Email Troubleshooting

Resolve common email delivery problems quickly. This guide covers the most frequent issues businesses encounter with email notifications, from messages not arriving to emails landing in spam folders, along with step-by-step solutions.

Emails Not Sending

If your automated emails are not being sent at all, work through these checks in order to identify the cause.

Check Email Provider Configuration

1. Go to Settings → Email and verify your provider is connected
2. Ensure your API key or SMTP credentials are correct and have not expired
3. Check that the "From" email address is verified with your provider
4. Click Test Connection to verify SeroBook can reach your email provider

Check Automation Status

• Verify the automation rule is enabled (not paused or disabled)
• Confirm the trigger event matches the action that should send the email
• Check that conditions on the automation are not too restrictive
• Verify the "Pause All Automations" toggle is not active

Check the Email Queue

Go to Settings → Email → Queue to see pending and failed emails. If emails are stuck in the queue, the issue is likely with your email provider connection.

Emails Going to Spam

If your emails are being delivered but landing in recipients' spam or junk folders, the issue is typically related to sender reputation, authentication, or email content.

Common Causes

• Missing email authentication – SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records not configured
• Poor sender reputation – New domain or high bounce rate
• Spam trigger words – Subject lines or content containing flagged phrases
• No unsubscribe link – Marketing emails without an opt-out option
• Image-heavy emails – Too many images with little text
• Inconsistent sending – Sudden spikes in email volume

Quick Fixes

1. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records (see the DNS section below)
2. Avoid words like "FREE", "URGENT", "ACT NOW" in subject lines
3. Maintain a healthy text-to-image ratio in your emails
4. Include an unsubscribe link in all marketing emails
5. Send emails consistently rather than in large bursts
6. Ask customers to add your email address to their contacts

DNS Configuration

Proper DNS configuration is essential for email deliverability. These records tell receiving mail servers that you are authorized to send emails from your domain.

Required DNS Records

You need to add three types of records to your domain's DNS settings. Access your DNS through your domain registrar or hosting provider.

SPF and DKIM Setup

SPF and DKIM are the two most important email authentication methods. Here is how to set them up for common email providers.

Gmail / Google Workspace

1. Log in to your DNS provider (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, etc.)
2. Add a TXT record with value: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
3. For DKIM, go to Google Admin → Apps → Gmail → Authenticate Email
4. Generate the DKIM key and add the provided TXT record to your DNS

Mailgun

1. Log in to your Mailgun dashboard
2. Go to Sending → Domains → Select your domain
3. Mailgun provides the exact SPF and DKIM records to add
4. Add both TXT records to your DNS
5. Click "Verify DNS Settings" in Mailgun to confirm

Custom SMTP

1. Contact your email hosting provider for their SPF include value
2. Add their SPF record to your domain's TXT records
3. Request DKIM signing from your provider (most support this)
4. Add the DKIM TXT record they provide

Delivery Reports

SeroBook tracks the delivery status of every email sent, giving you visibility into what is happening with your messages.

Email Statuses

Viewing Delivery Reports

Access delivery reports at Settings → Email → Delivery Reports. You can filter by date range, status, and recipient to find specific emails.

Bounce Management

Bounced emails indicate delivery failures. Managing bounces properly protects your sender reputation and ensures your emails reach valid addresses.

Types of Bounces

• Hard bounce – Permanent failure (e.g., email address does not exist). The address is automatically suppressed from future sends.
• Soft bounce – Temporary failure (e.g., mailbox full, server temporarily unavailable). SeroBook will retry delivery up to 3 times.

Suppression List

Email addresses that have hard bounced are added to a suppression list. SeroBook will not attempt to send emails to suppressed addresses. You can view and manage the suppression list at Settings → Email → Suppression List.

Testing Email Delivery

Before relying on automated emails, test your setup thoroughly to ensure messages are delivered correctly.

Built-In Test Tool

1. Go to Settings → Email
2. Click Send Test Email
3. Enter a recipient email address
4. Choose a template to test
5. Click Send

What to Verify

• Delivery – The email arrives in the inbox (not spam)
• From address – Shows your business name and email
• Subject line – Displays correctly with merge tags replaced
• Content – All text, images, and links render properly
• Mobile layout – The email looks good on phones and tablets
• Links – All buttons and links point to the correct URLs
• Merge tags – Dynamic content is populated with real data

Testing Across Email Clients

Send test emails to accounts on different providers to check rendering:

• Gmail (web and mobile)
• Outlook / Office 365
• Apple Mail (macOS and iOS)
• Yahoo Mail

Common Error Messages

Here are the most frequent error messages you may encounter and how to resolve them.

Maintaining Sender Reputation

Your sender reputation determines whether email providers trust your messages. A good reputation means better inbox placement; a poor one leads to spam filtering or blocking.

Best Practices

• Authenticate your domain – Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records
• Keep bounce rates low – Remove invalid addresses promptly
• Honor unsubscribes – Process opt-out requests immediately
• Send consistently – Avoid sudden spikes in email volume
• Monitor spam complaints – Investigate any spam reports
• Use a professional from address – Avoid free email providers for business sending
• Warm up new domains – Gradually increase sending volume when using a new domain

Getting Additional Help

If you have worked through this guide and are still experiencing email issues, here are your next steps.

• Run the email diagnostic – Go to Settings → Email → Diagnostics for an automated check of your configuration
• Check your provider's status page – Your email provider may be experiencing an outage
• Review provider-specific docs – Each provider has detailed setup and troubleshooting guides
• Contact support – Reach out to SeroBook support with your diagnostic report for faster resolution

Next Steps

• Configure your email provider
• Customize your email templates
• Set up email automation rules
• Explore customer communication options