Email marketing is a top choice for many businesses thanks to its cost-effectiveness, personalized communication, automation capabilities, and easy measurement of results. Crafting an attractive subject line, writing engaging copy, and adding appealing visuals will guarantee success. But here’s the catch: your emails need actually to reach your recipients’ inboxes.
If your emails aren’t getting the expected results, they might land in the spam folder instead. One key factor could be your sender score. Let’s explore how to boost your sender reputation and ensure your messages hit their mark!
Email providers use two main factors to evaluate your sender score, which ultimately affects your email deliverability:
Domain Reputation and Its Impact on Sender Score
Domain sender score reflects the reputation of your email’s domain, which is the part that follows the @ in your email address (like @company.com). A high-ranking domain boosts your sender score, making it less likely for your emails to land in spam folders. You can assess your domain sender score with various online tools. Enter your domain to get a score between 0 and 100. Scores from 0 to 69 are considered poor, 70 to 79 are fair, and anything above 80 is good. A higher score indicates a more authoritative domain in the eyes of email service providers.
IP Reputation and Its Impact on Sender Score
Each email address is linked to an IP address, which email service providers assess to gauge your sender score. A strong IP reputation leads to a better sender score. When you first build your email subscriber list, your IP address may have a low score. However, your IP reputation will improve as you gain more subscribers, provide quality content, and maintain a consistent email frequency.
Your sender score influences how email service providers assess whether you might be a spammer.
How to Assess Your Sending Reputation
Your sender score determines whether email service providers view you as a spammer. To check your sending reputation, consider using these tools:
Sender Score
This free tool measures your sending reputation, helping you understand how email providers perceive your domain.
Barracuda Central
This platform allows you to check the reputation of your IP address and domain, giving you insights into how email providers view them.
McAfee Customer URL Ticketing System
This tool evaluates your domain’s email and web reputation, examining your overall standing.
Postmaster Tools
Google provides this tool to help track data on high-volume email batches sent to Gmail accounts. It allows you to analyze performance metrics, delivery errors, feedback loops, and more.
Microsoft SNDS
With Microsoft’s Smart Network Data Services (SNDS), you can monitor your IP sending reputation, track spam complaint rates, and access other important metrics to gain insights into your email reputation.
To improve your sender score, consider taking these proactive steps:
Remove Inactive Subscribers: Regularly clean your email list by removing subscribers who do not engage with your content.
Verify New Subscribers: Use an email verification tool to confirm the addresses of new subscribers before adding them to your list.
Obtain Consent: Only add subscribers who have explicitly agreed to receive your emails, ensuring they are genuinely interested in your content.
Maintain Consistency: Stick to a regular email frequency and schedule to keep your audience engaged and informed.
Implement Authentication: Use authentication methods, such as SPF and DKIM, to enhance your credibility with email service providers.
Create Valuable Content: Focus on delivering high-quality content that provides value to your recipients, as this increases the likelihood of them opening your emails.
Grow Your List Organically: Avoid purchasing email addresses and build your list organically, as unsolicited emails can lead to unsubscribes and spam reports.
Maintaining a clean email list is essential for protecting your sender’s reputation. Over time, some subscribers may disengage. When this happens, consider implementing a customer win-back campaign to reconnect with them before they unsubscribe.
If you receive complex bounce alerts, remove those addresses from your list immediately, as they indicate that the email is no longer valid. Regularly cleaning your email list helps maintain high deliverability rates and fosters a positive relationship with email service providers. Prioritizing email list hygiene improves your sender reputation and enhances overall email performance.
Authentication Methods: DKIM, SPF, and DMARC
Once you have set up your new email address for marketing messages, it’s important to authenticate it to minimize the risk of flagging your emails as spam.
DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) adds a digital signature to your emails. This signature allows the recipient’s servers to verify that the email originates from your domain and has not been altered during transmission.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) establishes which servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. This helps prevent unauthorized senders from spoofing your email address.
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) combines the functionalities of DKIM and SPF. It instructs email receivers on what actions to take if an email fails authentication checks and enables you to receive reports on email activity related to your domain.
These authentication methods are crucial for safeguarding your domain’s reputation and ensuring your emails reach their intended recipients.
Building and maintaining a strong email sender reputation takes time and effort. Along the way, you may encounter challenges that could impact your sender score. Here are critical practices to help you sustain a strong sender score:
Monitor Bounce Rates
High bounce rates can negatively affect your sender’s reputation. Removing subscribers from your list when you receive a hard bounce is essential, as this indicates that the email address is no longer valid. Keeping your list clean will help improve your sender score.
Maintain Consistent Sending History
The frequency and volume of your email campaigns influence your sender history. Establishing a regular sending schedule builds credibility and can enhance your sender score over time. Consistency reassures email service providers that you are a legitimate sender.
Manage Unsubscribe Rates
While some unsubscribes are normal, a sudden increase may indicate your content is not resonating with your audience. Review and adjust your content strategy to better meet subscriber needs if you notice a rising unsubscribe rate or decreased engagement.
Focus on Engagement Rates
Engagement and open and click-through rates are crucial for maintaining a strong sender reputation. Focus on delivering high-quality, relevant content that keeps your subscribers interested. When engaged, recipients are more inclined to open and interact with your emails, positively impacting your sender score.
Here are some common errors that email senders often encounter:
Unsolicited Emails
It’s essential to only send marketing messages to subscribers who have opted to receive them. Sending unsolicited emails can significantly damage your sender’s reputation and increase spam complaints.
High Complaint Rates
Receiving many complaints from subscribers can indicate that you are overwhelming them with emails or sending messages they no longer wish to receive. If you notice an uptick in complaints, address the issue quickly by evaluating your email frequency and content.
Typos in Email Addresses
Typos in email addresses can lead to complex bounce notifications for new subscribers. It’s important to double-check for any misspellings and correct them before resending your messages. This simple step helps ensure successful delivery and maintains your sender’s reputation.
Several tools and software are available to help you effectively gauge your sender score and ensure your email campaigns run smoothly. These tools provide insights into your email performance, helping you identify areas for improvement.
Email Testing Services
Using testing services allows you to check your emails before sending them out. These tools identify common errors that could affect deliverability and ensure your messages display correctly across different email service providers. This step is crucial for maximizing your reach and engagement.
Email Verification Tools
Authentication methods such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protect your email address. These protocols prevent unauthorized users from spoofing your address or intercepting your messages, thereby enhancing your overall sender reputation.
