When someone says they didn't get your email, the reason is almost always one of the checks below. Work through them in order. Most of them show up on the contact's record or the email's results, so you can confirm the cause before you change anything.
Who can do this
- Everyone on your team can open a contact and a broadcast's results.
- Staff, admins and owners can change a contact's email address and marketing status.
- Owners and admins manage the sending domain.
First, check the contact
- Go to Contacts → All people and open the person.
- On the Info tab, check Email for a typo, and check Marketing.
- Open the Lifecycle tab and look for Email address bounced — no email can be delivered to it or Marked an email as spam — unsubscribed from marketing.
They're not subscribed to your marketing
Broadcasts, sequences, automation emails and newsletter issues only go to contacts whose Marketing status is subscribed. Unsubscribed and pending contacts (signed up but haven't confirmed a double opt-in email) are left out. Account email such as receipts and sign-in codes still reaches them. See Email preferences and unsubscribes.
The address bounced
A hard bounce means the address doesn't exist or the mailbox refused it for good. From then on nothing is sent to it, not even receipts or sign-in codes.
- The contact still shows as subscribed, so they're counted in a broadcast's "subscribed contacts will receive this" total and then appear in the results as not sent.
- If the address has a typo, correct Email on the contact record. The new address isn't blocked.
- If the address is right and now works, ask Zinstruct support to lift the block. You can't see or edit the list of blocked addresses yourself, and we don't email you when an address bounces.
- Some blocks apply across all of Zinstruct, so an address can be blocked before you ever emailed it.
They marked your email as spam
The contact is set to unsubscribed and their sequences stop. Marketing email to that address stays blocked even if you set them back to subscribed; only Zinstruct support can lift it. Receipts and sign-in codes still go out.
Your sending domain is paused
If too many people marked your email as spam, marketing email from your domain is paused. The Sending domain card says Sending paused — too many spam complaints, and you'll have had an email titled "Marketing email from … is paused". While it's paused:
- broadcasts aren't sent and stay drafts;
- sequence emails wait and go out once sending resumes;
- automation emails wait and go out once sending resumes (the rest of the automation carries on);
- receipts and sign-in codes still go out, from our address.
Reply to that email or contact support to have the domain reviewed and resumed. See Sending domains and deliverability.
You reached your monthly email limit
Your plan includes a number of emails a month.
- A broadcast that would go past it isn't sent: you see the limit message, such as "Monthly email limit reached. Upgrade or request an override.", and it stays an editable draft.
- Sequence emails pause and carry on the next month, or once you upgrade.
- Automation emails wait until the limit resets on the 1st of the next month (UTC), then go out, as long as the contact is still subscribed. The rest of the automation carries on without waiting.
See Plans and billing.
Read a broadcast's results
On a sent broadcast, the results show how many went out, for example "118/120 delivered". "Delivered" here means handed to our email service, not that it reached the inbox. If some weren't sent, a line underneath says "2 not sent — the address bounced before, marked your email as spam, or the email provider refused it." See Broadcast results, limits and re-sending.
It was sent, but they can't find it
- Ask them to check spam, junk and promotions folders, and to search for your sender name.
- A sending domain you added recently is still building trust with inbox providers, and its volume ramps up over the first weeks. Start with your most engaged contacts.
- Ask them to add your sending address to their contacts. That helps future email reach the inbox.
A receipt or sign-in code didn't arrive
- No receipt is sent when Send purchase receipts is off, or the offer's post-purchase email is set to send nothing. See Purchase receipts and their reply-to address.
- A member who sees "We can’t email that address right now. Please contact support and we’ll sign you in." has a bounced address. See A member can't sign in or reach their course.
Test emails
You can send 10 test emails every 10 minutes. After that you see "Too many test emails — try again in a few minutes." A test that says "… is on your suppression list, or your sending domain is paused, so the test was not sent." means your own address is blocked or your domain is paused.