First ESP Setup

Verify your contact list before importing

Your list contains addresses you can’t see are bad: catch-all domains that accept everything but deliver to nobody, role-based addresses (info@, admin@) that trigger spam complaints, old addresses that no longer work, and disposable emails that will bounce within days.

Upload your list to QEV before importing into your ESP. Download the SafeToSend file — that’s the one you import into your ESP. The rest stays out.

Why this matters: ESPs like ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, and HubSpot charge by contact count. Every bad address you import costs you money and produces zero value. Worse: if bounces spike on your first campaign, your ESP may suspend your account.

Set up email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

These are DNS records that prove to Gmail and Outlook your emails are legitimately from you — not from a spammer pretending to be you. Most ESPs require or strongly recommend setting these up. Some handle SPF and DKIM automatically, but you still need to verify they’re working.

Check yours now: Use QEV’s free tools to see if your authentication records are set up correctly.

Start with a small, engaged segment

Don’t send to your entire list on day one. Start with your most engaged contacts — people who signed up recently, who you know are active. A small batch of 500-1,000 from your SafeToSend file that gets good engagement (opens, clicks) signals to Gmail: “this sender is trustworthy.”

Increase gradually: After your first send, check bounce rate (should be under 1%) and spam complaints (should be under 0.1%). If both are healthy, increase volume on your next send. If either spikes, stop and re-check your list.

Understand what “delivered” really means

Your ESP will show “delivered” numbers after each campaign. But “delivered” doesn’t mean “reached a real person.” Catch-all addresses (domains that accept all email, even to non-existent people) and role-based addresses (shared inboxes like info@) show as “delivered” but produce near-zero engagement.

This is why your open rate may look lower than expected — it’s not your content, it’s your denominator. If you verified with QEV and sent only to SafeToSend, this problem is already solved.

Set a re-verification schedule

Email lists go stale. People change jobs, close accounts, and switch email providers — roughly 2-3% of your list every month. A list that was clean 6 months ago now has up to 15% bad addresses.

Set a calendar reminder: Re-verify with QEV every 60-90 days. Upload the same list (or your updated list) — upload, download SafeToSend, update your ESP. Takes 5 minutes, prevents months of deliverability damage.

Also: every time you add new contacts to your list (from events, lead magnets, purchases), verify the new batch before importing. Don’t mix unverified contacts into a clean list.