPs on Brevo are fine for under 100K/mo. Dedicated IP at low volume = WORSE deliverability, not better.
Promotions tab is normal for marketing emails — not 'damage,' just Gmail's organization. To increase Primary tab placement: send from a personal-looking sender (sarah@ not news@), use plain HTML over multi-image templates, write conversational subject lines, encourage replies. Some Promotions placement is inevitable for promo content.
Click rate dropping with stable opens = CONTENT problem, not deliverability. Subscribers are still opening but not clicking. Audit: (1) CTAs are clear and one-per-email, (2) link destinations work, (3) value proposition matches subject promise, (4) mobile rendering doesn't hide CTAs. Less common: browser/client blocking click tracking.
NO. Migration doesn't fix deliverability — it transfers the damaged list (and reputation problem) to a new tool, where you'd warm up from zero. Fix the root cause: list hygiene + auth + cadence. Migration is for capability gaps, not reputation rescue. New tools won't 'reset' your reputation with mailbox providers.
Brevo
Brevo's onboarding is friendly enough to lull you into skipping the decisions that actually matter — plan choice, sender-domain auth, transactional vs marketing separation, GDPR fields. Skip them and deliverability quietly tops out at 60-70%. This is the setup that doesn't rot.
Brevo
Brevo gives you unlimited lists for free, which is a trap. New users create 10+ lists in week one, then spend month 6 untangling overlaps and counting subscribers twice. This is the structure that scales from 500 to 500K contacts without a rebuild.
Brevo
Brevo's drag-drop editor is one of the friendliest in the market — which is why most accounts ship visually-good emails that under-convert. The decisions that move the needle aren't in the editor; they're in the segment, the subject, and the send window.
Mailchimp
Open rate dropped from 28% to 16% in 30 days. The instinct is 'subject lines.' Usually it's not. Deliverability, list hygiene, and audience drift account for 70% of open-rate drops. Here's how specialists isolate the cause.
Brevo
DIY Brevo is a great call — until it isn't. Email + SMS + transactional + CRM should drive 25-40% of revenue for online businesses on an all-in-one platform. If yours is at 10-15%, the gap is the platform isn't being worked. Here's the framework for when to hire.