Contacts and channels
When an email does not arrive
"I never got anything" is nearly always one of four things, and only one is the email's fault.
It is the commonest incident and the worst diagnosed, because the phrase it arrives with — "I never got anything" — covers four different situations that are fixed in different ways.
The four causes, by frequency
| Cause | How to recognise it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Address typed wrong | The send shows as bounced | Fix the contact and resend |
| It is in the junk folder | Shows delivered and unopened | Ask them to look there; then another channel |
| Someone else opened it | Shows opened and the person never saw it | Send to the right person, not the generic mailbox |
| Their company filter blocked it | Shows neither delivered nor bounced | Another channel, and tell their IT |
Important
All four are told apart by looking at the send status, and none is told apart by resending. Resending without looking is what turns a two-minute incident into three days of crossed emails.
What prevents most of them
- 1
Send to people, not generic mailboxes
"info@" and "admin@" are where the notices that matter go to die.
- 2
Verify the address when creating the contact
One extra letter surfaces weeks later, with the deadline on top.
- 3
For anything urgent, a channel with more reach
A phone message does not compete with a corporate email filter.
- 4
And let it chase by itself
A reminder after three days resolves half the "never arrived" cases with nobody calling.
Watch out
Watch the third case. When mail goes to a shared mailbox, someone opens it, decides it is not for them, and there it dies: it shows delivered and opened, and the person who had to sign never saw it. It wastes the most time because the data says everything went fine.
If it keeps happening with the same client
Then it is not an incident, it is their filter. What works is talking to their IT so they recognise the sender; what does not work is retrying and expecting a different outcome.
Worth knowing
Every resend consumes the same as the first send, because it is a new action. One well-addressed send with automatic reminders costs less than five manual ones to the wrong address.
›Can I tell if they opened it?
You can see whether it shows opened; in some mail clients that signal is approximate.
›Can I send by two channels at once?
You can, and for urgent items it pays. It counts as two actions.
›Does a custom domain stop it going to spam?
It helps considerably, especially when the recipient already knows you by that domain.
A real case
The situation
A supplier says the signing link never arrives, after four resends.
What you do
- Checks the status: delivered and opened in a generic mailbox
- Resends to the named person
What you get
They sign that afternoon, after three weeks of emails that were arriving all along.
The situation
An email bounces and nobody sees it.
What you do
- Checks bounces after each send
What you get
The fault is fixed before chasing.
The situation
The recipient's domain blocks the sender.
What you do
- Agrees with their IT to allow it
What you get
The block is resolved for the whole company.
The situation
The email lands in junk.
What you do
- Asks them to add the sender to their safe list
What you get
The next notice reaches the inbox.
The situation
People keep emailing when email is the problem.
What you do
- Changes channel after the second attempt
What you get
The notice arrives where it gets read.
The situation
The address is mistyped on the record.
What you do
- Corrects the contact and resends
What you get
The send arrives first time.
This article answers
- client says the email never arrived
- emails going to spam
- not receiving the signing link
- email deliverability problems