Lesson 4 of 7
Nobody reads an email they never receive
This is the least interesting lesson and the one that decides whether any of the others work. Half an hour, once.
Nobody reads an email they never receive.
Every inbox provider decides whether to trust you before it decides whether to show you. That decision runs on technical signals you set up once, plus a behavioural record you build over months. The setup is a checklist. The discipline comes later, and it is mostly just not doing anything stupid.
Steps 1, 2 and 4 take about twenty minutes in total.
Step 3 is the one people avoid, because it involves DNS. It takes half an hour and it is the difference between the inbox and the spam folder.
1Create the group
Why: your form needs somewhere to put people, and your automation needs somewhere to watch.
What you do: create one group, named after the thing you are giving away.
What you end up with: a labelled bucket that everything else plugs into.
In MailerLite, go to Subscribers, then Groups, then create one named after the thing you are giving away.
A group is a labelled bucket. Your form drops people into it and your automation watches it.
When I say your list, this is what I mean. Everyone who ever signs up sits in one pile of subscribers, and a group is a label on some of them. That is why you name it after the thing you are giving away rather than after yourself — the second guide you write needs its own group, so that the email delivering guide two only goes to the people who asked for guide two.
2Turn on double opt-in
Why: a confirmed address is worth more than three unconfirmed ones.
What you do: turn on double opt-in in Subscribe settings.
What you end up with: a list that stays clean without you maintaining it.
Found under Subscribe settings, not inside the form. When it is on, people get a confirmation email first and only receive your guide after clicking it.
Leave it on. It is one extra click for them, and it proves the address is real, keeps your list clean and protects your standing with inbox providers.
3Send from a subdomain
Why: this is the single biggest factor in whether you land in an inbox at all.
What you do: authenticate a subdomain, not your main domain, and add the DNS records it gives you.
What you end up with: permission to send as your business, without risking the address your clients write to.
Do not authenticate your main domain. Use something like news.yourdomain.com instead. The address does not need to be a real mailbox; you will never receive anything at it.
Here is why it matters. If your business email runs on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, your domain already has an SPF record, and a domain is only allowed one. Authenticating the main domain means editing that record by hand, and getting it wrong stops your business email working.
A subdomain gets its own record. You add, you never edit, and nothing that already works can break. Set the reply-to address to your normal email so replies reach the inbox you actually read.
4Write the delivery email
Before you start: this step needs the link from lesson 3 — the address the PDF is at. If your page is not live yet, do everything else in this lesson first and come back once you have that link.
Why: this is the first thing a new subscriber ever gets from you, so it should not read like a receipt.
What you do: build an automation that sends one short email when someone joins the group.
What you end up with: a system that delivers your guide at three in the morning without you.
Automations, then create one. Trigger is joining the group, action is one email. Keep it under 150 words: hello, the link, and the one thing to read first.
Ask them to reply with something specific. Replies are the strongest signal an inbox provider can see, and they are how conversations with future clients start.
Then turn the automation on. It is genuinely easy to build the whole thing and leave it sitting in draft.
Prompt: write the email that delivers it
Link the guide rather than attaching it. Attachments raise spam scores. The link is the one from lesson 2 — wherever you put the PDF, that address goes here.
5Test it like a stranger
Why: everything above can be set up correctly and still not work.
What you do: sign up through your own form twice, with two different email providers.
What you end up with: proof that it works, or a clear signal of exactly what is broken.
Sign up through your own form exactly as someone else would. Twice, with two different providers — a Gmail address and an Outlook or Yahoo address is a good pair.
- Did the confirmation email arrive?
- Did the guide arrive after you confirmed?
- Does the download link open the right file?
- Is your name in the From line, spelled correctly?
- Does replying land in the inbox you actually read?
- Inbox, Promotions, or Spam?
If it lands in spam
Your sending domain is not authenticated, or the DNS records have not propagated yet. Wait an hour and test again.
Do not send anything to anyone until this is fixed. Promotions is fine and normal; spam is not.
Your task before lesson 5
Sign up through your own form as if you were a stranger. Twice, with two different email providers. Confirm the guide actually arrives.
The full sequence sits in the free 7-Day Content Engine guide. If DNS is the part that makes you nervous, it is a normal piece of what web design and SEO work involve, and you can always ask me directly.
The seven lessons
Read them in order, or jump to the one you are stuck on
- 1 What to give awayPick the one thing worth handing over for free.
- 2 Write it in two pagesDraft it in one sitting, using a five-part shape.
- 3 The page that collects emailsOne page, one job, and what to leave off it.
- 4 Set up your list properlyYou are here.
- 5 Tell people it existsWhere to put the link, and how to keep mentioning it.
- 6 One thing, six placesTurn a single idea into a week of content.
- 7 Sell what you knowCharge for the deeper version, with nothing monthly.