It says “delivered” but my customer never got it
“Delivered” only means your customer’s email system accepted the message. It doesn’t mean it reached their inbox. After that, the email can still be filed in junk, held back by their company’s filter, or sorted into a folder they don’t look at. The status is accurate. It just answers a different question from the one you’re asking.
Check your own email first. Free, about 90 seconds. You get a grade and a plain-English list of what's working and what isn't.
Why this happens
Think of “delivered” as the post office confirming your letter reached the building. Whether it lands on the right desk is up to the mailroom inside. Your email tool can see the first part. It can’t see the second.
Where the email usually ends up
Ask your customer to check these places:
- Their junk or spam folder.
- The “Other” tab in Outlook, or the Promotions and Updates tabs in Gmail.
- Their company’s quarantine. Business email filters can hold messages where the person can’t see them, and their IT team can look it up and release it.
- Any rules or filters they set up long ago that move messages automatically.
What “opened” and “viewed” really mean
Some company email filters open emails and click the links inside to check them for danger before the person sees them. Your tool can show that as “opened” or “viewed” even when nobody looked. So a customer who says they never saw an invoice marked as viewed may be telling the truth.
The only sure signs are a reply or a payment. For anything important, ask for a quick “got it”.
If it keeps happening
One customer missing one email is usually on their side. Several customers missing emails points to your settings. Run the free check below to find out which.
If you’d like to hear about problems before your customers do, SenderFix Monitor watches your email settings and the spam blocklists, and emails you if something stops working. It’s $29 a month on its own, or $19 a month with the Email Fix.
What this guide can’t do for you
It covers the common causes. It can’t tell you which of your tools is the one that’s failing, or give you the exact settings for your business and the company that manages your domain. That’s what the Email Fix does. We check every tool that sends email for you and give you steps written for your setup. If we can't find what's wrong with your email settings, you get your $299 back. The guarantee covers your email settings. No settings can fix email sent to people who didn't ask for it, like bought lists or mass emails.
See what's wrong with your email, free
Type in your business's web address (the part after the @ in your email). You'll get a plain-English answer: what's working, what isn't, and what to do next.
Common questions
Can I see if my email went to their junk folder?
No. Once their system accepts the email, what happens next is hidden from you. Only the customer, or their IT team, can check.
Would read receipts solve this?
Not really. Many email programs let people decline them, and some never send them at all. A reply is more reliable.
My invoice says viewed but the customer says they never got it. Who's right?
Possibly both. Security filters at some companies open links automatically to check them, which can mark an invoice as viewed before the person has seen it.
For your IT person or web developer
You can forward this page as it is. Everything below is written so someone who doesn't work with email settings every day can follow it.
“Delivered” means the recipient's mail server accepted the message (a 250 response). Junk filtering, quarantine and inbox rules all happen after that and aren't visible to the sender.
1. Have the recipient's IT team trace it
In Microsoft 365, they can go to admin.exchange.microsoft.com → Mail flow → Message trace, search by the sender's address and date, and see where the message went. To release a held message: security.microsoft.com → Email & collaboration → Review → Quarantine.
2. Treat automatic opens with care
Link-scanning services can load images and follow links within seconds of delivery. Opens or clicks that happen right after delivery, from data-center addresses, are likely automated rather than the person.
3. If several recipients are affected
Check the sender's domain authentication and blocklist status with the free check at senderfix.com, then follow the business email going to spam guide.
Related guides
Written by the SenderFix team. Last updated .