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The Deliverability Download Edition #5:
An Insight into Email Reputation
In recent times, terms like ‘domain’ or ‘sender’ reputation have been used regularly within the email landscape, often with no real explanation as to why it’s important for the longevity of a strong email marketing program. In this edition of the Deliverability Download, we break down the who, what and why on sender reputation, how it has evolved since the beginning of email sending and tips on how you can strengthen your reputation to ensure a healthy and harmonious relationship with subscribers and Mailbox Providers.
What is domain reputation?
Domain reputation is how Mailbox Providers (MBPs) and their users view your email sending tactics and cadence. Think of it like your digital business card.
If you’ve engaged in risky or misjudged email practices in the past, you may have potentially damaged your domain's sending reputation over time. This can result in your emails being treated with more suspicion and caution by receiving servers, regardless of your business’s aims and goals, meaning your campaigns could be filtered to the spam folder, or worse, be blocked altogether.
The Evolution of Email Reputation
Over a decade ago, email marketing and sending best practices were focused on IP reputation and campaign content. IPs were prized and becoming more scarce, and terms or phrases like "Earn extra cash!", "Act now!", "Satisfaction guaranteed!" needed to be avoided.
Fast forward to today, while these concepts remain important, things have changed a lot. Spammers and phishers now have endless IPs to use, burn, and move on from, plus subject lines and keywords play a much less important role in whether an email lands in a subscriber's inbox or not.
For ‘fun’, I conducted a test by sending a campaign to a small number of my addresses (ones that I use regularly for testing, and therefore have an existing engagement history), with the subject line: "Act now for 20% off your next prescription! Limited time offer! Bitcoin accepted!"
And it did indeed make it to one of my Gmail Inboxes (via the "Promotions" tab), highlighting that reputation is based on a myriad of factors. In this test case, my previous history and engagement with the sending domain were more important in determining whether the message was delivered to my inbox or if it was filtered to that dreaded spam folder.
The Inconvenient Truth
When it comes to reputation, one very important element to bear in mind is that just because your campaign makes it through to one person’s inbox, it doesn't mean it'll make it through to another, even at the same domain. A Gmail recipient may receive it in their inbox, but your Yahoo subscriber's email may go to the spam folder. Even more confusing, one Gmail recipient's email may land in the Inbox, whereas another Gmail user’s email may be filtered.
A key thing to remember if your messages get flagged as spam by a recipient is not to panic. Don't also assume it’s true for everyone, or even everyone in a particular domain. It may not be the case.
The inconvenient truth (as I mentioned earlier) is that there are many factors which determine your domain reputation and inbox placement at each MBP. There can be literally hundreds of real-time decisions that influence your reputation and campaign when it arrives, including:
- Sending domain
- Associated SPF, DKIM and DMARC records
- Content and keywords
- Campaign links
- HTML code
- Inclusion of link shorteners
- Current and past spam complaint rates
- Spam trap hits
And much, much more!
The truth is, it's impossible to predict and understand all of those decisions every time you send a campaign, because funnily enough, MBPs want to keep that information to themselves (spoilsports).
It can be even more granular, as not only will they assess much of this on a general domain-wide reputation level, but they will also apply much of that logic to individual addresses in your list as well, hence why some subscribers may see it in their Inbox and some may not.
What we do know and can confidently say, is that there are several key factors which play very important roles in assessing your reputation, and if you get those right, you'll give yourself the best chance of making it through to most subscribers' Inbox.
Quick Wins to Boost Your Sender Reputation
We’ll dive deeper into the building blocks of how to boost sender reputation in next month’s Deliverability Download, but in the meantime here are a few practical actions you can take right now to start strengthening your sender reputation:
Prioritise engaged subscribers: It’s tempting to email every contact you’ve ever collected, but less is more. Focus your sends on the people who open and click most often. Regularly clean your list by removing long-term inactive addresses. They’re not just dead weight; they can quietly harm your reputation.
Monitor your metrics: After each send, check and monitor your bounce rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribes. Sudden spikes in any of these are early warning signs, and it’s best to address them quickly before they impact deliverability.
Authenticate your domain: Set up your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. These technical protocols are like a passport for your emails, helping mailbox providers confirm you are who you say you are and that you’re a trustworthy and legitimate source.
Sender Reputation Is a Team Effort (and you’re in good hands)
Just like with most good things in life (salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly), good sender reputation isn’t a solo effort. In fact, your Email Service Provider (ESP's i.e. us here at Campaign Monitor by Marigold) IP reputation and infrastructure is what will actually get you to the door. From there, however, your domain reputation and authentication will ultimately decide how much further you go (so be sure to implement the best practices mentioned above).
Our expert Deliverability team also continually monitors our platform, identifying and flagging issues quickly and effectively to help maintain an industry-leading 99% delivery rate, year in, year out, even through busy times and crucial holiday periods.
Campaign Monitor is a Full Member of M3AAWG (The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group), and we also have strict anti-spam policies in place to ensure we and our customers remain compliant, along with a dedicated Compliance team who work hard to enforce them.
This is the first article in our three-part series on Email Reputation. In next month’s Deliverability Download “Building Blocks of Email Reputation”, we’ll build on these foundations with a deep dive into permission-based practices, avoiding spam traps, and getting your authentication settings exactly right.
