Most deliverability advice assumes the reader sends from a warmed dedicated IP to Gmail users on fibre. In Nepal, the reality is mixed: Gmail dominates personal inboxes, office recipients sit behind corporate filters, many shoppers read email on mid-range Android phones over mobile data, and cash-on-delivery means an unconfirmed order is lost revenue, not just an unread message.

This guide covers the parts that actually move inbox placement for Nepali senders — authentication, list hygiene, content shaped for slow networks — and then the automation flows that connect email to COD and wallet payments. For the broader service context, see email marketing in Nepal.

1. Authenticate first: SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Mailbox providers decide how to treat your mail before reading a single word. Three DNS records do most of that work:

• SPF lists which servers may send on behalf of your domain. Publish it, and include every real sender: your website host, your email platform, and any CRM that sends as you.
• DKIM cryptographically signs each message so the receiving server can verify it was not altered. Enable it in your sending platform and publish the key it gives you.
• DMARC tells receivers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail, and where to send aggregate reports. Start at p=none to collect reports, move to quarantine once legitimate mail passes consistently, and only then consider reject.

Common mistakes I see on Nepali setups: sending campaigns from a free Gmail address while the website uses a custom domain (authenticate the domain you actually send from), adding a second sending tool without updating SPF (which breaks the record), and never reading DMARC reports (which show exactly who fails and why).

If you change nothing else this week, publish correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC. It is the highest-leverage deliverability task and it is entirely in your control.

2. List hygiene and genuine opt-in

Purchased or scraped lists are the fastest route to the spam folder, and they stay there. Build the list from people who asked to hear from you:

• Collect consent at points you already own: checkout, account registration, in-store QR, expo stalls. State what the subscriber gets and how often.
• Confirm new addresses with a welcome email that asks for one click. It filters typos (a large share of bounces on Nepali lists) and creates a consent record.
• Remove hard bounces immediately and sunset addresses with no engagement over several months rather than mailing them forever.
• Make unsubscribing one click and honour it promptly. A visible unsubscribe link loses you one address; a spam complaint damages the reputation of every address.

Avoid claiming specific Nepali penalties for spam unless your lawyer confirms them. The practical argument is sufficient: providers filter senders whose recipients complain, whatever the statute says.

3. Write for slow networks and small screens

A 2 MB image-only festival creative may look fine in the office and fail everywhere else. Design for the weakest connection your customers use:

• Keep the core offer readable with images off: live text headline, price, CTA button and shop address in HTML, not baked into one JPEG.
• Favour one clear action per email. Order-confirmation mail confirms; it does not also cross-sell three categories.
• Write subject lines that survive truncation on phones (front-load the meaningful words) and avoid spam-trigger patterns: ALL CAPS, excessive exclamation marks, and misleading “Re:” prefixes.
• Include a plain-text version. Some corporate filters and low-end clients render it, and its presence is a mild positive signal.

Test every template on your own NTC and Ncell connections before a festival blast, not after.

4. COD confirmation flow: where email earns its keep

For Nepali e-commerce, the expensive failure is not an unopened newsletter — it is an unconfirmed COD order that ships, gets refused, and returns at your cost. Email plays a specific role here alongside faster channels:

1. Instant order email (triggered at checkout): order number, item list, total with delivery fee, payment method selected, expected call/message window, return and exchange terms. This is the paper trail; keep it complete.
2. Confirmation request (minutes after checkout, via your fastest channel): ask for a yes/no confirmation with the order number quoted. Email alone is usually too slow for this step — pair it, and log the confirmation back against the order.
3. Pre-dispatch reminder: courier name, tracking reference where available, and the exact COD amount to keep ready. COD refusal often comes from surprise at the total, not dishonesty.
4. Failed-delivery follow-up: if the courier reports no answer, trigger a short sequence — same-day message, next-day email with a reschedule link, then a cancellation notice that releases stock.

Measure this flow on confirmed-order rate and return-to-origin rate, not opens. If confirmation rate rises after you add step 2, that step paid for the whole automation.

5. eSewa and Khalti payment flows

Wallet payments fail differently from COD: the customer intends to pay but drops off at the redirect, the OTP, or the balance check. Useful triggers:

• Payment-link email with the exact amount, order reference and a single pay button, sent immediately when wallet is chosen at checkout.
• Abandoned-payment reminder after a fixed window if no callback is received: restate amount and order, one button, support contact. One reminder is standard practice; a long drip sequence on a pending payment annoys more than it recovers.
• Receipt email on successful callback: transaction reference, what was bought, and where to get help. This mail also reduces “did my payment go through?” support load.

Reconcile daily: orders marked paid in your system versus settlement reports from the wallet provider. Automate the reminders, but keep a human-readable log — when money and goods move on different rails, the log is what settles disputes.

6. Measure what matters

Set up a simple weekly report before chasing advanced tactics:

• Delivery rate, hard-bounce rate, soft-bounce rate per campaign and per list segment.
• Spam-complaint rate: sustained complaints above roughly one per thousand messages is a warning sign at most major providers — treat the direction, not the exact threshold, as the point.
• Unsubscribe rate per campaign: spikes point at a specific subject, frequency or segment, not at email as a channel.
• Business metrics per send: clicks, COD confirmations, completed wallet payments, revenue. Attribute conservatively — email often assists a WhatsApp or return visit that closes the sale.

Opens are directional since mailbox apps increasingly block tracking pixels; do not optimise subject lines against open rate alone. Clicks and downstream actions are the honest signals.

What to do this week

1. Publish SPF, DKIM and a p=none DMARC record; schedule the move to quarantine.
2. Delete hard bounces and add a one-click confirmation to your signup.
3. Rewrite your COD confirmation pair (email paper trail + fast-channel yes/no) and measure confirmed-order rate for two weeks.
4. Add one abandoned wallet-payment reminder with amount, order reference and support contact.

Related reading: email marketing service, WhatsApp marketing automation, e-commerce marketing in Nepal, and the marketing dictionary for terms used here.