Email deliverability is the measure of whether an email actually reaches the recipient’s inbox rather than being blocked, bounced, or filtered into a spam or junk folder. It is distinct from “delivery,” which only confirms a mailbox provider accepted the message. Deliverability is about placement: did a real person see it. For a B2B quote, that difference is the gap between a closed deal and a buyer who never knew you replied.
How it works
Mailbox providers like Gmail and Outlook score every incoming message using sender reputation, authentication records, and engagement signals. Three DNS records do most of the authentication work: SPF (which servers may send for your domain), DKIM (a cryptographic signature proving the message was not altered), and DMARC (a policy telling providers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail). Missing or misaligned records are one of the most common reasons a legitimate quote lands in spam.
Why it matters for quoting
A quote email often carries a link, an attachment, or pricing language, all of which spam filters scrutinize. If you send from a shared or generic address, or from a domain that fails authentication, your quote can silently disappear. Sending from your own verified domain, keeping bounce rates low, and avoiding spammy formatting all lift inbox placement.
Example
You send a $12,000 quote link to a wholesale buyer. Delivery succeeds, but their Microsoft 365 filter routes it to Junk because your domain has no DMARC record. The buyer never opens it and assumes you ghosted them. Open and click tracking would show zero engagement, your only early signal that placement failed.
On Shopify, apps that let you send from your own authenticated domain (see /pricing) give you far better placement than a generic no-reply address. See related terms in the B2B quoting glossary.