What parameters and legal considerations are important when an ESP builds an email reputation database?

Summary

Building an effective email reputation database for an ESP requires a multi-faceted approach, encompassing technical, behavioral, and legal considerations. Key technical parameters involve authenticating emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, implementing IP warmup strategies, and ensuring accurate bounce processing. Behavioral factors include monitoring engagement metrics like open and click-through rates, minimizing spam complaints, and maintaining strict list hygiene. Legal compliance is crucial, particularly with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and PCI DSS, which dictate requirements for data protection, privacy, and secure handling of credit card information. Proactive measures such as implementing Feedback Loops (FBLs), segmenting audiences, running re-engagement campaigns, and seeking legal counsel regarding PII are also vital for sustaining a positive sender reputation and ensuring optimal email deliverability.

Key findings

  • Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are crucial for verifying sender identity and improving deliverability.
  • Engagement and Complaints: Monitoring open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints is vital for assessing sender reputation.
  • List Management: Regular list cleaning, permission practices, and proper handling of unsubscribes enhance deliverability and reputation.
  • Legal Compliance: Adhering to CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and PCI DSS is essential to avoid legal repercussions.
  • Feedback Loops: Implementing FBLs allows senders to identify and remove users who mark emails as spam.
  • Proactive Measures: IP warmup, segmentation, and re-engagement campaigns improve sender reputation.
  • Data Collection: Capturing billing and contact details help identify malicious users and require legal oversight.

Key considerations

  • Technical Setup: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC and ensure proper bounce processing.
  • Continuous Monitoring: Monitor engagement metrics and spam complaints regularly.
  • List Hygiene: Clean email lists, obtain explicit consent, and suppress unsubscribes promptly.
  • Legal Compliance: Adhere to CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and PCI DSS, and consult legal counsel regarding PII.
  • Feedback Loops: Set up and actively manage FBLs.
  • Proactive Strategy: Employ IP warmup, segment email lists, and implement re-engagement campaigns.
  • PII Oversight: Seek legal advice when handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

What email marketers say
10Marketer opinions

Building an effective email reputation database for an ESP involves monitoring various technical and behavioral parameters, adhering to legal considerations, and implementing proactive measures to maintain a positive sender reputation. Technical parameters include SPF, DKIM, DMARC authentication, IP warmup, and handling bounces. Behavioral parameters consist of complaint rates, trap hits, engagement metrics (opens, clicks), and list hygiene. Legal considerations involve compliance with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other relevant privacy laws. Implementing Feedback Loops, segmentation strategies, and re-engagement campaigns are also crucial for improving deliverability and sender reputation.

Key opinions

  • Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are essential for authenticating sending domains and improving email deliverability.
  • Engagement Metrics: Open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints are critical indicators of sender reputation.
  • List Hygiene: Regularly cleaning email lists to remove inactive and invalid addresses is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation.
  • Legal Compliance: Compliance with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other relevant privacy laws is essential to avoid legal consequences.
  • Feedback Loops: Feedback Loops (FBLs) are important for identifying and removing users who mark emails as spam.
  • IP Warmup: Gradually increasing sending volume for new IPs helps establish a positive reputation with ISPs.

Key considerations

  • Technical Setup: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication protocols to verify sender identity.
  • Monitoring Metrics: Continuously monitor engagement metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints.
  • List Management: Maintain clean email lists by removing inactive, invalid, and spam trap addresses.
  • Legal Adherence: Ensure compliance with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other relevant privacy laws to avoid legal issues.
  • Feedback Implementation: Implement Feedback Loops (FBLs) to identify and remove users who mark emails as spam.
  • Segmentation and Targeting: Use segmentation and targeting techniques to send relevant content to engaged subscribers.
  • Re-engagement Campaigns: Implement re-engagement campaigns to identify and engage inactive subscribers.
Marketer view

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign advises that re-engagement campaigns can help maintain a clean email list by identifying and engaging inactive subscribers. By sending targeted emails to these users, it's possible to improve open rates, reduce bounces, and avoid being marked as spam.

July 2021 - ActiveCampaign
Marketer view

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares that using segmentation and targeting techniques can boost sender reputation. This is achieved by sending relevant content to engaged subscribers, which leads to improved open rates, click-through rates, and decreased spam complaints.

June 2024 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot outlines that the CAN-SPAM Act requires clear identification of the sender, a physical postal address, and an easy opt-out mechanism, which needs to be followed to avoid legal consequences. Also keep PII considerations in mind.

September 2022 - HubSpot
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus shares that list hygiene involves regularly cleaning email lists to remove inactive, invalid, and spam trap addresses, improving engagement rates, and reducing bounce rates, which contributes to a better sender reputation.

March 2021 - Litmus
Marketer view

Email marketer from SendGrid explains that IP warmup is a critical process for new IP addresses, gradually increasing sending volume to establish a positive reputation with ISPs, and avoiding being flagged as a spammer.

August 2023 - SendGrid
Marketer view

Email marketer from Stack Overflow mentions that Feedback Loops (FBLs) are an essential tool for identifying and removing users who mark emails as spam, as they send notifications to senders when their emails are marked as spam by recipients, which assists in maintaining a healthy sender reputation. Implementing FBLs demonstrates a commitment to compliant email practices and helps improve deliverability.

March 2022 - Stack Overflow
Marketer view

Email marketer from Neil Patel Digital explains that sender reputation is vital and involves factors like IP address reputation (avoiding blacklists), domain reputation (authentication with SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and engagement metrics (open rates, click-through rates, spam complaints).

June 2022 - Neil Patel Digital
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit mentions that reputation scoring includes monitoring bounce rates, engagement (opens and clicks), and spam complaints, combined with factors such as list hygiene and authentication protocols to provide a comprehensive sender reputation.

March 2022 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that DMARC policy helps protect your domain from being used for email spoofing, preventing phishing attacks, and instructing receiving mail servers on how to handle emails that fail SPF and DKIM checks.

May 2022 - Mailjet
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that parameters like complaint rate, trap hits, RBL listings, newness/age of client/domain, domain rotation, and DMARC/DKIM/SPF should be captured.

July 2021 - Email Geeks

What the experts say
6Expert opinions

Building an email reputation database requires capturing various data points, including billing and contact information to identify bad actors. Legal guidance is essential for handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Maintaining sender reputation also involves actively managing feedback loops, correctly processing bounces, ensuring proper permission practices, implementing list hygiene, and suppressing unsubscribes promptly to comply with regulations and maintain deliverability.

Key opinions

  • Data Collection: Capturing billing and contact information aids in identifying potentially malicious actors.
  • Legal Consultation: Seeking legal advice is crucial when dealing with PII to ensure compliance.
  • Complaint Feedback Loops: Complaint Feedback Loops (FBLs) provide valuable insights into spam complaints and help improve deliverability.
  • Bounce Processing: Correctly processing bounces is essential to avoid damaging sender reputation.
  • Permission Practices: Obtaining explicit consent and maintaining list hygiene are critical for a positive reputation.
  • Unsubscribe Management: Promptly suppressing unsubscribes is vital for compliance and reputation.

Key considerations

  • PII Handling: Consult with legal counsel before capturing and processing PII to comply with data protection laws.
  • Abuse Desk: Invest in a responsive abuse desk to address and mitigate potential issues.
  • FBL Implementation: Set up and actively manage Complaint Feedback Loops to monitor and address spam complaints.
  • Bounce Management: Ensure proper bounce processing to remove invalid addresses and maintain list health.
  • Permission and Hygiene: Implement strict permission practices and regularly clean email lists to remove inactive subscribers.
  • Unsubscribe Process: Ensure a prompt and efficient unsubscribe process to comply with regulations and prevent future issues.
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise shares that good permission practices and list hygiene are essential for building a positive sending reputation. They recommend obtaining explicit consent from subscribers, regularly cleaning email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses, and providing easy opt-out options to avoid being marked as spam.

September 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains the importance of suppressing unsubscribes. You must remove unsubscribed users from your list promptly. Not doing so is both a violation of anti-spam laws and harmful to your reputation.

October 2021 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from SpamResource emphasizes the importance of Complaint Feedback Loops (FBLs) for maintaining sender reputation, explaining that FBLs provide senders with information about recipients who mark their emails as spam, enabling senders to remove these recipients from their lists and improve overall deliverability.

March 2022 - SpamResource
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks advises to consult a lawyer regarding PII when dealing with bad actors and suggests needing stats/machine learning expertise for a usable predictive model, or a responsive abuse desk if not focusing on prediction.

January 2025 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that billing address, credit card address, business registration number, phone number, social media, and connecting IP address should be captured.

July 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from SpamResource explains the importance of processing bounces correctly. Invalid addresses can harm your sending reputation, so correctly processing bounces is an important aspect of deliverability.

March 2024 - SpamResource

What the documentation says
5Technical articles

Building an email reputation database necessitates adherence to technical authentication standards like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, as well as compliance with legal frameworks such as GDPR and PCI DSS. Guidelines from Google and Microsoft emphasize the importance of maintaining low spam complaint rates, providing easy unsubscribe options, and ensuring list hygiene. Legal considerations include data protection, privacy, and secure handling of credit card information. These technical and legal elements are vital for improving email deliverability and safeguarding user data.

Key findings

  • SPF Records: SPF records are essential for authenticating sending domains and preventing email spoofing.
  • DMARC/DKIM Authentication: DMARC and DKIM authentication are recommended for enhanced email security and deliverability.
  • Bulk Sender Guidelines: Following bulk sender guidelines helps ensure messages reach intended recipients, especially for Gmail users.
  • Junk Email Policies: Email providers filter messages based on sender authentication, list hygiene, and reputation metrics.
  • GDPR Compliance: GDPR enforces strict data protection and privacy rules, including consent requirements and the right to be forgotten.
  • PCI DSS Compliance: PCI DSS sets standards for securely handling credit card information, which is critical for data security.

Key considerations

  • Authentication Implementation: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate sending domains.
  • Compliance with Guidelines: Adhere to bulk sender guidelines from email providers like Google and Microsoft.
  • Data Protection: Ensure compliance with GDPR for handling personal data of EU residents.
  • Credit Card Security: Comply with PCI DSS standards when processing or storing credit card information.
  • List Hygiene Practices: Maintain good list hygiene to improve deliverability and sender reputation.
  • Spam Complaint Management: Minimize spam complaint rates to improve deliverability.
Technical article

Documentation from Microsoft outlines that junk email policies take into account sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), list hygiene, complaint rates, and sender reputation metrics to filter incoming messages and protect users from spam and phishing.

November 2024 - Microsoft
Technical article

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools outlines that bulk sender guidelines recommend authenticating email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, maintaining low spam complaint rates, and providing easy unsubscribe options to improve deliverability to Gmail users.

January 2024 - Google Postmaster Tools
Technical article

Documentation from GDPR enforces data protection and privacy for individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It dictates rules for processing and collecting personal data, including consent requirements, the right to access data, and the right to be forgotten. ESPs must comply with GDPR guidelines for EU residents, including when building and managing reputation databases

April 2024 - GDPR
Technical article

Documentation from RFC 4408 specifies that SPF records are crucial for authenticating sending domains, preventing spoofing, and improving email deliverability by allowing receiving mail servers to verify that emails originate from authorized sources.

October 2024 - RFC 4408
Technical article

Documentation from PCI Security Standards Council stipulates requirements for securely handling credit card information, and ESPs must comply with PCI DSS if they collect, process, or store credit card data, affecting their data security and reputation management.

March 2023 - PCI Security Standards Council