Reputation is an evaluation of the sender domain's quality and reflects the likelihood that the emails sent are delivered to spam folder or inbox folder.
Domain reputation levels and impact on emails
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High: The sender domain records a very low or zero spam rate and complies with Gmail's sender guidelines. Emails from this domain are rarely marked as spam.
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Medium: The sender domain is known for sending quality emails but has occasionally sent spam. Most emails will reach the contacts' inbox unless there is an increase in spam reports from contacts.
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Poor: The sender domain is known for frequently sending a significant volume of spam. Most sent emails will be classified as spam.
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Bad: The sender domain is known for frequently sending an enormous volume of spam. Sent emails will almost always be classified as spam or rejected by the receiving mail server.
Corrective actions to improve reputation and avoid spam folder
If your sender domain's reputation on Gmail is not good, it means that many of your Gmail contacts have reported the emails as spam or their engagement level with your emails is low.
To improve your reputation, you can undertake several corrective actions:
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Send only to contacts who have opted in: Make sure you send emails only to contacts who have given consent. Sending emails to contacts who have not authorized you to do so will result in unsubscribes or worse, spam reports, low opens, and clicks that will have a significant negative impact on your sender reputation.
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Optimize the content of your communications: Send content that is relevant and desired by the recipients and of high quality while avoiding language and characteristics typical of spam messages.
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Reduce the sending frequency: Repeatedly sending emails to contacts who neither open nor click is one of the main factors driving the decline of reputation.
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Avoid sending spikes: Maintain consistent sending volumes as much as possible, and avoid sudden spikes in volume because they are viewed with suspicion by Gmail, which may classify the emails as spam or reject them. If you need to send a communication to a much larger number of contacts than usual, stagger the sending in several phases throughout the day or over several days. This is very easy to do in magnews with the distributed sending in multiple phases.
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Make it easy for contacts to unsubscribe: If a contact no longer wishes to receive your emails, simplify the process for them to opt out. The unsubscribe link must be clearly visible and functional.
- Reduce the rate of hard bounce: Emails register hard bounces when sent to contacts with non-existent email addresses. Implement a double opt-in registration process, where new subscribers confirm their subscription through a verification email. This ensures that addresses are valid and that recipients are genuinely interested in your communications. Keep magnews' automatic hard bounce handling active.
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Regularly remove inactive contacts: Always monitor inactive contacts and develop reactivation strategies that involve periodic checks and database clean-ups. The goal of reactivation campaigns is not to “win back” all costs of the contact: it is equally useful and important to unsubscribe from the database those who clearly and definitively demonstrate disinterest in your emails. It is better to let go of these contacts than to jeopardize your reputation and deliverability.
Other tips:
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Ensure DKIM and DMARC are correctly configured for the sender domain. You can verify their configuration:
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from the sender domain tab. Go to Settings, Brand Protection, Sender Domains, and click on the sender domain;
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through the deliverability check for the communication with sender email addresses on the sender domain.
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Check the Compliance Status on Google Postmaster Tools to ensure that outgoing emails from the sender domain meet all of Gmail's sender requirements;
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Contact Gmail support for deliverability issues, such as emails being marked as spam or not delivered, through the contact form for senders. Only requests from senders compliant with all requirements will be considered. Therefore, before contacting support, check the compliance status using the Compliance Status on Google Postmaster Tools.