Join us today with another interview in our blog series: Authenticated Answers! We sat down with MV Braverman, email authentication and deliverability specialist at Inbox Welcome.
At Valimail, we take our work seriously but try not to take ourselves too seriously. This value inspires us to get to the heart of what makes people unique and how it affects their careers to provide valuable advice, inspiration, and insights to people working with email daily.
In this lighthearted interview series, we connect with experts from the email, IT, security, ISP, and authentication spaces to learn more about them and their experiences.
About MV Braverman
MV Braverman started in tech support and sysadmin, and her favorite role to this day is internal helpdesk at a small company. After having kids, she started her own business doing everything from WordPress support to automation to digital decluttering and picked up a Google Workspace administrator certification along the way.
A couple of years ago, a new Workspace client asked her why her proposal emails were not being received, and a new obsession was born. MV always loved email for its ubiquity and how democratic it is (which can also be a downside), and the challenge of figuring out just what was going on and why was irresistible. She dove in and learned a lot from very generous Email Geeks and other resources along with her own experiences. These days, her business (Inbox Welcome) focuses on email deliverability and automation for small businesses, who have the same challenges as larger companies in getting their emails to their customers and for whom the impact of a tanked sender reputation is much stronger.
MV is still pretty new to the space, but it combines her favorite parts of tech, and she can see herself doing this for a long time and hopes to someday fully earn her self-styled moniker of Email Deliverability Detective.
MV lives in Sunnyvale, which is a city between Cupertino and Mountain View and much larger than both of them. No one seems to know about it, so she has to tell people that she lives between the Apple and Google headquarters. She’s also near the border with Mountain View, which, yes, also abbreviates to MV. And when someone asks what her initials stand for, she utilizes her rusty improv skills to say with a great deal of confidence: “Most Valuable.”
How do you stay motivated when learning something challenging or frustrating?
There’s chocolate (if you’re near the Bay Area, check out Bisou Chocolates; the orange nuggets are amazing. I’m not beyond bribing myself—if it works, it works!), and there’s knowing myself—the best hours, don’t learn hangry, and so on. I look for multiple viewpoints and approaches to help me round out my knowledge and see that no one is perfect or knows everything.
It really helps to have someone to talk to or ask questions; not having that support is one downside of being a solopreneur. I remind myself that there are no stupid questions unless you don’t bother with the search bar, so having the Email Geeks Slack has been invaluable, even if I worry my questions are too basic.
What’s your favorite way to show gratitude?
Specific (and kind) feedback. As a solo business owner, I often feel like I’m shouting into the wind. It’s the best gift when someone tells me exactly what they appreciated about something I created. I’m running an experiment this month, and please join me! I write down
- What worked for me
- What didn’t quite connect
- What action I took as a result
- What questions still linger in my mind
It’s the specificity that really matters. Yes, I will glow a bit if you gush that something I created is amazing, but if you say, “I set up Google Postmaster Tools and am checking it regularly because I heard you talk about it on the Smart Passive Income podcast,” that fires me up even if you’re not throwing money at me.
I have seen many talks and given a few myself. While it’s wonderful to have a lively Q&A and people lining up to speak with me after the talk, it’s nearly impossible to get feedback later. If someone emails me with their takeaways, especially their actions, I will absolutely remember them and do my best to help out.
What’s the funniest mistake you’ve made, and how’d you handle it?
Most of my funny mistakes are linguistic. Sometimes, it’s a Freudian slip, and sometimes, it’s a “lost in translation” thing. I speak several languages, including French. One day, I was motoring along, basically translating my stream of consciousness from English to French, and only paused at an extremely perplexed look on my conversation partner’s face, followed by enlightenment.
Instead of using the proper expression for it, I directly translated “used to” and basically said “I used myself to do a thing.” Not quite the famous preservatif joke but still.
These days, even English is hard! I double-check the Urban Dictionary and one of my favorite Facebook groups (Explain this to me, as I’m over 30 and therefore obviously a dinosaur) and still sometimes wonder if I just said something completely unintended.
What’s the smallest hill you are willing to die on?
Emojis in emails and social posts should be like garnish – a little goes a long way! Don’t use them to replace text; don’t assume everyone understands your intended meaning.
And I’m sorry to tell you, but that rocket emoji 🚀 is forever ruined. Just don’t.
How important is email authentication for deliverability?
Both are more and less important than people think. It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll make it into the inbox, but these days, it’s the price of admission, and I’m really glad to see that. For most of my circle, R is the most important letter in DMARC, and sadly, it is underappreciated. Setting up reporting and reading your reports regularly is one of the best things you can do for your deliverability.
What’s your biggest email pet peeve?
My biggest pet peeve is senders who think I’m going to remember who they are when they waltz into my inbox three years later. I’m suddenly getting avalanches of emails from senders that sound vaguely familiar. When I searched, I saw that the last time I heard from them was 2021.
They don’t even say, “Hey, remember me?” They just launch into whatever it is they’re promoting. And I get it; I’ve struggled with sending consistently myself, and many others do as well. But I never assume people remember me from a month ago, never mind years. My best email tip is think of how you would do something with a real human. I wouldn’t just approach someone I haven’t seen in years and start telling them about my new course. At least throw in a “Remember me? How’s life been treating you?”
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone just starting out in the email authentication or deliverability space?
Size isn’t everything, people! So many of my clients and small business owners are focused exclusively on list growth. When I encounter them, their lists resemble a garden overgrown with weeds. Outdated email addresses, innumerable tags, “just send it and don’t worry about anything else” mentality…
A healthy list needs pruning and weeding, just like a healthy garden. I know almost nothing about gardening, but I’m pretty firm on this.
How would you explain DMARC to your grandparents, friends, or relatives?
Sending email is like trying to get into a popular nightclub, and mailbox providers are the ones controlling the door. The right authentication shows you belong, but it’s just the start.
Here’s how it works:
- SPF is the guest list—are you authorized to send from this domain?
- DKIM is your ID—does your email prove it’s really from you?
- DMARC is your instructions to the bouncer: “Here’s what I want you to do if the guest list or ID don’t check out”.
But here’s the thing: just passing these checks is like showing your ID and paying the cover to get through the door. It doesn’t guarantee you a spot in the VIP section. The bouncer (mailbox provider) makes the final call based on how well you dress and behave. If sophisticated spammers could pass authentication alone, they’d be ruling the VIP lounge!
Authentication protects your domain reputation and keeps impersonators out. But clean lists, engaging content, and good email habits are what actually get you the prime spot in the VIP lounge (inbox). Otherwise, you’ll be stuck at the coat check or hanging out by the dumpsters all night.
