Summary
A SenderScore of 10 indicates a critically poor email sending reputation, leading to significant deliverability issues. Emails from such IPs are likely blocked or sent to spam. This stems from factors like spam complaints, blacklisting, poor list hygiene, low engagement, spam trap hits and possibly a compromised IP. While email providers like Google and Microsoft use their own systems, a low SenderScore correlates with a poor reputation on their platforms as well. Immediate action is crucial, including checking blacklists, investigating sending practices, verifying list hygiene, and potentially warming up the IP. Monitoring SenderScore and engaging in regular deliverability reviews are essential for maintaining a healthy reputation.
Key findings
- Critically Poor Reputation: A SenderScore of 10 indicates a critically poor email sending reputation.
- Deliverability Issues: This leads to significant deliverability issues, with emails likely being blocked or sent to spam.
- Multiple Contributing Factors: Factors include spam complaints, blacklisting, poor list hygiene, low engagement, spam trap hits and possibly a compromised IP.
- Correlation with Provider Reputation: A low SenderScore correlates with a poor reputation on major email provider platforms like Google and Microsoft.
Key considerations
- Immediate Investigation: Immediate investigation into the cause of the low SenderScore is crucial.
- Check Blacklists: Check blacklists to see if the IP is listed.
- Review Sending Practices: Carefully review sending practices for anomalies and unsolicited emails.
- Verify List Hygiene: Verify email list hygiene to ensure you're not sending to invalid or problematic addresses.
- Warming: If the IP is new, consider warming it up gradually.
- Monitor: Continuously monitor SenderScore and other deliverability metrics to maintain a healthy reputation.
- Regular Deliverability Review: Engage in regular deliverability reviews
What email marketers say
12 marketer opinions
A SenderScore of 10 indicates a severe problem with an IP address's email sending reputation. This low score suggests that emails sent from this IP are likely being blocked by ISPs, filtered to spam folders, or not delivered at all. The causes can include high spam complaint rates, sending to invalid email addresses, blacklisting, low engagement, and potential IP compromise. Immediate action is needed to investigate and rectify the issues, including checking blacklists, reviewing sending practices, cleaning email lists, and potentially warming up the IP address. Monitoring SenderScore is crucial for maintaining healthy email deliverability.
Key opinions
- Poor Reputation: A SenderScore of 10 indicates a very poor IP reputation, leading to deliverability issues.
- Likely Blocking: ISPs are likely blocking or spam filtering emails from IPs with such low scores.
- Multiple Causes: Low scores stem from various factors including spam complaints, invalid addresses, blacklists, and poor engagement.
- Investigate Compromise: A very low score could also indicate the IP address has been compromised
Key considerations
- Immediate Action: Take immediate action to investigate the cause and rectify the problems.
- Check Blacklists: Check the IP address against multiple blacklist databases.
- Review Sending: Review recent sending practices for anomalies and unsolicited emails.
- List Hygiene: Clean email lists to remove invalid addresses and improve engagement.
- Warm-Up Strategy: Consider warming up the IP address and setting up authenticated emails if it is a new IP.
- Continuous Monitoring: Continuously monitor SenderScore and other deliverability metrics.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Quora recommends to check the IP against multiple blacklist databases and to investigate complaint feedback loops.
13 Apr 2024 - Quora
Marketer view
Email marketer from SparkPost (now MessageBird) responds that a Sender Score of 10 signifies serious issues and the IP address likely has a poor reputation. They recommend improving sending practices by authenticating email, cleaning email lists, and warming up new IPs.
22 Sep 2021 - SparkPost
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
A SenderScore of 10 is a strong indicator of significant deliverability problems, potentially stemming from issues like blocklisting, high complaint rates, or spam trap hits. While Sender Score is just one data point among many used by ISPs to determine email placement, such a low score warrants immediate investigation. This investigation should include checking blocklist status, reviewing sending practices for anomalies, and verifying email list hygiene. Temporarily reducing sending volume is also advised to allow for remediation.
Key opinions
- Significant Problems: A SenderScore of 10 indicates significant problems with sending practices and deliverability.
- Multiple Factors: Low scores can be caused by blocklisting, high complaint rates, or hitting spam traps.
- Strong Indicator: A very low Sender Score is a strong indicator of deliverability issues.
Key considerations
- Immediate Investigation: Immediately investigate the cause of the low Sender Score.
- Check Blocklists: Check blocklist status to see if the IP is listed.
- Review Sending: Review recent sending practices for anomalies or issues.
- Verify List Hygiene: Verify email list hygiene to ensure you're not sending to invalid or problematic addresses.
- Reduce Volume: Temporarily reduce sending volume to allow for investigation and remediation.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks responds that SenderScore is a useful data point.
16 Jun 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource recommends immediate investigation into the cause, including checking blocklist status, reviewing recent sending practices for anomalies, and verifying email list hygiene. It's also recommended to temporarily reduce sending volume to allow for investigation and remediation.
7 Jul 2021 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
A SenderScore of 10 is a very poor rating, signaling significant issues with sending practices that can negatively impact email deliverability. While major email providers like Google and Microsoft don't directly use SenderScore, they use similar metrics for assessing IP reputation, and a low SenderScore often correlates with a poor reputation according to their systems. Senderscore metrics include spam complaints, external blacklists, sending infrastructure, spam trap hits and sending volumes.
Key findings
- Very Poor Score: A SenderScore of 10 is considered a very poor rating.
- Significant Issues: Indicates significant issues with sending practices.
- Impacts Deliverability: Can lead to deliverability problems.
- Correlates with Poor Reputation: Correlates with poor IP reputation, even if not directly used by Google or Microsoft.
- Metrics: Senderscore measures metrics including spam complaints, external blacklists, your infrastructure, spam trap hits and sending volumes.
Key considerations
- Improve Sending Practices: Address and improve sending practices to improve IP reputation.
- Monitor Reputation: Monitor IP reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS.
- Address Contributing Factors: Identify and address the factors contributing to the low score, such as spam complaints or blacklisting.
Technical article
Documentation from Senderscore FAQ explains that Senderscore measure's factors include complaints, external blacklists, your infrastructure, spam trap hits and sending volumes.
18 Oct 2021 - Senderscore FAQ
Technical article
Documentation from Google explains that while they don't use Sender Score directly, a low Sender Score often correlates with poor IP reputation and that Google uses its own similar metrics to assess senders, which can impact deliverability to Gmail users.
18 Nov 2024 - Google
How accurate is SenderScore's domain association with specific IP addresses?
How can I best evaluate my sender score to improve inbox placement?
How can I get SenderScore using a DNS lookup?
How do Sender Score and Google Postmaster Tools differ in measuring email sender reputation, and when should each be used?
How does senderscore impact email deliverability and how is it calculated?
What data sources contribute to Sender Score and how reliable is it for deliverability?
