What tools are available for IPR measurement with Gmail dominance?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Talos Intelligence responds that tools from Cisco Talos can assist with checking the reputation of your sending IPs/domains, providing insights into potential deliverability issues and identifying areas for improvement with Gmail.
Email marketer from Mailjet.com shares that using a dedicated IP address can improve IPR with Gmail, especially for high-volume senders. It allows you to build a positive reputation specifically for your sending practices.
Email marketer from Litmus.com responds that while Litmus primarily focuses on email rendering and design, it offers pre-send testing capabilities that indirectly help with IPR. By identifying potential issues that could impact deliverability (e.g., broken links, spam triggers), Litmus helps improve sender reputation and thus IPR.
Email marketer from EmailHippo.com responds that analyzing bounce reasons provides insights into deliverability issues. High hard bounce rates can negatively impact your sender reputation with Gmail, so monitoring and addressing them is essential.
Marketer from Email Geeks responds that the Certification product from Validity (formally ReturnPath) is still active and provides inbox placement rates for Yahoo and Hotmail.
Email marketer from GlockApps.com shares that GlockApps provides inbox placement testing, allowing users to send test emails to various mailboxes (including Gmail) and track where they land (inbox, spam, promotions tab).
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum responds that maintaining a clean and engaged email list is crucial for IPR with Gmail. Regularly remove inactive subscribers to reduce spam complaints and improve your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Mailgun.com explains that monitoring inbox placement rates (IPR) is crucial for gauging email deliverability, especially within Gmail's ecosystem. They recommend tools that offer seed list testing and feedback loop analysis.
Email marketer from Reddit.com mentions using third-party email testing tools that provide insights into inbox placement for Gmail. Recommends testing your campaigns before sending to a large audience. Mentions Validity.
Email marketer from Senderscore.org shares that tools like Sender Score help monitor your IP reputation, which is a key factor in Gmail's spam filtering decisions. Maintaining a good sender score improves your chances of reaching the inbox.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is critical for IPR, especially with Gmail. Ensuring that your emails are properly authenticated helps build trust with Gmail's spam filters.
Expert from Word to the Wise recommends regular list cleaning and suppression of unengaged subscribers to improve sender reputation, which directly impacts IPR at Gmail. This involves removing invalid email addresses and those who haven't interacted with your emails in a while.
Expert from Spamresource explains that seedlists can provide a reasonable indication of inbox placement across a range of mailbox providers, although not an absolute guarantee of deliverability for all users.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that Gmail does not share IPR data directly but eDataSource has some panel data related to Google.
Expert from Spamresource explains that Feedback Loops (FBLs) are tools provided by mailbox providers like Gmail, allowing senders to identify and remove users who mark their messages as spam. This helps maintain a clean sending reputation.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from RFC-Editor.org reflects that implementing SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records helps authenticate your emails, reducing the likelihood of being marked as spam by Gmail. It allows you to specify which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
Documentation from Google explains Google Postmaster Tools offers insights into your email traffic, including spam rates, feedback loop data, and authentication status. This data is crucial for understanding how Gmail perceives your sending practices and identifying areas for improvement.
Documentation from EasyDMARC explains that implementing DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) provides instructions to receiver mail servers on what to do with messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks. This helps protect your domain from email spoofing and improves deliverability with Gmail.
Documentation from RFC-Editor.org reflects that DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to your emails, further verifying their authenticity and protecting against spoofing. Gmail uses DKIM to assess the trustworthiness of incoming messages.