How is domain reputation measured by mailbox providers?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Neil Patel explains that spam complaints are a critical factor in determining domain reputation. High spam complaint rates can quickly damage your reputation and lead to deliverability issues.
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that consistent sending volume is important for maintaining a good domain reputation. Sudden spikes or drops in email volume can be a red flag for mailbox providers.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that domains used in messages independently have a reputation and that sender reputation uses multiple data points including domain reputation. Also DKIM signing messages using the 5322.From as the signing domain helps build an independent sending reputation, even if you are sharing the sending IPs with others.
Email marketer from EmailOctopus notes that maintaining a clean email list is crucial for a good sender reputation. Removing inactive subscribers and regularly cleaning your list reduces bounce rates and spam complaints.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum explains that positive engagement metrics, like opens and clicks, improve domain reputation. Mailbox providers see these as signals that subscribers want to receive your emails.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that sender reputation is impacted by bounce rates. High bounce rates can indicate poor list hygiene, which can negatively affect your reputation. Hard bounces, in particular, are damaging.
Email marketer from GlockApps responds that actively monitoring blocklists is essential for maintaining a good sender reputation. Being listed on a blocklist can significantly harm your deliverability.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that domain age can impact sender reputation. Older domains with a history of sending legitimate email tend to have a better reputation than newer domains.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce explains that gradually increasing your sending volume, known as IP warming, helps establish a positive sender reputation with mailbox providers. Sudden large sends can be viewed suspiciously.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks clarifies that Google Postmaster is a reporting interface and that domain reputation isn't keyed on the From header in general. Also, domain reputation is not a single value but measured in different ways depending on the ISP.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that domain reputation is used against many things like SPF or DKIM domains, especially if they align with the From: header and domains in links/images.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that domain reputation can be thought of as content reputation (driven by URLs) and mail stream reputation (sender's ability to send wanted mail). Mail stream reputation is heavily weighted on authentication like DKIM signatures or SPF and often associated with domain names.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that a key aspect of building and maintaining domain reputation is properly configuring sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Correct authentication helps prove your identity and legitimacy to mailbox providers, leading to better placement.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that one significant factor that negatively impacts domain reputation is appearing on blocklists. Mailbox providers frequently use blocklists to filter out email from known spam sources, which will hurt your deliverability.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that sender reputation encompasses various factors including infrastructure, list hygiene, sending practices, and content. All these things need to be taken into account and done correctly to ensure the highest chance of getting your mail delivered.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost Documentation explains that mailbox providers look at a variety of factors to determine domain reputation. These factors include email volume, spam complaints, sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and engagement metrics (opens, clicks).
Documentation from AWS details that using properly configured sender authentication methods like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps improve domain reputation by proving that you are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools Help explains that sender reputation is a value between 'bad', 'low', 'medium', and 'high', assessing the quality of email from your domain. A higher reputation typically results in better deliverability, while a lower reputation can cause delivery issues or emails being marked as spam.
Documentation from Microsoft 365 documentation explains that Microsoft uses IP reputation to detect suspicious email sources and limit their sending volume. This is based on factors like spam complaints and email authentication practices.