Summary
A low Sender Score despite high delivery rates suggests underlying issues with sending practices. Factors beyond delivery significantly influence Sender Score, including spam complaints, poor list hygiene, inconsistent sending volumes, spam trap hits, lack of email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), low engagement metrics (opens/clicks), and content quality. The type of IP address (dedicated vs. shared), Yahoo/AOL deliverability, and blacklisting also play roles. Tools like Google Postmaster and Microsoft SNDS are essential for monitoring, while improving list hygiene, authenticating emails, and enhancing content are key to boosting Sender Score.
Key findings
- Multifactorial Impact: Factors beyond delivery rates impact Sender Score, including spam complaints, list hygiene, sending volume, and engagement.
- List Quality Is Key: Poor list hygiene, leading to low engagement and spam complaints, significantly lowers Sender Score.
- Authentication Needed: Lack of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) impacts Sender Score.
- Engagement Matters: Low engagement (opens, clicks) lowers Sender Score; content must be relevant and engaging.
- Volumetric Irregularities: Inconsistent or erratic sending volumes can negatively impact Sender Score.
- Yahoo & AOL Issues: Deliverability issues with Yahoo/AOL can affect Sender Score.
- IP Type Impact: Shared IPs dilute Sender Score data.
- Spam Traps Matter: Hitting Spam traps negatively effects the Sender Score.
Key considerations
- Monitor Feedback Loops: Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to track IP reputation and issues.
- Improve List Hygiene: Clean your email list regularly, removing inactive addresses and spam traps.
- Consistent Sending: Maintain steady email sending volumes to avoid spam triggers.
- Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for email authentication.
- Engage Subscribers: Enhance content relevance and quality to boost subscriber engagement.
- Address Complaints: Investigate and resolve the root causes of spam complaints promptly.
- Evaluate Alternatives: Consider other reputation metrics besides Sender Score.
- Suppressing AOL/Verizon: Consider supressing AOL/Verizon domains if deliverability is consistantly bad.
What email marketers say
12 marketer opinions
Even with a high email delivery rate, a low Sender Score indicates underlying issues affecting your sending reputation. Factors beyond delivery, such as spam complaints, poor list hygiene, inconsistent sending volumes, spam trap hits, lack of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), low engagement metrics (opens/clicks), and poor content quality, significantly impact Sender Score. Monitoring tools like Google Postmaster are recommended, along with addressing Yahoo/AOL deliverability issues, to improve overall sender reputation.
Key opinions
- Beyond Delivery: Sender Score is influenced by factors beyond delivery rates, including spam complaints, sending volume consistency, and list quality.
- Holistic Reputation: Sender Score provides a holistic view of sending reputation, considering bounce rates, spam trap hits, and user engagement.
- List Hygiene: Poor list hygiene, including sending to old or unengaged addresses, and hitting spam traps, significantly lowers Sender Score.
- Sending Volume: Erratic sending volumes, especially sudden increases, can negatively impact Sender Score.
- Authentication: Lack of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) can lower Sender Score.
- Engagement Matters: Low engagement metrics like opens and clicks indicate irrelevant or undesirable emails, affecting Sender Score.
- Content Quality: Poor content quality can lead to lower engagement and negatively impact Sender Score.
- Yahoo/AOL: Deliverability issues with Yahoo/AOL can significantly affect Sender Score.
Key considerations
- Monitor Feedback Loops: Actively use tools like Google Postmaster to monitor performance and identify issues impacting deliverability.
- Improve List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive addresses and spam traps.
- Maintain Consistent Volume: Gradually increase sending volume to avoid being flagged as a potential spammer.
- Implement Authentication: Ensure proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is in place to verify your emails.
- Enhance Engagement: Focus on creating relevant and engaging content to improve open and click rates.
- Cadence: Find the right cadence in frequency of emails, sending too many can negatively impact delivery and the IPs warmth.
- Address Spam Complaints: Investigate and address the reasons behind spam complaints to reduce their occurrence.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit shares that erratic sending volumes can negatively impact your Sender Score. Suddenly increasing your sending volume can make you look like a spammer, even if you have a high delivery rate.
21 Aug 2022 - Reddit
Marketer view
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that Sender Score is influenced by factors beyond just delivery rate, including spam complaints, sending volume consistency, and the quality of your email list. A high delivery rate doesn't necessarily mean a good Sender Score if other factors are negatively affecting your reputation.
21 Oct 2024 - Mailjet
What the experts say
5 expert opinions
A low Sender Score despite high delivery can stem from various factors, including list quality issues leading to low engagement and spam complaints. The type of IP address used (dedicated vs. shared) also matters, as shared IPs blend data, impacting accuracy. Implementing DMARC is vital to prevent spoofing and protect your domain. Some experts question Sender Score's correlation to actual delivery, suggesting other metrics might be more reliable.
Key opinions
- Limited Correlation: Some experts question Sender Score's direct correlation with actual email delivery success.
- Dedicated vs. Shared IPs: Sender Score accuracy is affected by the type of IP used; shared IPs blend data from multiple senders.
- List Quality Matters: Poor list quality, including low engagement and high spam complaints, negatively impacts Sender Score.
- Beyond Bounce Rate: Sender reputation relies on multiple factors like spam complaints, blacklistings, and engagement, not just bounce rate.
- Spoofing: Lack of DMARC may result in higher spoofing and thus result in a lower score.
Key considerations
- Assess IP Type: Determine whether you are using a dedicated or shared IP address and understand the implications for Sender Score accuracy.
- Prioritize List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged subscribers and potential spam traps.
- Monitor Engagement: Track engagement metrics (opens, clicks) to gauge subscriber interest and identify potential issues.
- Implement DMARC: Implement DMARC with a strict policy (p=reject) to prevent domain spoofing and protect your sending reputation.
- Evaluate Alternative Metrics: Consider using other metrics besides Sender Score to assess your email deliverability performance.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Sender Score only provides feedback about your sends if you are using dedicated sending IP addresses. Shared IP addresses blend data, potentially reflecting issues caused by others.
8 Apr 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that she stopped caring about SenderScore a decade ago because it never seemed to correlate to actual delivery. She had clients with terrible sender scores and great delivery, and vice versa.
18 May 2022 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Despite high delivery rates, a low Sender Score indicates underlying issues with your email sending practices. Factors beyond delivery, such as spam complaints, inconsistent sending volume, the quality of your email infrastructure, spam trap hits, and overall content quality, all contribute to your IP address's reputation. High spam complaint rates, in particular, send strong negative signals to mailbox providers, regardless of delivery rates. Sending unwanted emails as defined by Spamhaus may also ding reputation.
Key findings
- Multifactorial: Sender Score calculation encompasses numerous factors, including spam complaints, sending volume, and infrastructure health.
- Spam Complaints Impactful: High spam complaint rates significantly harm sender reputation, even with successful delivery.
- Holistic Evaluation: Microsoft SNDS uses various signals, including user complaints and content quality, to determine IP reputation.
- Unwanted emails: Sending emails to users without prior permission may be dinged, irrespective of deliver rates.
Key considerations
- Assess Infrastructure: Evaluate and optimize your email infrastructure for best practices to improve deliverability.
- Reduce Spam Complaints: Analyze and address the root causes of spam complaints to minimize their occurrence.
- Improve Content Quality: Enhance the quality and relevance of your email content to increase engagement and reduce complaints.
- Monitor SNDS: Utilize Microsoft SNDS to monitor your IP reputation and identify potential issues.
- Monitor IP Address: Continuously monitor the Sender score of IPs to evaluate their health.
Technical article
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that high spam complaint rates negatively impact your sender reputation, even if your emails are being delivered. Users marking your emails as spam is a strong signal to mailbox providers.
18 Aug 2021 - Google
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that sending unwanted emails can get a reputation dinged. This can be despite delivery rates.
9 Aug 2022 - Spamhaus
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