Summary
Gmail placement reconsideration is significantly influenced by complaint rates and inboxing rates, which directly impact sender reputation and deliverability. A high complaint rate signals that recipients don't want emails, while poor inbox placement indicates a lack of trust from mailbox providers. A 0% inboxing rate is a particularly strong negative signal. Feedback Loops (FBLs) are essential for managing complaints. Maintaining good list hygiene and email authentication are important as mailbox providers look at engagement as a proxy for whether or not a user wants to receive email. Actively working to improve inbox placement helps demonstrate value to the mailbox provider. Email data that has passed is considered less than newer data for reputation.
Key findings
- High Complaints Damage Reputation: High complaint rates negatively impact sender reputation and lead to email filtering.
- Low Inboxing a Problem: A 0% inboxing rate is a significant negative signal and potentially worse than a low complaint rate.
- FBLs are Essential: Feedback Loops allow senders to monitor complaint rates and take action.
- List Quality is Key: Maintaining a healthy email list is crucial for reducing complaints and improving inbox placement.
- User Engagement is Key: Encouraging users to move messages to inbox tells mailbox providers emails are wanted
- Email Reputation decay: Email reputation data diminishes over time
Key considerations
- Prioritize Inbox Placement: Focus on improving inbox placement as a primary goal.
- Monitor and Manage Complaints: Actively monitor complaint rates and address issues promptly.
- Utilize Feedback Loops: Implement and use FBLs to remove subscribers who mark emails as spam.
- Practice List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged recipients.
- Authenticate Email: Ensure proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is in place.
- Encourage engagement: Encourage engaged subscribers to move messages from spam folder to inbox to signal validity
What email marketers say
7 marketer opinions
Complaint rates and inbox placement are critical factors influencing Gmail's assessment of a sender's reputation and, consequently, their chances for placement reconsideration. A high complaint rate signals that recipients don't want the emails, while poor inbox placement indicates a lack of trust from mailbox providers. Both factors negatively affect engagement metrics, sender reputation, and overall deliverability. Maintaining a healthy email list, segmenting content, seeking feedback, actively working to improve inbox placement, and keeping complaint rates low are all crucial for positive Gmail reconsideration.
Key opinions
- Engagement Impact: Poor inbox placement reduces engagement metrics like open and click-through rates.
- Reputation Damage: High complaint rates and low inbox placement damage sender reputation.
- Deliverability Issues: Both factors negatively affect overall email deliverability.
- Importance of Feedback: Actively soliciting feedback from subscribers to address concerns.
- List Hygiene: Clean email lists are important to maintain a good sender reputation.
Key considerations
- List Segmentation: Segment lists to send targeted and relevant content.
- Reduce Complaints: Reduce complaints by regularly cleaning the list to remove inactive/unengaged recipients.
- Proactive Monitoring: Monitor deliverability metrics, including complaint rates and inbox placement, and proactively address any issues.
- Actionable Feedback: Use feedback to improve content relevance and reduce complaints.
- Inbox Placement Improvement: Encourage recipients to move emails from spam to inbox to signal positive engagement.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares that maintaining a healthy email list with engaged subscribers is crucial. Regularly cleaning the list to remove inactive or unengaged recipients helps reduce complaint rates and improve inbox placement, positively influencing Gmail's perception of the sender.
25 Nov 2023 - Mailchimp
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit responds that focusing on improving inbox placement involves both reducing complaint rates and increasing engagement. This includes segmenting lists, sending targeted content, and actively soliciting feedback to address user concerns.
13 Sep 2022 - Reddit
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Gmail placement reconsideration is significantly influenced by complaint rates, inboxing rates, feedback loops, authentication, and list hygiene. A 0% inboxing rate is a substantial negative factor, potentially exceeding the impact of a low complaint rate. Feedback Loops (FBLs) are crucial for monitoring and addressing user complaints. Proper email authentication is vital for establishing sender legitimacy and improving inbox placement. Maintaining a clean email list is important because mailbox providers use engagement as a signal of whether users want to receive the email.
Key opinions
- Inboxing Impact: A 0% inboxing rate is a major negative reputation signal.
- FBL Importance: Feedback Loops are essential for monitoring and acting on spam complaints.
- Authentication Crucial: Proper email authentication improves inbox placement.
- List Hygiene Key: Maintaining a clean list prevents filtering by mailbox providers.
- Reputation decay: Email reputation data diminishes over time
Key considerations
- Address Inboxing: Prioritize strategies to improve inbox placement and avoid the bulk/spam folder.
- Implement FBLs: Join and actively use Feedback Loops to manage complaints.
- Authentication Compliance: Ensure proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is in place.
- List Cleaning: Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged recipients.
- Email Delivery: Ensure your sending is not going to users bulk folders
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that new email data affects reputation based on a rolling average, where older data has less impact over time. They advise that a 0% inboxing rate is a significant negative reputation factor, potentially more harmful than a 0.1% complaint rate. Sending to users whose mail consistently goes to the bulk folder also harms deliverability.
10 Nov 2023 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource explains that Feedback Loops (FBLs) are critical for senders to identify and remove users who mark their emails as spam. Joining FBLs allows senders to monitor complaint rates and take corrective action, which is essential for improving inbox placement and sender reputation with Gmail and other ISPs.
12 Jan 2023 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
3 technical articles
High complaint rates negatively impact sender reputation, leading to filtering by Gmail. Consistently maintaining low complaint rates, ideally below 0.10%, is crucial for good reputation and inbox placement. Feedback loops (FBLs) are essential for identifying and removing subscribers who mark emails as spam, further improving complaint rates and protecting sender reputation. User behavior, including junk mail reporting, influences filtering decisions, indirectly affecting Gmail deliverability.
Key findings
- High Complaint Impact: High complaint rates directly harm sender reputation.
- Low Complaint Goal: Maintain complaint rates below 0.10% for good reputation.
- FBL Importance: Feedback Loops (FBLs) provide data to reduce complaints.
- User Behavior Influences: User junk mail reporting affects filtering decisions.
Key considerations
- Complaint Monitoring: Monitor complaint rates to ensure they stay below acceptable thresholds.
- Implement FBLs: Utilize feedback loops to identify and remove subscribers marking emails as spam.
- Address Complaints: Investigate and address the root causes of user complaints.
- Engagement Focus: Focus on increasing engagement to reduce the likelihood of spam reports.
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft explains that their SmartScreen Filter learns from user behavior, including junk mail reporting. High volumes of users marking emails as junk can negatively impact a sender's reputation and affect inbox placement within Outlook and other Microsoft services, which can indirectly impact Gmail deliverability as well.
29 Nov 2021 - Microsoft
Technical article
Documentation from Google explains that a high complaint rate negatively impacts sender reputation. Consistently low complaint rates, ideally below 0.10%, are crucial for maintaining a good reputation and inbox placement. High complaint rates signal to Gmail that users don't want the emails, leading to filtering.
20 Dec 2024 - Google
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