What steps can I take to resolve email deliverability issues and improve my sender reputation?
Summary
What email marketers say14Marketer opinions
Email marketer from HubSpot shares that improving email deliverability requires focusing on list segmentation, personalization, and sending relevant content to your subscribers. They also emphasize the importance of cleaning your email list regularly and monitoring your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that Gmail will not block based on a SORBS listing. They use their own metrics to block. Suggests starting with Google Postmaster Tools and see where you’re at. Explains if Google is blocking you, it’s because their users are telling them your mail is unwanted and it’s all about your list and how you add emails to it.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that in their experience, Gmail doesn't use SORBS so they would be surprised if those two problems were the cause & effect (SORBS listing leading to Gmail rejections), but they do likely share the same root cause which is a lack of list hygiene. That could be your collection process, your management process, or both. Asks about subscription process, and how often you sunset inactive subscribers and if using single or double opt-in?
Email marketer from Litmus shares that the best way to maintain a strong sender reputation is to only send mail people have asked for, follow email authentication best practices, and provide ways for your subscribers to easily update their preferences or unsubscribe from your email list.
Email marketer from Quora explains that to avoid emails going to spam, you should keep your email list clean, don't purchase email lists, use double opt-in, personalize your emails, and include an easy way for recipients to unsubscribe.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that for the short-term, though, you'll probably want to identify the bad part(s) of the list, severely reduce volume, focus on engagement, and wait. SORBS is probably not a big deal, and will resolve on its own with time and effort.
Email marketer from StackExchange shares that it's important to ensure that you properly configure reverse DNS so that your sending IP addresses resolve back to your sending domain. Also, make sure you are sending RFC compliant email.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that improving email reputation in the long term includes sending relevant content, using double opt-in, consistently scrubbing invalid emails from the list and engaging with subscribers on a frequent basis.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that asking for email address during a survey, while common, can lead to poor data quality. A lot of people don't want to provide an email address so early in the relationship and will provide bad information to bypass the requirement but proceed with the results. Suggests pushing that til the end of the survey, make it optional, and be sure you're doing double opt-in.
Email marketer from Neil Patel shares that one should focus on building a quality email list through double opt-in, cleaning your list regularly to remove inactive subscribers, and segmenting your audience to send relevant content. They also advise using a reputable email service provider (ESP) and monitoring your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that improving sender reputation involves consistently sending valuable content, avoiding spam triggers, authenticating your emails, and maintaining a clean email list. They also emphasize the importance of engaging with subscribers and promptly handling complaints.
Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that to troubleshoot email deliverability issues, check your IP address against blacklists, review your email authentication settings, and analyze your bounce rates and spam complaints. They also recommend testing your emails with different email clients and devices.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests the signup form may be vulnerable to attack and asks if there is a captcha and/or honeypot on this form, or anything to combat signup form abuse?
Email marketer from Reddit advises using a tool to check your emails for spam flags, which will then give tips on what to correct and improve the email to reduce the likelihood of the email being flagged as spam.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Spamresource explains that monitoring your sender reputation is crucial for identifying and addressing deliverability issues. This involves regularly checking blacklists, analyzing bounce rates, and tracking spam complaints to ensure your emails reach the intended recipients.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares the need to implement and actively monitor feedback loops (FBLs) with major ISPs. Feedback loops provide valuable data on spam complaints, allowing you to quickly identify and remove problematic subscribers from your list, thus preventing further damage to your sender reputation.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that proactive deliverability management involves setting expectations with stakeholders, auditing current email practices, identifying gaps, creating a plan, implementing changes, and continuously monitoring results. This includes things like authentication, list hygiene and feedback loops.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from SendGrid explains that implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are crucial for verifying your email's authenticity and improving deliverability. They also recommend using a dedicated IP address and monitoring your sending reputation through their platform.
Documentation from RFC explains that Sender Policy Framework (SPF) for Authorizing Use of Domains in Email, Version 1 is to define a mechanism that permits explicit authorization of hosts to send mail with a domain. This mechanism aims to supplement existing mechanisms to reduce the problem of email address forgery and spam, and it is independent of the transport protocol. Email address forgery (also known as "email spoofing") occurs when the sender address of an email is altered to appear as if the email was sent by someone other than the actual sender. Email spoofing has become a large problem on the Internet, as it enables "phishing" (attempting to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity). Email spoofing is also used by spammers, since forging the sender's address increases the difficulty of tracing the spam to its source, and reduces the effectiveness of blacklists.
Documentation from Microsoft Docs explains that to improve email deliverability, ensure your sending infrastructure is properly configured, use a dedicated IP address, monitor bounce rates and spam complaints, and comply with anti-spam regulations such as CAN-SPAM. They also advise segmenting your email lists and personalizing your messages.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that to ensure mail is delivered to Gmail users, authenticate your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. They also recommend using a consistent sending IP address, keeping your sending rate consistent, and monitoring your sender reputation using Google Postmaster Tools.