How to fix bad domain reputation and best IP strategy for low volume sender?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from ReturnPath (now Validity) explains that monitoring your sender reputation is crucial for identifying deliverability issues. Use tools to track your IP and domain reputation, spam complaints, and blocklist status. Address any problems promptly to maintain good deliverability.
Email marketer from Lemlist advises focusing on personalized and relevant content for cold emails to improve deliverability. Use a custom tracking domain, warm up your sending IP, and monitor your sender reputation regularly. Avoid sending too many emails too quickly.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests that for low volume, a shared IP might be better initially, but monitor performance closely. If you move to a dedicated IP later, warm it up gradually. Focus on sending high-quality content to engaged subscribers.
Email marketer from Sender Score explains that sender reputation is affected by factors such as IP address reputation, domain reputation, spam complaints, email authentication, and list hygiene. To improve reputation, focus on sending wanted mail, using proper authentication, and removing unengaged subscribers.
Email marketer from Litmus emphasizes the importance of maintaining a clean email list. Remove inactive subscribers regularly to improve your engagement rates and sender reputation. Use sunset policies to automatically unsubscribe users who haven't engaged in a certain period.
Email marketer from Email on Acid recommends using a double opt-in process, segmenting your list, personalizing your emails, and monitoring your sender reputation metrics. Also, test your emails for spam triggers and rendering issues before sending.
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares that to improve sender reputation, consistently send valuable content, authenticate your emails, maintain a clean email list by removing inactive subscribers, monitor your bounce rate, and handle complaints promptly. Focus on building trust with your subscribers and ISPs.
Email marketer from Reddit recommends warming up your IP and domain slowly, focusing on sending to engaged users first. Segment your list, and monitor open and click rates. Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Clean your list regularly.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that to improve Gmail deliverability, ensure proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), send personalized content, avoid spam trigger words, segment your list, and remove inactive subscribers. Also, encourage recipients to add you to their contacts.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that domain reputation is suffering due to spam, and stopping the spam is the first step to fixing it. Sending from a private vs. shared IP is less relevant. Volume is extremely low for a dedicated IP and recommends 500K / day, multiple sends a week, minimum for a dedicated IP
Expert from Email Geeks shares that Google generally recommends “resting the resources” so might wait a few days before sending to opted in users. However, you don’t want to wait too long.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that small volume senders should focus on sending wanted mail and ensuring list hygiene. Instead of focusing on dedicated vs shared IP addresses as the main concern, the content and recipient engagement are the most important issues.
Expert from Spamresource.com shares to improve low volume email sending and reputation focus on engagement with your audience by asking them if they want to be on your list, removing unengaged subscribers, and ensuring your emails are providing value. This makes senders look good, even if they send in low volume.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost emphasizes the importance of IP warmup for new IPs or IPs with a poor reputation. Start with a small volume of email to your most engaged subscribers and gradually increase the volume over time. Monitor your deliverability metrics and adjust your sending schedule accordingly.
Documentation from Dmarc.org shares that DMARC is critical for protecting your domain from email spoofing. Implement DMARC with a policy of 'p=none' initially, then move to 'p=quarantine' and finally 'p=reject' as you gain confidence in your configuration. Monitor your DMARC reports to identify and address any issues.
Documentation from Gmail Help explains that establishing a good sending reputation requires consistent email sending, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), avoiding spam traps, maintaining low complaint rates, and ensuring recipients want to receive your emails. For low volume senders, focus on sending wanted mail and authenticating your email.
Documentation from Microsoft Postmaster explains that key factors for improving deliverability include authenticating email, maintaining list hygiene, avoiding spam content, providing clear unsubscribe options, monitoring feedback loops, and establishing a consistent sending volume. Smaller senders should prioritize permission-based sending and careful list management.