Summary
Recovering domain reputation after a sudden high-volume email send to unengaged users involves several crucial steps. Initially, halt sending to the problematic list. The reputation drop stems from increased volume, potential complaints, and sending to invalid addresses. Implement a gradual warm-up, increasing volume incrementally, and avoid drastic volume shifts. Segment your email list based on engagement, focusing on re-engaging active subscribers and cautiously reintroducing unengaged users. Maintain consistent sending volume over time. Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers. Ensure email authentication with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Employ feedback loops and monitor your performance using Postmaster Tools. Sudden changes are not liked by spam filters. Sender reputation, domain age and email volume affect your sender score. Finally, consider the content and identify and deal with complaint problems.
Key findings
- Immediate Cessation: Halt sending to the problematic list to prevent further damage.
- Gradual Warm-up: Implement a slow and controlled warm-up strategy for your IP or domain.
- Engagement Segmentation: Segment your audience based on engagement levels for tailored campaigns.
- Consistent Volume: Maintain consistent sending patterns to build trust with mailbox providers.
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to improve deliverability metrics.
- Authentication: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your email's authenticity.
- Volume: Sudden high volume can set off alarm bells with spam filters
Key considerations
- Targeted Re-engagement: Focus on re-engaging active subscribers before expanding to unengaged users.
- Feedback Loops: Utilize feedback loops to identify and remove problematic addresses.
- Performance Monitoring: Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools to track deliverability performance.
- Complaint Analysis: Analyze complaints and identify reputation problems.
- Content Auditing: Audit content to ensure your content is not causing deliverability problems
- Valid Addresses: Remove old addresses or non-existent addresses
What email marketers say
10 marketer opinions
Recovering domain reputation after a sudden high-volume email send to unengaged users involves several key strategies. Primarily, it's crucial to avoid sending to unengaged users. Segmenting your email list based on engagement levels allows for targeted re-engagement campaigns for inactive users. Warming up your IP address or domain is essential, starting with small email volumes to engaged users and gradually increasing it. Authenticating your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is also a key element. Maintaining list hygiene by removing unengaged subscribers helps prevent low engagement rates, which can lead to spam flagging. Monitor metrics to ensure a positive reputation.
Key opinions
- Warming is Key: Warming up your IP/domain is critical to re-establish trust with mailbox providers.
- Segment & Re-engage: Segmenting and re-engaging subscribers helps improve engagement metrics and reputation.
- Authentication Matters: Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) ensures deliverability.
- List Hygiene is Crucial: Maintaining a clean email list prevents spam flagging and boosts engagement.
- Cautious Reintroduction: When reintroducing unengaged users, do so slowly and monitor metrics closely.
Key considerations
- Engagement Segmentation: Carefully segment your audience based on engagement levels to tailor sending strategies.
- Gradual Volume Increase: Increase email volume gradually to avoid triggering spam filters.
- Authentication Setup: Ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are properly configured.
- List Cleaning Frequency: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive subscribers.
- Monitoring Metrics: Continuously monitor engagement metrics to assess the effectiveness of your recovery efforts.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that it's best to warm up to large volume sends if you haven't sent that volume in the past or consistently over time.
19 Sep 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Hubspot explains that it is important to clean your email list from subscribers who no longer engage with your business, as a low engagement rate can result in emails being flagged as spam.
27 Dec 2022 - Hubspot
What the experts say
8 expert opinions
Recovering from a domain reputation drop after a sudden high-volume email send to unengaged users requires a multi-faceted approach. Primarily, stop sending to the problematic list immediately. The drop is likely due to the volume spike and potential mailing of non-existent addresses. Gradual warm-up is crucial - avoid significant volume shifts overnight. Consider trickling out mail over time, increasing volume by no more than 10% daily during warm-up. IP warming might be necessary if it's a new IP or hasn't been regularly used. Remember spam filters are sensitive to sudden changes. Domain age, sender reputation and email volume affect your sender score, segment the audience, re-engage subscribers, and don't wildly increase the volume.
Key opinions
- Stop Sending: Immediately cease sending to the problematic list to prevent further damage.
- Gradual Warm-up: Warm up the domain gradually, avoiding drastic volume increases.
- Segment & Re-engage: Segment your audience and attempt to re-engage subscribers before large sends.
- Volume Sensitivity: Spam filters are sensitive to sudden changes in email volume.
- Reputation Factors: Sender reputation, domain age, and email volume affect your sender score.
Key considerations
- Mailing List: Carefully identify and suppress unengaged subscribers or those who don't exist.
- Daily Volume Cap: Monitor daily email volume and avoid multi-order of magnitude increases.
- IP Warming: Determine if IP warming is necessary based on IP history.
- Content Quality: Check the content for possible problems, or reputation issues.
- Complaint Monitoring: Complaint levels from users have a significant negative effect.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, shares that sender reputation, domain age, and email volume all play into your overall sender score and deliverability. A sudden increase to email volume without a strong sender reputation will result in a lower score. If possible, you should segment your audience, and attempt to re-engage subscribers before sending to the entire list.
2 Mar 2025 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks advises considering trickling out mail over time after warming the domain up and not exceeding a 10% increase in volume day over day unless in the middle of a warmup schedule.
1 Jul 2022 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Recovering from a domain reputation drop after a high-volume email send to unengaged users involves gradual volume increases, consistent sending habits, and meticulous list hygiene. Monitor sending performance using Postmaster Tools. Regularly remove inactive subscribers to improve deliverability and reduce spam complaints. Implement feedback loops to handle user complaints promptly. Employ DMARC policies to protect your domain from spoofing and phishing attacks.
Key findings
- Gradual Volume Increase: Incrementally increasing sending volume minimizes negative impact on reputation.
- Consistent Volume: Maintaining consistent sending habits supports a good sender reputation.
- List Hygiene: Regularly cleaning email lists improves deliverability and engagement.
- Feedback Loops: Feedback loops enable prompt handling of user complaints.
- DMARC Policies: DMARC policies defend against domain spoofing and phishing attempts.
Key considerations
- Postmaster Tools: Regularly monitor performance using tools like Google Postmaster Tools.
- Inactive Subscribers: Set a schedule to remove inactive subscribers from your mailing lists.
- Complaint Handling: Establish clear procedures for handling feedback loop complaints.
- DMARC Implementation: Set up and enforce DMARC policies to protect your domain.
- Bounce Rates: Maintain a low bounce rate by removing invalid email addresses.
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost emphasizes the importance of list hygiene in maintaining sender reputation. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who haven't engaged with your emails in a long time. This helps reduce bounce rates and spam complaints, improving your deliverability.
28 Nov 2022 - SparkPost
Technical article
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools Help explains that if you recently increased your sending volume, follow the best practices in these guidelines to gradually increase sending volume and monitor your performance with Postmaster Tools.
13 Mar 2022 - Google Postmaster Tools Help
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