Reputation
Reputation Factors:
- User complaints
- Length of time domain has been operating
- Volume and size of messages
- Number of bounces, invalid addresses, and emails sent to spam traps
- Mail server settings
- Third-party reputation lists – blacklists, blocklists, accreditation services, etc.
- Configuration of emails – headings, links, images, content, authentication, etc.
ISPs primarily base delivery of your emails on your company’s reputation. In fact, a study performed by Return Path’s Sender Score estimates that 77 percent of the information used to determine whether or not an email is deliverable is based on the reputation of the sender. Instead of sending or blocking emails based on the individual content of a single message, ISPs look at past behavior and the way subscribers responded to messages. This is a really efficient way for ISPs to sort out the legitimate senders from the spammers as spammers are usually repeat offenders. For example, spammers do not care about the quality or hygiene of their lists so they receive a lot of bounces, invalids, and complaints. And spammers are now using graphics-heavy “image spam” as a way to bypass text-based filters, so many spam messages are much larger than genuine emails. Also, spammers are not worried about their image or brand, so spam messages are not authenticated or accredited, and they usually contain missing or invalid header information as well as link and image tags in the content of the message body. Another contributing factor is the sheer volume of messages that are sent out over a certain amount of time as spammers send out millions of messages while legitimate email marketers usually throttle large message sends so only a limited number of messages are sent out at a time.
ISPs look at all of these areas and use them to determine the reputation of the sender. Even though each ISP has its own threshold for what is and is not acceptable, once that threshold is reached, the reputation of the sender is damaged and future emails are delayed, or worse, blocked.
It is important to remember that you have control over your reputation as your actions positively or negatively affect how ISPs and your subscribers view your company. Here are some things you and your ESP can do to protect your reputation to ensure that it remains positive.
