Brevo Deliverability Guide: Complete Optimization

By Braedon·Mailflow Authority·Platform Guides·Updated 2026-03-31

Setup Checklist

1. Domain Authentication

Settings → Senders & IP → Domains → Add Domain

Brevo provides:

DKIM: TXT record for DKIM signing
SPF: Include directive for your SPF record
Tracking: CNAME for custom tracking domain

Add all DNS records and verify in Brevo.

2. DMARC

Add manually to your DNS:

_dmarc.yourdomain.com  TXT  v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

3. Custom Tracking Domain

In Brevo domain settings, configure a tracking subdomain (e.g., links.yourdomain.com) to replace Brevo's shared tracking domain.

4. Engagement Segmentation

Brevo's segmentation features:

Create segments by last open date, click date, purchase date
Send campaigns to "Opened in last 90 days" segment
Run re-engagement automations for inactive contacts
Suppress contacts with no engagement in 180+ days

5. Dedicated IP (Business Plan+)

Request from Brevo when sending 50K+/month. Requires warmup.

Brevo-Specific Tips

Transactional + Marketing in one platform: Brevo handles both. This is convenient but ensure your transactional and marketing use different sender addresses (e.g., [email protected] for transactional, [email protected] for marketing).

Automation workflows: Available on Business plan. Build welcome series, abandoned cart (with Shopify/WooCommerce integration), and re-engagement automations. These drive engagement that supports deliverability.

Send time optimization: Available on Business plan. Brevo determines optimal send time per contact based on engagement history. Marginal improvement (2-5%) but free to enable.

Practitioner note: Brevo's biggest deliverability advantage is its pricing model: since you don't pay per contact, there's no financial pressure to keep unengaged contacts. But the deliverability pressure still exists — unengaged contacts hurt your reputation regardless of billing. Clean for deliverability, not for cost.

Practitioner note: If you're on Brevo's free plan (300/day), domain authentication is still important. Even at low volume, unauthenticated email goes to spam more often. Configure DKIM and SPF even on the free tier.

If you need Brevo configured for optimal deliverability, schedule a consultation.

Sources

Brevo: Domain Authentication
Brevo: Deliverability

v1.0 · March 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up authentication on Brevo?

Settings → Senders & IP → Domains → Add Domain. Enter your sending domain. Brevo provides DKIM and SPF DNS records. Add these to your domain's DNS. Verify in Brevo dashboard. Without this, Brevo signs with their domain, causing DMARC alignment failures.

Does Brevo offer dedicated IPs?

Yes, on Business plan ($18/month+). Contact Brevo to request. Recommended for senders doing 50K+/month consistently. Brevo's shared pools are maintained but dedicated IPs give you full reputation control.

Brevo charges by emails, not contacts — does that affect deliverability?

Indirectly positive. Since Brevo doesn't penalize you financially for large contact lists, you might keep more contacts than necessary. But for deliverability, unengaged contacts still hurt your engagement metrics. Clean your list for reputation, not for billing.

How is Brevo's deliverability compared to Mailchimp?

Comparable. Both maintain shared IP pools and support custom authentication. Brevo includes transactional email (which Mailchimp separates into Mandrill), reducing the chance of mixing transactional and marketing on different authentication setups.

Does Brevo handle transactional email well?

Yes — transactional SMTP/API is included on all plans. Brevo separates transactional and marketing into different streams internally. While not as dedicated as Postmark's transactional-only infrastructure, it's adequate for most businesses and more convenient than a separate service.

Want this handled for you?

Free 30-minute strategy call. Walk away with a plan either way.