Email Delivery Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Email Delivery Issues

If you are not receiving test emails or your recipients are not receiving emails sent through Levitate, follow the steps below to identify and resolve the issue.

Test Emails Are Not Arriving

If you have requested a test email and it has not appeared in your inbox, try the following:

1. Check Your Spam or Junk Folder

Test emails can occasionally be filtered by your email provider.

  • Check your Spam, Junk, or Promotions folder
  • Look for emails from Levitate or from your connected sending address.
  • If you find the email, mark it as "Not Spam" to ensure future emails are delivered to your inbox

2. Allow Time for Delivery

Email delivery may take a few minutes.

  • Most test emails arrive within 1–5 minutes
  • High email volume or provider delays can increase delivery time
  • Wait at least 10 minutes before attempting to resend

3. Confirm the Recipient Email Address

Verify that the correct email address was used.

  • Double-check for typos in the recipient's email address
  • Confirm the email account is active and accessible
  • Try sending a test email to another email address you control

4. Check Your Email Connection in Levitate

Your email connection may require reauthentication.

  1. Navigate to Settings > Profile
  2. Locate where it says "Sending As" Email

  3. If your email is displayed there, you are likely connected.
  4. If Not Available is displayed here, you are likely disconnected from Levitate
  5. If prompted, click Reconnect and complete the authentication steps

5. Review Your Email Provider Settings

Some providers apply additional filtering or security rules.

  • Gmail: Check the "All Mail" folder in case the email was filtered out of the inbox
  • Outlook / Office 365: Review your organization's spam filtering settings
  • Corporate Email Accounts: Contact your IT team to confirm Levitate emails are not being blocked

6. Check for Email Bounces

If an email address previously bounced, future emails may not send successfully.

  1. Open the contact's profile in Levitate
  2. Look for a "Bounced" status on the email address
  3. Update the contact with a valid email address if needed

Recipients Are Not Receiving Emails You Sent

If a recipient reports not receiving your email, start by checking the send status.

Review the Email Activity Report

  1. Navigate to Reports > Email Report
  2. Locate the email campaign in question
  3. Check the email status:
    • Delivered: The email reached the recipient's server
    • Bounced: The recipient's server rejected the email
    • Failed: A technical issue prevented the email from sending

Understanding Bounce Types

Hard Bounce

A hard bounce indicates a permanent delivery failure. Common causes include:

  • The email address does not exist
  • The domain does not exist
  • The recipient's server permanently rejected the email

Soft Bounce

A soft bounce indicates a temporary issue. Common causes include:

  • The recipient's mailbox is full
  • A temporary server issue
  • The email size exceeded provider limits

Improving Email Deliverability

To help ensure your emails consistently reach recipients:

  • Regularly clean your contact list and remove bounced addresses
  • Ensure proper email authentication is configured (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC). See All About Email Health for more information
  • Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines
  • Always include an unsubscribe link
  • Send from a professional domain rather than a free email provider

Troubleshooting Sender Issues

Common Issues

  • Default sender settings misconfigured
  • Team/shared account sending settings
  • Delegation or "send on behalf of" configuration

How to Fix

  • Log into Levitate
  • Click your name in the top-right corner
  • Go to Settings→ Profile
  • Confirm your connected email address is correct
  • Ensure the correct inbox is selected "Sending As" Email

FAQs

Q: Why are my emails being sent from the wrong person?

A: This typically happens due to misconfigured sender settings. Check your sender settings in profile settings on your Levitate account, ensure the "sending as" address matches what you would want to send from within Levitate.

Q: How do I change my default sender address?

A: To change your default sender address in Levitate, log into your account and click your name in the top-right corner. Then navigate to Settings → Profile, confirm that your connected email address is correct, and make sure the appropriate inbox is selected under "Sending As" Email.

Q: Emails my clients send me are going into my spam folder. Is this related to my Levitate setup?

A: Emails that clients send directly to you land in your personal email inbox, not in Levitate — so whether they end up in spam is controlled entirely by your email provider's filtering rules and is unrelated to your Levitate IMAP or SMTP connection. To fix inbound spam filtering, open the message in your spam folder and mark it as "Not Spam" (or "Not Junk"). If the problem persists, add the sender's address to your contacts or safe-senders list in your email provider settings (Gmail, Outlook, Office 365, etc.). For organization-managed accounts, your IT administrator may need to adjust the spam policy to allow those senders through.

Q: My Levitate campaign got a bounce-back saying the email was classified as spam. Were my messages actually delivered?

A: No — a bounce-back that says the email was classified as spam means the recipient's mail server rejected the message before it reached the inbox. Those contacts will show a Bounced status in your Reporting > Group Email Reports. The most common causes are spam-trigger words in the subject line or body, sending from a free email domain (such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com), or missing SPF/DKIM/DMARC records on your sending domain. To reduce future spam bounces: avoid promotional language in subject lines, send from a professional domain email address, and verify your email authentication settings are correctly configured. See All About Email Health for setup guidance. If the issue persists across multiple sends, contact support@levitateapp.com with the campaign name and affected email addresses.

Q: Office 365 is showing a delivery error saying the receiving server reported an error. How do I fix this?

A: This type of error typically means that when Office 365 attempted to relay your outbound email, the destination mail server returned a rejection. Common causes and steps to resolve:

  • Reauthenticate your email connection: Go to Settings → Profile in Levitate and check your "Sending As" email. If it shows "Not Available," click Reconnect and complete the authentication steps.
  • Check recipient address validity: Confirm the recipient's email address is active and spelled correctly. A 550-level error from the receiving server often means the mailbox does not exist or the domain no longer accepts mail.
  • Contact your IT administrator: If your organization uses Office 365 with custom mail-flow rules or third-party spam filtering, those rules may block outbound relay. Ask your IT team to verify that Levitate's sending domains are allowed through any mail-flow connectors or outbound filtering policies.
  • Verify SPF/DKIM records: Misconfigured email authentication can cause receiving servers to reject messages. See All About Email Health for guidance on reviewing your records.

Note: If the error message references a specific error code (such as 550 5.7.1 or 550 5.4.1), include that code when contacting support — it helps identify the exact rejection reason quickly.

Q: My Outlook campaign was throttled or blocked — how do I prevent this from happening again?

A: Outlook (personal) accounts are limited to 200 emails per day and 80 emails per hour through Levitate. Office 365 accounts allow up to 350 emails per day and 80 emails per hour. When a campaign exceeds these limits, Levitate automatically queues the remaining contacts and continues sending the next day — no manual intervention is needed. To reduce the chance of Microsoft flagging your account for high-volume sending: keep your daily sends within these limits, avoid sending to large unverified lists, and ensure your sending domain has valid SPF and DKIM records configured. If Microsoft has already restricted your account, an administrator can remove the restriction through the Microsoft 365 Defender portal — see How to Remove a Spam Restriction in Microsoft Defender for step-by-step instructions. If throttling continues after following these steps, contact support@levitateapp.com with the campaign name and the error or bounce details.

Q: Emails I send through Levitate are not reaching Gmail, Bellsouth.net, or Comcast.net recipients — can Levitate fix my SPF records, or does my IT team need to do it?

A: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are DNS records that live on your sending domain, which Levitate does not control. Levitate can tell you what values to add, but the changes must be made by whoever manages your domain's DNS — typically your IT administrator or your domain registrar (such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, or your Microsoft 365 admin portal). Once the correct records are in place, receiving servers at Gmail, Bellsouth.net, Comcast.net, and others are far more likely to accept your messages. See All About Email Health for the exact record values to provide to your IT team. If you are unsure who manages your DNS or need help identifying the right values, reach out to support@levitateapp.com.

Still Need Help?

If you have completed the steps above and are still experiencing issues, please contact support@levitateapp.com and include:

  • The affected email address(es)
  • The date and time the test email was sent
  • A screenshot of your email connection status under Settings > Integrations
  • Any error messages you have received

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