How does content affect deliverability?

Content affects deliverability through engagement it generates (or fails to generate), spam filter evaluation, and complaint behavior it triggers. While sender reputation is primary, content can absolutely land you in spam or damage your reputation over time.

Direct content effects: spam filters analyze text, links, images, HTML structure, and overall composition. Certain patterns (excessive capitalization, spam-trigger phrases in isolation, suspicious links, broken HTML) can trigger filtering. However, modern filters are sophisticated—context matters more than keywords. A financial services company can say "free" without consequence; a new domain stuffing it everywhere might struggle.

Indirect content effects matter more: boring, irrelevant content produces low engagement—which kills reputation. Deceptive subject lines generate complaints—which damages reputation. Broken rendering causes deletes—which signals disinterest. The best deliverability strategy is content people actually want. Relevance, value, and quality drive engagement; engagement drives reputation; reputation drives inbox placement. Content is the foundation of this chain.