When a client says the report never arrived, it's almost always one of six things, and the first three take under five minutes to check. Work down this list in order and stop as soon as you find it.
TLDR: Check the recipient address, then spam and quarantine, then attachment size. If none of those is it, stop emailing a PDF and send a share link instead, which dodges most corporate filters.
Check the three fast causes first
- The address is wrong or missing. One typo, or a recipient who's left the company, is enough. Open the schedule and read the address out loud against the client's last email.
- The message is in spam. Ask the client to search spam and quarantine for the sender and subject. This is the most common finding.
- The attachment is too big or blocked. Plenty of company mail systems cap attachments or strip PDFs. A report packed with charts gets big fast.
If the client finds it in spam, ask them to mark it as not spam and add the sender to their safe list. Do it once and it usually sticks.
Then check the three slower causes
| Cause | How to spot it | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The share link was disabled or expired | Link opens an error instead of the report | Create a fresh link and resend |
| The schedule is paused or has no recipients | Nothing was sent on the due date | Reopen the schedule, confirm recipients and date |
| A corporate firewall rewrites links | Link works from your phone, not from their office | Ask their IT to allow the domain, or send the PDF as a one-off |
Send a link, not a file
A PDF attachment runs the gauntlet of every filter between you and the client. A link travels as plain text. For recurring reports the link is the better default, and the client always sees the latest numbers instead of an old file sitting in their inbox.
In Mydrop, social media reports can be shared by link and delivered on a schedule, with your branding on the white-label PDF. The numbers come from Performances, so the report and the dashboard always agree.
Add a delivery check to your own routine
Don't wait for the client to notice a missing report. On each delivery day:
- Look at your own sent log or the schedule status.
- For your top three clients, send yourself a copy and check it lands in the inbox.
- Once a quarter, ask each client to confirm the address and who else should receive it.
This turns a silent failure into a two-minute check. Clients rarely tell you a report is missing, they just stop reading them.
A worked example: one report, three clients
Say you send the same monthly report to three clients and one says it never arrived. Here's how the diagnosis usually goes.
- Client A received it. Nothing to fix.
- Client B finds it in spam. Fix: safe-list the sender, then send a link next month.
- Client C has a corporate mail system that quarantines PDFs. Fix: switch to a share link and ask their IT to allow the sending domain only if the link is also blocked.
Notice that the same report failed for two different reasons. That's why the order of checks matters: start with the cheap ones, and don't blame your tool before you've looked at the client's inbox.
What to tell the client while you fix it
Don't make the client wait for the diagnosis. Send the report right away as a share link, in a short message:
- One line with the link and the period it covers.
- One line saying the scheduled email may have been filtered.
- One line asking them to check spam and tell you if the link works.
Keep it short and neutral. Clients care that the numbers arrived, not why they were late. Then fix the schedule so next month doesn't need this message.
Keep a one-line delivery record per client
A small table in your notes saves hours the next time a client complains. Keep one row per client with four fields: the address on file, the delivery method (link or attachment), the date of the last confirmed open, and who to call if it fails. When a report goes missing, you read the row, not your memory. Update it every quarter when you confirm recipients, and it will also tell you which clients have stopped opening reports altogether.
Fix your worst client's delivery today
Pick the client who last said "I didn't get it". Walk the six causes above in order, then switch their schedule to a share link. If you want branded, scheduled reports set up once, get started in Mydrop. Free to start.
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