Are there deliverability issues sending from new .us domains to Gmail?

Summary

Experts, marketers, and documentation across various sources consistently suggest that new .us domains, like any new domain or IP, face deliverability challenges, particularly with Gmail. This is primarily due to a lack of established sender reputation. Gmail employs multifactorial identifiers and strict checks for new domains, emphasizing the importance of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), gradual IP/domain warmup by increasing sending volume, and engaging with recipients. Successfully setting up and gradually warming new domains is important to build a better reputation.

Key findings

  • Reputation Impact: A new domain's lack of established sender reputation significantly impacts deliverability to Gmail.
  • Gmail's Multifactorial Approach: Gmail uses multiple factors beyond just the domain, including IP, authentication, and engagement, to filter emails.
  • Importance of Authentication: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for establishing credibility and trust with Gmail.
  • Essential Domain Warming: Gradual IP/domain warmup, slowly increasing sending volume over time, is essential for building a positive reputation.
  • List Engagement Matters: Sending mail to engaged recipients and avoiding spam complaints helps build a better sending reputation.

Key considerations

  • Check DNS and Configuration: Validate that DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are correctly configured before initiating sending.
  • Plan a Warming Schedule: Develop and execute a careful warmup schedule, starting with very low sending volumes.
  • Monitor Gmail Postmaster Tools: Use Google Postmaster Tools to monitor domain reputation, spam rates, and other key metrics.
  • Improve New Domain Search Results: Improve new domain search results to improve overall web presence.
  • Improve the Signup Notice: Make it clear to the user when they sign up that they will be receiving a welcome email and who it will be from.

What email marketers say
14Marketer opinions

New .us domains often face deliverability challenges with Gmail due to a lack of established sender reputation and a higher potential for spam associations. Gmail implements stricter checks for new domains, emphasizing the importance of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and gradual IP/domain warmup by increasing sending volume. Warming up helps legitimize the sender to Gmail. Sending domains need to follow email best practices and monitor their reputation in Google Postmaster Tools, as well as hard and soft bounce rates.

Key opinions

  • Reputation: New domains lack established sender reputation, making them more susceptible to filtering by Gmail.
  • Stricter Rules: Gmail appears to apply stricter rules to new .us domains, possibly due to spam concerns.
  • Authentication: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for establishing legitimacy.
  • Warmup: Gradual IP/domain warmup is essential to build a positive sending reputation with Gmail.
  • Monitoring: Monitoring deliverability metrics like bounce rates and spam complaints via Google Postmaster Tools is important.

Key considerations

  • IP/Domain Configuration: Ensure proper IP/domain configuration to pass Gmail's filters.
  • Gradual Volume Increase: Gradually increase sending volume to avoid triggering spam filters.
  • Authentication Setup: Prioritize setting up robust email authentication to establish credibility.
  • Monitor Metrics: Monitor domain reputation and deliverability metrics regularly using Google Postmaster Tools.
  • List Quality: Ensure you are sending mail to engaged recipients.
Marketer view

Email marketer from GMass explains warming up a new IP address and/or new domain increases your reputation as a legitimate sender and helps you avoid the spam folder. Gmail looks at the domain age, the volume of emails, as well as your sender reputation.

March 2023 - GMass
Marketer view

Email marketer from SendPulse shares that new domains are more likely to be flagged as spam due to the absence of a track record, meaning recipient servers cannot verify sender authenticity. This is a bigger issue with Gmail than others. Recommends warming the IP and following best practices.

April 2024 - SendPulse
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that new domains being warmed up are struggling with Gmail specifically on .us domains, possibly indicating stricter warming rules.

June 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that new domains, especially registered within the last 90 days, can struggle due to lack of a track record and reputation. He asks about soft/hard bounce rates and bounce errors.

June 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks followed up sharing that after setting up a new domain with a .com TLD and warming it up using the same data as a .us domain, the .com domain achieved a medium reputation in Google Postmaster Tools while the .us domain remained blocked, suggesting new .us domains may have issues with Gmail.

May 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking if there was a recent change in domain name to the .us domain. Also recommends checking SPF/DKIM setup, warming process and setting up Google Postmaster Tools.

May 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailtrap Blog explains that domain reputation is key for deliverability, especially for new domains. They suggest authenticating your email, building a sender reputation gradually, and monitoring your sender score.

July 2021 - Mailtrap Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit shares that new domains often face deliverability challenges with Gmail due to a lack of established reputation. He suggests warming up the domain gradually and ensuring proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).

October 2024 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from StackOverflow states that Gmail implements strict checks for sender reputation, particularly for new domains. Proper domain and IP configuration is critical to pass their filters.

September 2023 - StackOverflow
Marketer view

Email marketer from DigitalMarketer shares that domain reputation affects deliverability, and recommends warming up slowly and steadily by increasing sending volume. It's particularly important to establish a positive reputation for new domains.

January 2024 - DigitalMarketer
Marketer view

Email marketer from EmailGeek shares that new .us domains may experience deliverability issues due to a higher potential for spam associations and lack of a sending history. He advises setting up proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and warming the IP address by gradually increasing the sending volume.

November 2023 - EmailGeek
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks initially asks if anyone has seen deliverability problems related to sending domains ending in '.us' instead of .com/.net.

September 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus advises new domains to focus on setting up robust email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to establish legitimacy. Poor email authentication or missing records can negatively impact deliverability, especially with Gmail and other major mailbox providers.

December 2021 - Litmus
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailjet that new domains must prioritize building a solid sender reputation to ensure consistent email deliverability, particularly on Gmail. Proper email authentication and gradual IP warmup are important initial steps.

November 2024 - Mailjet

What the experts say
5Expert opinions

Experts agree that new domains and IPs, including .us domains, face email deliverability challenges, particularly with Gmail, due to a lack of established sending reputation. While Gmail doesn't block emails solely based on the .us domain, establishing a good reputation requires a careful and gradual warmup process. Improve signup notice, send slower and web presence.

Key opinions

  • Multifactorial Identification: Gmail uses a multifactorial identifier (domain, IP, authentication), and changes can temporarily impact deliverability.
  • Warming Up: It's important to establish a gradual warm-up schedule, starting with very low email volumes and gradually increasing them over 30-60 days.
  • Reputation: New domains and IPs inherently lack prior reputation, making it harder to avoid the junk folder.

Key considerations

  • Signup and Presence: Improve signup notice, send slower, ensure web presence and search reputation.
  • Gradual Warmup: Implement a careful and gradual warmup to establish a sending reputation.
  • Authentication: New domains should focus on ensuring the domain is correctly configured, authenticated and ready to begin sending emails.
Expert view

Expert from Spamresource.com shares that for a new IP address, it is important to establish a proper warmup schedule. They are generally built with very low volumes on day one and slowly increase over a period of 30 to 60 days.

July 2021 - Spamresource.com
Expert view

Expert from Spamresource.com explains that new domains and IPs, even with perfect setup, face deliverability challenges. They suggest a careful and gradual warmup is essential to establish a sending reputation with mailbox providers like Gmail.

January 2023 - Spamresource.com
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks notes that the client is basically still in the warmup phase. She suggests improving signup notice, sending slower, ensuring the sending domain has a web presence and good search reputation, and checking SPF/DKIM authentication domains.

July 2021 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks suggests that Gmail uses a multifactorial identifier (domain, IP, authentication setup) and changing any of these can temporarily affect deliverability. She also states it's highly unlikely Google is blocking emails solely based on the .us domain.

December 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Wordtothewise.com says that using a brand new domain or IP to blast email is a very bad idea. When you're launching email out of a new domain or IP, you have no prior reputation, and have to work very hard to avoid going into the junk folder.

November 2021 - Wordtothewise.com

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Documentation consistently indicates that new domains, including those ending in '.us', face deliverability challenges with Gmail. This stems from a lack of sending history and established sender reputation. Proper DNS configuration (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial, and a planned warmup period with low sending volumes to engaged recipients is highly recommended. Monitoring deliverability metrics is also essential.

Key findings

  • Reputation-Based Filtering: Gmail uses domain reputation as a key factor in filtering emails.
  • Lack of Sending History: New domains have no sending history, affecting deliverability.
  • Importance of Authentication: Proper DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are critical for initial trust.
  • Need for Warmup: A planned warmup period with low volumes is essential for new domains.

Key considerations

  • Monitor Postmaster Tools: Monitor domain reputation in Google Postmaster Tools.
  • Configure DNS Records: Properly configure DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
  • Implement Warmup Strategy: Plan and execute a warmup period with gradually increasing volumes.
  • Engage Recipients: Send emails to engaged recipients to maintain a positive sender reputation.
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost explains that sender reputation is crucial for email deliverability, and new domains lack an established reputation. They recommend closely monitoring deliverability metrics such as bounce rates and spam complaints, which will be essential during the domain warmup phase.

December 2022 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from RFC Editor explains that new domains have no sending history, which can affect deliverability. Proper configuration of DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are critical to build initial trust. Poor or missing configurations will likely flag the domain as a risk.

August 2021 - RFC Editor
Technical article

Documentation from Microsoft recommends that when you start using a new email domain name, be sure to plan and execute a warmup period. During the warmup period, send low volumes of emails and increase the volumes over time. It is also recommended to make sure that you are sending mail to engaged recipients. New domains that send a high volume of email to unengaged recipients will usually end up with deliverability problems.

June 2024 - Microsoft
Technical article

Documentation from Google explains that Gmail uses domain reputation as a key factor in filtering emails. New domains, without a history of sending good email, may face deliverability challenges and recommends monitoring your domain's reputation in Postmaster Tools to identify potential issues and ensure a smooth warmup.

January 2024 - Google