Deliverability is one of the biggest factors in how your email marketing performs, so Instant continuously checks your setup against best practice and makes personalised recommendations to keep you optimised. This article shows you where to find those recommendations and how to action them.
Where to find your recommendations
There are two places you can see your deliverability recommendations.
The first is your deliverability dashboard. Go to Settings > Deliverability in your Instant AI dashboard. This runs a complete analysis of your deliverability score for both flows and campaigns, depending on how many you have sent, and lists personalised recommendations based on your domain.
The second is your domain settings, at Settings > Domain. The same recommendations appear here, so wherever you are editing your setup you will always see them if we have any.
To action a technical recommendation:
- Go to Settings > Deliverability in your Instant AI dashboard
- Scroll to the recommendations listed under your domain
- Read the recommendation, including when to add a record and what to replace it with
- Add the record with your DNS provider following the steps shown
- Click Verify and we will mark the recommendation as done
What kind of recommendations you might see
Recommendations are personalised to your domain and fall into two groups.
Technical recommendations relate to your DNS setup and email authentication. These could be setting up your own authenticated domain (required by default), adding an SPF or DMARC record, or moving from your main domain to a subdomain. We do our best to explain what each one means, but the most important thing is to follow the best practice setup and the exact steps shown, including which records to add and what to replace.
Non-technical recommendations come after your technical setup is complete. An example is setting a custom reply-to address so replies reach a monitored inbox, and we will show you where to do that.
Tip: If you see a single large green tick with no recommendations, that is a good sign. It means you have completed every step we check for and your setup is fully optimised.
Changing your domain configuration
If you want to change the domain itself, meaning everything after the @ symbol on your sending address, go to Settings > Domain. This is where you can change which domain is authenticated, for example if you have rebranded or need to connect to a different subdomain. You will see the same technical recommendations here as on your deliverability dashboard.
FAQ
What actually affects my deliverability? Several things: whether your sending domain is authenticated (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC), your sender reputation, your list quality, and how recipients engage with your emails. Instant checks the parts we can see and recommends fixes, but a clean, engaged list and consistent sending matter too.
Do I have to complete every recommendation? Technical basics like an authenticated domain are required before you can send. Some recommendations, such as adding an SPF record on your sending subdomain, are strongly recommended rather than strictly required, because a missing subdomain record is one factor in deliverability alongside sender reputation and DMARC. We recommend actioning all of them for the best results.
What is the difference between the SPF record on my root domain and the one on my subdomain? Every brand needs an SPF record on their root domain, and if you have none we add it. When we send from a subdomain (such as mail.yourbrand.com), we also recommend an SPF record on that subdomain, because inbox providers check the sending subdomain, not the root. A perfectly good root record does not cover the subdomain on its own.
Why are my emails landing in spam or junk even though my setup looks fine? A missing subdomain SPF record does not guarantee junk placement, and having one does not guarantee inbox placement. Placement depends on authentication, sender reputation, and recipient engagement together. Start by actioning any recommendations on your deliverability dashboard, then focus on list quality and consistent sending to build reputation over time.
How do I stop replies from being missed? By default your reply-to address matches your noreply sending address, so replies are not monitored. Set a custom reply-to address in your Brand settings so customer replies reach an inbox you check.
I made a change but the recommendation still shows. What do I do? After adding a record with your DNS provider, click Verify on the recommendation. DNS changes can take some time to propagate, so if it does not verify immediately, wait a little and try again.
For more on authentication and connecting your domain, see Why does Instant AI need to connect to my DNS provider?. To set your reply-to and sender details, see How does Instant AI manage email sender to and from addresses?.