Why is my email inbox placement dropping but engagement is the same?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit user u/EmailNoob explains when you move to a new platform you're essentially starting from scratch in the eyes of ISPs. Your IP address has no established reputation, so even if your engagement rates are solid, you may experience deliverability issues initially.
Email marketer from SenderGuardian blog post shares that not being signed up for feedback loops with major ISPs can mean you're missing valuable information about spam complaints. These complaints impact your sender reputation, even if overall engagement appears positive.
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that your IP address reputation impacts inbox placement. Even with good engagement, if your IP address is flagged for spam or blacklisted, your emails may be directed to the spam folder.
Email marketer from StackExchange User explains that a sudden drop in inbox placement despite consistent engagement is often due to changes in the behaviour of a segment of your users. They might have changed preferences or abandoned their email address.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum user 'DeliverabilityPro' responds that sometimes third-party tracking tools or integrations can cause errors that impact deliverability. He suggests that it is worth reviewing your tools.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that your domain's overall reputation matters. Even if some users engage, a poor domain reputation (due to past spammy practices or association with bad actors) can affect inbox placement for all your emails.
Email marketer from GMass shares that inconsistent sending frequency can be detrimental. A sudden spike or drop in sending volume can trigger spam filters, regardless of engagement rates.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester explains that poor list hygiene can be a cause. Even if engaged users are still interacting, sending to a high percentage of inactive or invalid email addresses can hurt your sender reputation and deliverability.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that certain content can trigger spam filters. Even if engagement is consistent, using spam trigger words, having a poor HTML-to-text ratio, or including broken links can harm inbox placement.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that several factors can impact inbox placement, including sender reputation, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), content quality, and engagement. Even with consistent engagement, issues with other factors can lead to deliverability problems.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares that every email in the bulk folder negatively impacts reputation, potentially affecting future email deliverability.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that new or recently changed domains have a reduced reputation and will often have lower placement rates while the domain builds its reputation over time. This is regardless of how engaged existing customers are.
Expert from Email Geeks explains if inbox placement drops but engagement stays the same, it may indicate a reputation decrease, moving mail to unengaged recipients to the bulk folder.
Expert from Email Geeks explains it typically takes 2-3 weeks of consistent sending to recover sender reputation.
Expert from Spam Resource, Laura Atkins, explains that inaccurate seed list results may be providing incorrect data, obscuring a deeper deliverability problem. She suggests checking seed lists are correctly configured.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from RFC standard explains that not having a proper reverse DNS (rDNS) record can impact deliverability. Even if other aspects are correct, some email providers may flag emails without rDNS records as suspicious.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that sender reputation is crucial for inbox placement. Even if engagement is good, a poor sender reputation, based on factors like spam complaints or sending to invalid email addresses, can negatively affect deliverability.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is critical for deliverability. Even with good engagement, failing authentication checks can lead to emails being filtered as spam.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that a restrictive DMARC policy (e.g., p=reject) implemented incorrectly can block legitimate emails. Even if you have good engagement, a misconfigured DMARC policy can cause deliverability issues.