How accurate is Microsoft SNDS data for deliverability monitoring?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from StackOverflow answers that interpreting SNDS data requires understanding the context of your email program and audience. Sudden spikes in complaints could be due to a specific campaign or list quality issues.
Email marketer from NeilPatel.com shares that SNDS data should be viewed as directional indicators rather than absolute truth. High complaint rates warrant investigation, but don't always indicate a severe problem, especially if volume is low.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests using Google Postmaster Tools for more reliable and granular data about Gmail deliverability, complementing SNDS for a broader view of Microsoft's ecosystem.
Email marketer from Validity.com explains that SNDS data can sometimes be out of sync with actual inbox placement rates. A clean SNDS report doesn't guarantee inboxing, and a poor SNDS report doesn't always mean your email is going to spam. Other factors like content and engagement play a crucial role.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor mentions that it's important to look at trends in SNDS data over time, rather than focusing on individual data points. A consistent pattern of improvement or decline is more indicative of your overall deliverability health.
Email marketer from Mailjet answers that the most important thing is to act on feedback. Clean your lists, segment your audience, and focus on sending engaging content to improve your reputation.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that SNDS should be used in conjunction with other deliverability tools and monitoring methods to get a more complete picture of inbox placement.
Email marketer from EmailGeeks Forum mentions that they've observed discrepancies between SNDS data and their actual deliverability metrics, especially in smaller sending volumes. They suggest cross-referencing SNDS with other data sources.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that high complaint rates reported in SNDS should be correlated with your bounce rates and suppression lists to identify and remove problematic addresses.
Email marketer from GMass answers that for small volume senders, SNDS might not provide statistically significant data. Rely more on direct feedback and engagement metrics from your subscribers.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise answers that the data in SNDS is known to be lagged (often by a few days), so it doesn't necessarily give you an immediate picture of your current sending reputation or any sudden changes. This can be problematic if you're trying to react quickly to deliverability issues.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that SNDS is a wholly separate system from the actual spam filters inside of Outlook.com. It can be useful for broad strokes monitoring, but it is not uncommon to have a red result in SNDS but mail still delivers to the inbox, or vice versa. Complaint rates can be useful directionally, but sender and receiver calculations often differ, with ISPs counting complaints on the date of the complaint and ESPs rolling it back to the send date.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that SNDS might not capture all spam trap hits, especially those from private or internal spam trap networks used by some mailbox providers. Therefore, a clean SNDS report doesn't guarantee complete absence of spam trap issues.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft clarifies that the IP reputation metrics in SNDS reflect Microsoft's assessment of your sending practices. This assessment might differ from how other ISPs view your reputation.
Documentation from Microsoft notes that SNDS data isn't real-time. There's often a delay between when an event occurs (e.g., a user marks an email as spam) and when it's reflected in SNDS. This latency can affect the immediacy of the data's usefulness.
Documentation from Microsoft acknowledges that the accuracy of the Junk Mail Reporting Program (JMRP) data within SNDS depends on the participation of users reporting emails as junk. It may not represent the entire user base.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that the Sender Network Data Services (SNDS) is intended to provide data about your sending IP addresses, including complaint rates and spam trap hits, which can be used to help identify and address deliverability issues.