How can I improve email deliverability for a client with a poor sender reputation and questionable email acquisition practices?

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests creating valuable and engaging content that recipients want to read. High engagement rates signal to ISPs that the sender is trustworthy.

Email marketer from Gmass recommends regularly cleaning your email list to remove invalid or inactive email addresses. This helps maintain a high sender reputation and improves deliverability by reducing bounce rates and spam complaints.

Email marketer from Sender explains that segmenting email lists based on engagement levels allows for tailored sending strategies. Focus on sending high-quality content to engaged subscribers to improve sender reputation.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests dumping the co-reg emails and combining options 3 (dropping unengaged members) and 2 (building reputation with engaged members) for at least 60 days. They advise against a new brand name if there are enough responsive, highly engaged users.

Email marketer from Stack Overflow suggests using feedback loops (FBLs) provided by ISPs to identify and address issues causing complaints. This helps quickly resolve deliverability problems.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests focusing on getting paid for the time spent rather than unrealistic objectives. They suggest removing inactive users from the mailing list as this improves reputation and shows that quality is better than quantity.

Email marketer from Reddit recommends auditing current email acquisition practices and ensuring all subscribers have explicitly opted in. Removing co-registration and purchased lists is essential for improving reputation.

Email marketer from Woodpecker shares the importance of authenticating email with DKIM, SPF, and DMARC is critical. These measures verify sender identity and prevent spoofing, significantly enhancing deliverability.

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that warming up IP addresses by gradually increasing sending volume is crucial when using new IPs, especially for senders with a poor reputation. This helps establish trust with ISPs.

Expert from Email Geeks advises getting paid upfront, noting that clients with deliverability problems often refuse to pay if the advice isn't followed or if results aren't immediately seen. She highlights that the underlying problem is often uncompelling or scammy offers, and that a poor subscription process is less relevant if the offers were good.

Expert from Word to the Wise highlights the common deliverability problems stemming from co-registration practices. They advise moving away from co-registration due to issues with consent and list quality. A focus on acquiring subscribers through transparent opt-in methods is recommended.

Expert from Word to the Wise discusses the negative impact of sending to old email addresses. They recommend establishing and enforcing a policy to remove old and unengaged addresses, as it directly addresses deliverability issues arising from spam traps and low engagement.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests the best course of action is to wish the client well in their search for someone else to help them, implying the situation may be too problematic to resolve ethically.

Expert from Spam Resource, Laura Atkins, explains the importance of engagement metrics, emphasizing that opens and clicks are less reliable indicators than replies and forwards, particularly when assessing deliverability issues. She suggests focusing on building genuine engagement to improve sender reputation.

Documentation from Google explains using Postmaster Tools to monitor sender reputation by tracking spam rates, domain reputation, and authentication. Consistently high spam rates negatively impact deliverability.

Documentation from Microsoft explains the importance of maintaining a clean email list. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who have unsubscribed. Implement a double opt-in process to ensure subscribers genuinely want to receive emails.

Documentation from RFC explains implementing SPF records to authorize sending mail servers. SPF records help prevent spoofing and improve deliverability by verifying the sender's identity.

Documentation from SparkPost details the process of IP warming, which involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new IP address to establish a positive sending reputation with ISPs. The process includes starting with small, engaged segments and gradually expanding the audience.

Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC builds upon SPF and DKIM to provide a policy for handling emails that fail authentication checks. Implementing DMARC allows senders to specify how ISPs should handle unauthenticated emails, reducing spoofing and improving deliverability.