Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast - Episode #473

Why Your Spa Emails Are Disappearing (And How to Fix It) with Amber McCue
Host: Daniela Woerner
Guest: Amber McCue
Date: March 2, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Daniela Woerner interviews entrepreneur and systems expert Amber McCue to unpack a critical but often overlooked issue: your business and marketing emails might not be reaching your clients—even if everything “looks fine” on your end. Amber shares a real-world crisis that threatened her multi-million-dollar company’s communication (and revenue), what her team did to solve it, and a comprehensive set of checks every spa or small business owner should take to safeguard email deliverability. This episode is full of actionable advice for spa owners who depend on email to bring clients in the door and keep their brand reputation strong.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Amber’s Email Deliverability Crisis: The Story

• Situation: During a large online event, Amber’s team saw much-lower-than-normal show-up rates and discovered that many registrants were not receiving event emails—even in spam or promotions folders.
  • Quote @ 04:14 (Amber):
    “People are saying, 'It’s over, the event’s over. I signed up for the event. I didn’t get any of the emails.' ...We already had like this intuitive hit, like, something is off. But then when people said we didn’t get the emails—that’s when we really knew.”
• Detection: Client complaints came through both email and in a Facebook group.
  • Quote @ 05:00 (Amber):
    “They were also posting in our Facebook community... it wasn’t even landing necessarily in their spam folder. Or in their promotions folder. I think we got it.”

2. Why Missing Emails Are a Huge Risk for Spas

• Email is pivotal for event invitations, confirmations, open houses, and client communication. If deliverability fails, all marketing investment and trust can be lost.
  • Quote @ 06:03 (Daniela):
    “The thought process of investing so much time and so much money to host an event. And if your people are not getting the communication... you don’t remind them. You don’t tell them, ‘Oh, it’s happening now.’”

3. Step-by-Step: Diagnosing Email Deliverability Issues

Amber and her team ran through a sophisticated troubleshooting checklist. She breaks it down in plain English for spa owners:

A. Clean Your Email List

• Inactive Recipients Hurt You: Regularly prune your list. If someone hasn’t opened your emails in 6–12+ months, remove them.
  • Quote @ 08:28 (Amber):
    “You do not want to keep emailing them. ... What that does is that it tells the email service providers ... that they don’t want it. So they’re going to move it to that promotions, that spam folder over time.”
• Tools Mentioned:
  • ZeroBounce (Daniela’s favorite) or similar list-cleaning tools.
  • Many CRMs show opens and can segment non-engagers.
  • Quote @ 10:48 (Amber):
    “Some CRMs have this built in so that you can see ... everyone who hasn’t opened in 90 days... There are external plugins ... and just quickly pull those people to a separate list.”

B. Register Your Sending Domain: SPF/DKIM/DMARC Records

• Basics: These are technical DNS records that “prove” to email providers like Gmail that your domain is legitimate—not a spammer.
  • Quote @ 11:47 (Amber):
    “There’s three sort of letter, three abbreviations, jargon here. SPF, not the sunblock, DMARC and DKIM... Most email providers ... now require you to register your DMARC.”
• Who Does This: Usually you (or your web/email host) handle the actual record setup. Your CRM often prompts you to do it.
  • Quote @ 12:41 (Amber):
    “Your CRM doesn’t do it for you, but ... there is usually a place in your CRM to do this and you might have to pop out somewhere else to register.”

C. List Segmentation

• Don’t Blast Everyone: Send only relevant emails to each segment. Blasting promotions to your full list will train email providers that your emails are “irrelevant.”
  • Quote @ 13:34 (Amber):
    “If you are sending email to people who don’t want this message ... that’s going to reduce your effectiveness.”

D. Monitor Bounces & Opt-Outs

• Bounce Management: Hard bounces = invalid addresses; soft bounces = temporary issue. Your CRM should suppress these automatically.

E. Domain Reputation

• Email providers score your “ambermccue.com” domain. Bad open rates or spam reports lower your score.
  • Quote @ 16:11 (Amber):
    “You have a reputation for being a good sender or a bad sender... Each of the email service providers gives you a different score.”
• Check Yours: Search “domain reputation checker,” or your CRM may show this.
  • Quote @ 17:26 (Amber):
    “You can type in like, give me a website to check my domain reputation. ... Like we use Go High Level and they have a place inside where they can see.”

F. Spammy Subject Lines

• Words like “free,” “urgent,” or heavy sales language can trigger spam filters.
  • Quote @ 19:16 (Amber):
    “Sounds salesy. ‘Free.’ ‘Free something’ can even also get you flagged and moved over to spam.”
• Testing Tools: Use free spam subject-line testers online. Even AI writing tools may suggest headlines that need tweaking.

G. The Real Culprit: Shared IP Address Blacklisting

• Explanation: Most small business email sends come from CRMs using shared IP addresses—think email “neighborhoods.” If another business on the same address sends lots of spam, your emails can get blocked too.
  • Quote @ 21:29 (Amber):
    “You're all sending email from the same IP address. And if one person is like blasting spam—even if they get hacked ... it’s going to bring the whole IP address down.”
• Diagnosis: Use online tools like whitelistchecker.com to check if your current sending IP is blacklisted.
  • Quote @ 23:10 (Amber):
    “You put it in a checker ... because you want to make sure you are not blacklisted.”
• Fix: Notify your CRM provider. It’s their job to monitor and rotate out blacklisted IPs. Sometimes, it just takes your report for them to update.

H. Bonus: Consider a Dedicated IP If You Qualify

• Most CRMs offer this for very high-volume senders (typically sending 100k+ emails); then your reputation is yours alone. But you must “warm up” the address and take on more technical responsibility. For most spas, careful monitoring and active CRM support will be sufficient.
  • Quote @ 29:20 (Amber):
    “There is an option ... to move to a dedicated IP where ... if you muck it up, you mucked it up all on your own. ... The recommendation ... is that you’re sending over 100,000 emails a month.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Blessing the Unsubscribes:
  • Quote @ 27:21 (Daniela):
    “So many spa owners who are upset or nervous when someone unsubscribes. And I’m like, no, that’s like the best thing that can happen if it’s someone who does not want your service or does not want to be in relationship with you... because ... letting them clutter up, it’s actually hurting your business longer term.”
• Entrepreneurship Reality Check:
  • Quote @ 28:54 (Daniela):
    “That’s entrepreneurship though. Your job as an entrepreneur is to put out fire after fire after fire. That’s what it is. But ... we figure out how to not make it repeatable—and that’s where the systems aspect comes in.”

Practical Takeaways & Action Steps

Email Deliverability Maintenance Routine

Daniela suggests building these checks into your regular CEO routines (useful timeframe suggestions within episode):

• Annually/Biannually:
  • Clean your list with a tool like ZeroBounce.
  • Check and update SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
• Quarterly:
  • Review segmentations and bounces/non-engagers.
  • Check domain and IP reputation.
• After Any Deliverability Problem:
  • Run through the full checklist, especially checking for shared IP blacklisting.

Key Resources Mentioned

• ZeroBounce – List cleaning tool (recommended for annual use)
• Go High Level – CRM with domain reputation checker
• Online Tools:
  • “Domain reputation checker” (generic search)
  • Whitelistchecker.com (for IP blacklists)
• Technical Setup: Google DMARC, SPF, DKIM record documentation (search for provider-specific guides)

Where to Find Amber McCue

• Instagram: @ambermccue
• YouTube: Amber McCue YouTube
• Website: ambermccue.com

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---|---| | 04:14 | Amber shares how her team discovered clients weren’t receiving emails | | 08:17 | Step-by-step troubleshooting for email deliverability | | 11:47 | Explanation of SPF, DKIM, DMARC and technical best practices | | 16:11 | Understanding domain reputation and where to check it | | 19:09 | Identifying and avoiding spammy subject lines | | 20:26 | The shared IP issue and what happens when you’re blacklisted | | 23:10 | How to check if your IP address is blacklisted and what to do about it | | 29:20 | When a dedicated IP address is (and isn’t) right for you | | 27:21 | Daniela’s “Bless and Release” mindset to unsubscribes |

Episode Tone & Final Message

Both Daniela and Amber are earnest, candid, and focused on demystifying tech topics for non-technical spa owners. The episode emphasizes the power of systems, the gift of unsubscribes, and being proactive rather than reactive with all digital client communications. Amber’s transparency about what she did not know, and how her team’s process worked, is a highlight for listeners.

Summary by Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast Summarizer