Guides

Email Marketing Guides: Deliverability, Accessibility and Attention

In short

Ten practical guides for Email Marketers — one per criterion that decides whether an email is delivered, read and acted on. Each explains why it matters, how to measure it, the thresholds to aim for and the mistakes to avoid, in marketer terms.

From inbox to click: three questions every campaign must answer

An email can fail at three different moments. The guides follow that journey, so you can start where your campaigns are most exposed.

1. Arrive
Infrastructure

Will mailbox providers trust the email enough to deliver it?

Authentication, List-Unsubscribe.
2. Be read
Composition

Once delivered, does it display complete and fast — and can every recipient read it, images on or off?

Email weight, loading speed, ALT text, font size, contrast, text-to-image balance.
3. Be seen
Eye Tracking

In the first seconds, does attention land on what matters — and is the screen easy to grasp?

Visual clarity, attention heatmaps.
1

Make sure it arrives

The Infrastructure checks mailbox providers run before anyone sees your work. Invisible to recipients, decisive for delivery.

2

Make sure it can be read

The Composition checks: whether the email displays complete and fast, and whether its message survives blocked images, small screens and bright light.

3

Make sure it is seen

Your recipients discover the email cold and decide in seconds. The Eye Tracking guides show how attention and clarity shape that first impression.

Quick reference: the targets at a glance

The benchmark for each criterion, as detailed in its guide.

CriterionTargetGuide
AuthenticationSPF, DKIM and DMARC all passAuthentication →
List-UnsubscribeHTTPS + mailto:, one-clickList-Unsubscribe →
Email weightHTML under 100 KB, total under 500 KBGmail clipping →
Loading speedLCP under 4 s on slow 4GLoading speed →
ALT textAt least 80% of images describedALT text →
Font size16 px body, 14 px secondary and legalFont size →
Contrast4.5:1 normal text, 3:1 large textContrast →
Text-to-imageText/image ratio of 30/70 or betterText-to-image →
Visual clarityA clear first screen, by deviceVisual clarity →
AttentionHeadline and CTA in early attentionAttention heatmap →
Inside Inbox Maestro

One test email, every criterion

Each guide stands on its own. In practice, the criteria interact: a heavy email loads slowly, a full-image email fails both filters and readers, a clear screen still needs its CTA in the right place.

Inbox Maestro checks them together on the email your platform actually sends — Infrastructure and Composition checkups, attention and clarity analyses — and turns the results into prioritized, marketer-facing recommendations, before the campaign goes out.

Check all ten criteria on your next campaign.

Send a test email. Receive a structured analysis. Improve the campaign before launch.

Get Your Email Checkup →