Sender reputation is the method mailbox providers use to measure the trustworthiness of a sender's email. It is composed of domain and IP address reputation, and is determined by mailbox providers based on a variety of metrics, including complaint rate, unknown user rate, volume, spam trap hits, engagement, and blocklistings. Mailbox providers place a high priority on a sender's reputation when determining inbox or spam folder placement of emails.
Most common components of sender reputation
- Complaints
- List quality, including spam traps and unknown users
- Infrastructure and authentication
- Content
- Sending history
- Engagement
- IP permanence
Why reputation matters
Sender reputation is important to any business that uses email to achieve goals such as increasing revenue, website, or store traffic; improving customer satisfaction and retention; communicating details of a transaction; and building brand awareness.
The key to achieving these goals is to get email delivered to the inbox, so subscribers can open them and take action. Email marketers with a good sender reputation will see higher inbox placement rates, and those with a poor sender reputation will often see their email get blocked or delivered to the spam folder.
