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Email Reputation
Updated over 4 months ago

Email reputation plays a critical role in determining whether your emails land in the recipient's inbox or get flagged as spam. This guide will help you understand what email reputation is, why it matters, and how you can manage it effectively.


What is Email Reputation?

Email reputation refers to the score or rating assigned by mailbox providers to email senders based on various factors. This score influences whether your emails are delivered to the inbox, filtered as spam, or blocked outright. Think of it as a trust score that reflects your sending practices and the quality of your email list.

The Spam Problem

Spam remains a significant issue in the email ecosystem. Spam senders can profit immensely despite extremely low conversion rates. To protect users, mailbox providers filter out unwanted emails, allowing only legitimate messages from trusted senders to reach the inbox.

Understanding Sender Reputation

Sender reputation is determined by:

  • Positive signals: Actions like email opens, clicks, and positive interactions indicate engaged recipients.

  • Negative signals: Issues such as spam complaints, high bounce rates, and low engagement rates can harm your reputation.

Monitoring these signals helps maintain a healthy sender reputation, crucial for consistent email deliverability.

Healthy (green) metrics are the rates we typically see when most of the email is reaching the inbox. Metrics in yellow or red are typically seen when there is an issue present that could threaten either email delivery or inboxing.

What are Spam Complaints?

Spam complaints occur when recipients mark emails as spam or junk. Mailbox providers take these complaints seriously, as they directly reflect user dissatisfaction and impact sender reputation. Even a small percentage of complaints can significantly affect email deliverability.

Why Should YOU Care?

Excessive spam complaints can lead to emails being routed to the spam folder or even blocked altogether. It's crucial to understand the behaviors that trigger complaints to avoid damaging your reputation.

Could YOUR Behavior Lead to Spam Complaints?

  1. Sending unsolicited emails: Always obtain explicit permission before adding someone to your email list.

  2. Using unrecognized sender names or domains: Consistent branding helps recipients recognize and trust your emails.

  3. Mailing to inactive subscribers: Regularly clean your email list and engage in re-engagement campaigns to maintain active subscribers.

  4. Sending too frequently: Set clear expectations and allow recipients to manage their email preferences easily.

What are Spam Trap Addresses?

A Spam Trap Address is an email address that is owned by a mailbox provider or blocklist operator that is used to identify senders that either send unsolicited emails and/or have poor email list hygiene practices.

Why Should YOU Care?

Sending to spam traps can land you on blocklists and damage your sender reputation. It indicates poor list hygiene and can result from practices like purchasing email lists or neglecting to clean your subscriber base.

How to Remediate and Avoid Spam Traps

  • Follow opt-in best practices: Obtain consent before sending emails.

  • Avoid purchasing or renting lists: Build your email list organically.

  • Regularly clean your list: Remove inactive and typo-prone addresses through re-engagement campaigns.

  • Implement email validation: Use strategies like "reply to this welcome email" to verify email addresses during sign-up.

Sending email to as few as ONE spam trap address can land you on a blocklist.

Repairing your Reputation

Short Term:

  • Identify and remove inactive recipients

  • Send only to recently engaged recipients

    • For very severe cases, limit sending to 14 day engagers until you start to see improvement in open/click rates. For most cases, start with 90 day engagers. As engagement and inbox placement improves, slowly add in email addresses that engaged less recently.

  • This process will take time and effort.

    • Flexibility is key: If negative signals start to increase again, slow down the volume re-warming process.

    • Use this as an opportunity to reiterate why it’s important to follow best practices. Highlight the time, effort, and cost it takes to come back from a reputation issue.

Long Term:

  • Audit all opt-in forms/methods

    • Are expectations clearly set about what content will be sent out and how frequently emails will be sent?

  • Add email confirmation to all Welcome Emails sent after sign up forms

  • Make re-engagement campaigns a regular part of your email program flow.

Understanding and managing your email reputation is essential for achieving high deliverability rates and ensuring your messages reach your intended audience. By adopting best practices and monitoring your sender reputation metrics, you can maintain a positive reputation and maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

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