Why has my Sender Score dropped despite no changes in other metrics?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit explains that a drop in Sender Score could be due to a neighbor on your shared IP sending spam, even if you haven't changed your sending habits.
Email marketer from SparkyPost Blog shares that Sender Score is just one metric and shouldn't be the sole indicator of deliverability health. Focus on inbox placement, engagement, and other deliverability metrics provided by your ESP.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that SenderScore can only view traffic in particular networks where they have partners. A drop in SenderScore doesn't necessarily mean deliverability issues.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that if there is no actual drop in inbox placement or increase in bounces, there isn't a deliverability problem. The Sender Score drop could be due to the proximity of the IP to other IPs sending spam or the client hitting Validity traps.
Email marketer from Mailgun Community responds that Sender Score fluctuations can occur even without changes in your sending practices. Validity, the company behind Sender Score, uses a complex algorithm, and scores can be affected by the behavior of other senders on shared IP addresses or changes in Validity's data sources.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum responds that If you started a new campaign you may have had more bounces than usual and the temporary drop is a reflection of this. If you focus on your normal KPIs then your Sender Score should return to what it was.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow suggests that maintaining excellent list hygiene practices is essential. Even if you haven't made recent changes, stale or unengaged addresses could be causing issues picked up by Validity.
Email marketer from EmailGeek Forum states that Sender Score is influenced by spam complaints, sending volume, and the quality of your email list. It's possible that a sudden influx of new subscribers, even if legitimate, could temporarily lower your score.
Email marketer from Quora answers that Sender Score does not include Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook in its calculations as they do not share data. So, if you have good reputation scores with them, then do not worry about a drop in Sender Score.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that the factors affecting your Sender Score can be outside of your control. For example, sender score takes into account spam traps, which may be triggered by inactive addresses on your email list. Therefore, it's important to actively clean your email list.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that recipients at ISPs sharing complaint data with Validity are complaining. The recipients are reacting negatively to the mail, and the reputation metrics are starting to adjust to that fact, suggesting some fundamental problems.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a drop in Sender Score, despite other metrics being stable, could be due to changes in the data Validity uses or how they weight different factors in their algorithm. It's also important to consider how representative Validity's data is of your overall sending volume and recipient base.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that they do not directly share data with Validity (Sender Score), so a low Sender Score might not directly correlate with issues seen in Google Postmaster Tools. Focus on Google's metrics for assessing deliverability to Gmail users.
Documentation from Sendgrid Documentation recommends monitoring Sender Score alongside other metrics like block rates and bounce rates. A sudden drop in Sender Score, without corresponding issues in other areas, may indicate a temporary blip or a problem with Validity's data.
Documentation from Validity Website explains that Sender Score is calculated based on a rolling 30-day average of your sending reputation. It considers factors like complaint rates, spam trap hits, and infrastructure setup. A drop can occur if any of these factors worsen, even if other metrics seem stable.