Built for teams prioritizing inbox placement

The CRM that treats inbox placement as a first-class capability, not a cold-email loophole.

Email deliverability is where cold-email vendors cut corners and legitimate sales and marketing teams pay the price. Strkr runs on Verified Domains with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC alignment, sender reputation monitoring, and consent-first messaging posture. The inbox placement reads as marketing, not spam.

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What this audience is actually dealing with

The pains that bring buyers here.

A sales or marketing team that cares about inbox placement reads the deliverability posture of every CRM before signing. The pain points below are what Strkr hears on every deliverability-sensitive evaluation call, from the 20-person agency serving regulated clients to the 400-person SaaS company protecting a decade-old brand domain.

Shared IP pools burn reputation

The CRM shared IP that your neighbor spammed into oblivion.

A typical CRM runs email through shared IP pools where a bad actor on the same IP can tank the reputation for every tenant on that pool. The team sees inbox placement drop with no action of their own. Strkr runs email through Verified Domains with per-tenant sender posture, which means the deliverability reputation ties to the tenant domain, not a shared IP pool.

SPF, DKIM, DMARC misalignment

The alignment that nobody configures correctly.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are the three email authentication standards that gatekeep inbox placement. Most CRMs ship these as a configuration documentation page the admin never reads. Strkr onboarding configures SPF, DKIM, and DMARC alignment during the Verified Domains setup with the specific DNS records printed for the admin to copy. The authentication alignment lands correctly on day one.

Sender reputation drift is invisible

Finding out your reputation dropped when deals start ghosting.

Sender reputation drifts quietly. A bounce rate climbing from 2 percent to 7 percent over three weeks is a signal the team cannot see without active monitoring. Strkr sender reputation monitoring runs daily checks against the major reputation databases (Sender Score, Barracuda, SpamCop, Spamhaus) with alerts on reputation drops and recommended corrective action.

Bounce handling is manual

The hard bounce that keeps sending for six weeks.

A hard bounce (invalid email address, domain does not exist) should remove the contact from the sending list immediately. Most CRMs continue to attempt sends to the bounced address for days or weeks. Strkr bounce handling classifies bounces (hard, soft, spam complaint, blocked) and takes the correct action automatically with the sending list staying clean.

Unsubscribe handling fails

The CAN-SPAM violation hiding in plain sight.

CAN-SPAM requires honoring unsubscribe requests within 10 business days. A CRM that does not propagate unsubscribe state across campaigns, segments, and workflows risks CAN-SPAM violation per send. Strkr unsubscribe state propagates immediately across every campaign, segment, workflow, and send surface. The contact can only receive transactional messages after unsubscribe.

Cold-email tooling drags reputation

The warmup service that uses your domain reputation.

Cold-email tooling that performs email warmup through automated reply exchanges is a short-term reputation boost that major email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) now detect and penalize. Strkr does not ship warmup capability and recommends against using separate warmup tools against the Strkr sending domain. The deliverability posture runs on consent-based sending, which is what the email providers actually reward.

The Strkr deliverability stack

What ships on day one.

Strkr deliverability runs on a modern stack with proper authentication, reputation monitoring, bounce handling, and consent-first posture. The cards below are what the deliverability stack ships on day one.

Verified Domains

Per-tenant sender identity.

The admin configures Verified Domains during onboarding with the specific DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) copy-pasted from the admin console into the tenant DNS. The verification lands within 24 hours. The tenant sends from its own branded domain (sales@yourcompany.com) with alignment confirmed. Verified Domains are live on the Scale tier.

SPF record configuration

The include that authorizes Strkr.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) authorizes specific sending domains to send email on behalf of the tenant domain. The Strkr DNS record uses the include directive to authorize the Strkr sending infrastructure. The admin adds one TXT record to the tenant DNS. The record stays stable as Strkr sending infrastructure scales.

DKIM signing

The cryptographic signature on every send.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) signs every outbound email with a cryptographic signature verified by the receiving mail server. The admin adds a DKIM TXT record to the tenant DNS during onboarding. Strkr rotates the DKIM signing key on a 90-day cadence with the public key stays stable.

DMARC policy

The alignment policy that blocks spoofers.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) sets the policy for unauthenticated email claiming to be from the tenant domain. The admin can configure DMARC in monitor mode (p=none), quarantine mode (p=quarantine), or reject mode (p=reject). Strkr onboarding recommends starting in monitor mode and progressing to quarantine then reject as the authentication alignment stabilizes.

Sender reputation monitoring

Daily checks against major reputation databases.

Strkr monitors the tenant sending reputation daily against Sender Score, Barracuda Reputation Block List, SpamCop, Spamhaus, and the major mailbox provider feedback loops (Gmail Postmaster Tools, Outlook Smart Network Data Services). Reputation drops trigger alerts with specific corrective action (reduce send volume, review list hygiene, check content for spam triggers).

Bounce classification and handling

Hard, soft, spam complaint, blocked.

Every bounce classifies into hard (remove from list), soft (retry on backoff), spam complaint (remove and flag), blocked (temporary suppress), or other (log and investigate). Hard bounces remove the contact from sending immediately. Spam complaints remove and route to the deliverability team for investigation. The bounce log retains for seven years for CAN-SPAM audit purposes.

Consent-first messaging posture

The sending model that rewards reputation.

Major mailbox providers reward consent-based sending and penalize cold-email outreach. The Strkr messaging posture runs consent-first with the consent context captured on every contact and enforced on every send.

Consent capture on form

Opt-in state recorded at the moment of capture.

Every form fill captures the opt-in state with the consent language, the timestamp, the source URL, and the user IP. The consent record ties to the contact and survives contact lifecycle changes. For GDPR-relevant jurisdictions the consent capture distinguishes between marketing consent and transactional consent with granular opt-in per category.

Consent state on contact

Marketing, transactional, SMS consent separately.

Each contact carries three consent states: marketing email, transactional email, and SMS messaging. The states can be opted in or opted out independently. A contact can be unsubscribed from marketing while still receiving transactional sends (order confirmations, password resets, support replies). The state propagates immediately across every send surface.

Unsubscribe propagation

One click removes from all campaigns.

When a contact unsubscribes from a campaign the state propagates immediately across every campaign, every segment, every workflow, and every send surface. The contact can only receive transactional messages after unsubscribe. The unsubscribe link appears on every marketing send with one-click action. CAN-SPAM-mandated unsubscribe-within-10-business-days compliance is automatic.

Suppression list

Permanent block for problematic recipients.

The suppression list captures contacts the team never sends to again (spam complainers, hard bounces, legal requests, GDPR deletion). The suppression list enforces at the send layer, which means even a workflow bug cannot send to a suppressed contact. The suppression list retains for seven years with signed export manifest for audit purposes.

Transactional send classification

Order confirmation versus marketing message.

Strkr classifies every send as transactional or marketing. Transactional sends (order confirmations, password resets, support replies, meeting invites) bypass the marketing consent gate but respect the transactional consent gate. Marketing sends require marketing consent. The classification runs automatically from the workflow template and the admin can review classifications in the compliance surface.

List hygiene automation

Weekly removal of inactive contacts.

Strkr list hygiene automation removes inactive contacts (no engagement in trailing 180 days, no opens in trailing 90 days, no clicks in trailing 365 days) based on the admin-configured threshold. The removal is permanent for engagement-based criteria and tracks in the audit log. List hygiene protects sender reputation by keeping engagement rates high.

How Strkr handles the deliverability review

The dashboard a deliverability lead opens on Monday.

A deliverability-focused team needs visibility on sender reputation, bounce rates, inbox placement, and compliance posture. Strkr ships a deliverability dashboard that answers each question in a single view.

Reputation score

Sender Score, feedback loops, blocklist checks.

The top of the dashboard shows the current sender reputation score aggregated from major reputation databases with the 90-day trend. A reputation drop surfaces as a alert with recommended corrective action.

Bounce rate trend

Hard, soft, spam complaint rates over time.

The bounce rate trend shows hard bounces, soft bounces, and spam complaints as separate lines over the trailing 90 days. A climbing hard bounce rate signals list hygiene issues. A climbing spam complaint rate signals content or targeting issues. The trend lets the team catch problems before reputation drops.

Inbox placement by provider

Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, corporate placement rates.

The inbox placement panel shows the estimated inbox placement rate per major provider based on seed account testing and engagement signal analysis. A provider showing degraded placement (Gmail at 68 percent while Outlook sits at 94 percent) surfaces as an actionable signal.

Authentication alignment

SPF, DKIM, DMARC pass rates.

The authentication alignment panel shows the pass rate per authentication standard for the trailing 30 days. A dropping SPF pass rate usually indicates a DNS record change broke alignment. A dropping DMARC alignment indicates a related system (transactional email vendor, marketing automation vendor) is sending from the tenant domain without proper alignment.

Compliance posture

CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL state.

The compliance posture panel shows unsubscribe response time compliance (CAN-SPAM 10 business day window), GDPR consent audit state (consent capture integrity), and CASL compliance for Canadian recipients. A compliance signal that breaks threshold surfaces as a alert with corrective action.

Monthly deliverability report

The report the CMO can defend to the CFO.

Each month Strkr generates the monthly deliverability report covering sender reputation trend, bounce rate trend, inbox placement by provider, authentication alignment, compliance posture, and the corrective actions taken. The report runs cleanly through a CMO-to-CFO review conversation.

Head-to-head

Strkr vs a cold-email tool or shared-IP CRM.

The comparison below is Strkr deliverability posture versus a typical cold-email tool (Instantly, Lemlist, Woodpecker) or shared-IP CRM applied to a legitimate sending program.

Feature Strkr Cold-email tool or shared-IP CRM
Verified Domains per tenant Scale tier capability. Shared IP pool typical.
SPF, DKIM, DMARC alignment Configured during onboarding. Documentation only.
Sender reputation monitoring Daily checks with alerts. Varies, often none.
Bounce handling Classified with correct action. Basic retry.
Unsubscribe propagation Immediate across all surfaces. Varies.
Consent capture granularity Marketing, transactional, SMS separately. Single opt-in typical.
Email warmup capability Not shipped (reputation risk). Shipped as feature.
Suppression list retention Seven years with audit log. Varies.
Compliance posture CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL. Varies.
How teams use Strkr

Five email deliverability playbooks.

The playbooks below are what Strkr onboarding sees across deliverability-sensitive deployments.

Pattern A

The 42-person SaaS vendor recovering from reputation damage.

A 42-person SaaS vendor had used a cold-email tool with aggressive warmup for 18 months and watched inbox placement drop to 42 percent at Gmail. Strkr onboarding ran a 22-business-day migration with the full deliverability stack configured. Reputation recovery took eight weeks of consent-based sending with Strkr monitoring. Gmail inbox placement climbed back to 92 percent. Pipeline from email outreach grew 240 percent on cleaner inbox placement.

Pattern B

The 180-rep enterprise SaaS protecting a decade-old brand.

A 180-rep enterprise SaaS vendor had protected a decade-old brand domain reputation with careful sender posture. The current CRM shared IP pool created ongoing reputation anxiety. Strkr onboarding ran a 32-business-day migration to the Scale tier with Verified Domains. The per-tenant sender posture isolated the brand reputation from pool neighbors. Sender reputation held steady through the migration and climbed slightly on cleaner authentication alignment.

Pattern C

The 24-person DTC brand with SMS and email coordination.

A 24-person DTC brand ran SMS and email lifecycle in parallel with the two channels managed in different tools. Compliance posture (CASL for Canadian customers, CCPA for California, specific SMS consent requirements) was fragile. Strkr onboarding consolidated the two channels into Strkr Messaging and Strkr email with unified consent state. Compliance review time dropped from 11 hours per month to under two.

Pattern D

The 60-person agency serving regulated clients.

A 60-person agency served clients in regulated industries (healthcare, financial services) where deliverability failures triggered client contract breaches. The agency ran six client email programs from one shared-IP CRM with recurring reputation anxiety. Strkr onboarding ran a 24-business-day migration with per-client Verified Domains. Each client program ran on isolated sender posture. Reputation incidents dropped from four per quarter to zero in the first full year.

Pattern E

The 300-rep multi-tenant SaaS with per-tenant customer sends.

A 300-rep multi-tenant SaaS vendor sent on behalf of 1,400 end customers through the shared platform IP. Any end customer running a bad list could tank the shared reputation for every tenant. Strkr onboarding configured per-end-customer Verified Domains through the platform integration path. Each end customer sent from its own authenticated domain. The platform-level reputation stayed clean regardless of individual end customer behavior.

Run your sending program on a CRM that respects inbox placement.

Book a 30 minute call. We will walk through the deliverability stack, the Verified Domains configuration, and the consent-first messaging posture with your actual sending volume and your actual compliance requirements.

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Common questions

What buyers in this bucket ask most.

What is the deliverability posture Strkr ships by default?

Strkr runs on a modern deliverability stack with per-tenant Verified Domains on the Scale tier, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC alignment configured during onboarding, daily sender reputation monitoring against major databases, structured bounce classification with automatic handling, immediate unsubscribe propagation across all send surfaces, consent-first messaging posture with granular consent state, and a seven-year suppression list retention. The compliance posture covers CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and CASL by default. The architecture penalizes cold-email outreach patterns that major mailbox providers now detect and reward consent-based sending.

How does the Verified Domains feature work?

Verified Domains are live on the Scale tier and let the tenant send from its own branded domain (sales@yourcompany.com) rather than a shared Strkr sending domain. The admin configures the specific DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) during onboarding by copy-pasting from the admin console into the tenant DNS. The verification lands within 24 hours. The tenant sender identity ties to the tenant domain, which isolates reputation from other tenants on the Strkr platform. For agencies and multi-tenant SaaS vendors sending on behalf of end customers Verified Domains support per-end-customer sender identity through the API.

Does Strkr ship email warmup capability?

No. Strkr does not ship email warmup capability and recommends against using separate warmup tools against the Strkr sending domain. Automated warmup through artificial reply exchanges is a short-term reputation boost that major mailbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) now detect and penalize. Teams who use warmup tools typically see Gmail Postmaster Tools reputation scores drop over 90 days as Gmail classifies the warmup pattern. The Strkr posture runs on consent-based sending with proper authentication, list hygiene, and engagement optimization. The approach takes longer to build sending volume but produces durable reputation that holds through algorithm changes.

How does Strkr handle bounce classification and the follow-up action?

Strkr classifies every bounce into hard (invalid address, domain does not exist), soft (temporary issue, mailbox full), spam complaint (recipient marked as spam), blocked (receiver policy block), or other. Hard bounces remove the contact from the sending list immediately with the bounce reason logged. Soft bounces retry on exponential backoff for up to seven days then convert to hard bounce. Spam complaints remove the contact and route to the deliverability team for investigation. Blocked bounces trigger temporary suppression (24 to 72 hours) then resume if the block clears. The bounce log retains for seven years for CAN-SPAM audit purposes.

What does the sender reputation monitoring look like in practice?

Strkr runs daily checks against Sender Score (Return Path), Barracuda Reputation Block List, SpamCop, Spamhaus, and the major mailbox provider feedback loops (Gmail Postmaster Tools, Outlook Smart Network Data Services). The dashboard shows the current reputation score aggregated across sources with the 90-day trend. A reputation drop triggers an alert with the signal (new blocklist entry, elevated spam complaint rate, degraded engagement) and the recommended corrective action (reduce send volume, review list hygiene, check content for spam triggers, verify DNS alignment).

How does Strkr handle consent capture for GDPR and CASL compliance?

Strkr consent capture distinguishes between marketing consent, transactional consent, and SMS consent as independent states on the contact. For GDPR-relevant jurisdictions the consent capture records the consent language shown, the timestamp, the source URL, and the user IP. The consent record ties to the contact and survives contact lifecycle changes. For CASL compliance (Canadian anti-spam law) the consent capture distinguishes between implied consent and express consent with the category documented. The audit log captures every consent change event. Right-to-be-forgotten requests run the structured cascade that preserves the consent audit while removing the PII.

What compliance review deliverables does Strkr produce for an annual audit?

For an annual deliverability or compliance audit Strkr produces: the signed bounce log for the audit period, the unsubscribe response time compliance report (CAN-SPAM 10 business day window), the consent capture audit (every contact with marketing consent and the capture event), the DMARC compliance report (authentication alignment pass rate), the suppression list manifest with retention proof, and the full audit log export covering every record read, record write, email send, and consent change for the audit period. The export runs with signed manifest for integrity verification. For teams running SOC 2 Type II audits the deliverability deliverables integrate cleanly with the broader audit scope.

Also built for

Related audiences.

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