The most common scenarios that contribute to a poor sender reputation include:
- Sending email to spam traps
- A high volume of subscriber complaints
- Sending email to a large number of unknown users
- An infrastructure that is not properly configured
- Erratic or inconsistent sending volumes
- A non-existent or short sending history
The most common scenarios that result from a poor sender reputation include:
- Blocking: Mailbox providers primarily reject email based on reputation drivers such as complaint rates, spam traps, unknown user rates, third-party filtering, and blocklisting status.
- Filtering: Messages are filtered into the spam or junk folder and are not delivered to the inbox.
- Blocklistings: Mailbox providers, spam filtering companies, or anti-spam organizations list IP addresses on either public or private blocklists because of poor reputation, which typically results in reduced inbox placement rates.
- Low Sender Scores: Poor performance in any combination of the reputation metrics can bring down the Sender Score.
- Throttling (also referred to as deferrals or soft bounces related to reputation): Some mailbox providers slow the rate of delivery of senders' email if they have a low sender reputation.
- Decline in success metrics: Inbox placement rates decline as a result of poor sending reputation. A decline in inbox placement rates causes a chain reaction with other success metrics tied to email, such as a decline in open rates, click through rates, website traffic, and conversion rates.
