What are the volume requirements for SNDS and GPT data?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 8 Jul 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
5 min read
Monitoring your email deliverability is crucial for any sender, and tools like Microsoft Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) and Google Postmaster Tools (GPT) provide invaluable insights. These platforms offer detailed data on your sending reputation, spam complaints, and overall inbox placement, helping you identify and resolve issues quickly.
However, to access this critical data, you need to meet certain email volume requirements. Without sufficient sending volume, these tools simply won't have enough data points to generate meaningful reports, leaving you in the dark about your email program's performance.
Understanding volume thresholds for SNDS
Microsoft's Microsoft SNDS provides data on mail traffic and spam for your registered IPs. For an IP address to show data in SNDS, it generally needs to send a minimum volume of emails.
Specifically, mail traffic and spam data might not be present for IPs which sent less than 100 messages on a given day. This threshold is important to keep in mind, especially for new IPs or low-volume senders, as inconsistent sending can lead to gaps in your data. More information can be found on Microsoft's sender support page.
Important SNDS volume details
The minimum threshold for Microsoft SNDS data is 100 messages per day. Data may not be available if your email volume for an IP is too low. This applies to dedicated IPs and ensures data reliability.
If you are sending emails through an email service provider, check with them how they manage Microsoft SNDS access and data for shared or dedicated IPs. For more information, you can consult Amazon SES documentation on SNDS metrics for dedicated IPs.
Volume requirements for Google Postmaster Tools
Google Postmaster Tools is another essential resource for senders, offering insights into Gmail delivery errors, spam reports, and domain reputation. Unlike SNDS, Google does not publicly disclose specific daily volume thresholds for data to populate in GPT.
However, based on observations and community knowledge, a minimum daily email volume is required for data to appear, often similar to Microsoft's threshold. Many deliverability experts generally agree that sending at least 100 emails per day to Google recipients is a commonly observed threshold to start seeing data. For high-volume senders, Google Postmaster Tools is an indispensable resource.
Low sending volume impact on GPT
Data availability: Limited or no data displayed in dashboards.
Reputation visibility: Difficult to track your domain or IP reputation effectively.
Issue detection: Delays in identifying and resolving potential deliverability problems.
High sending volume benefits for GPT
Comprehensive insights: Access to full range of reputation, spam, and delivery data.
Accurate monitoring: Reliable trends and actionable insights for proactive management.
Proactive problem-solving: Quicker identification of issues, like blocklist (or blacklist) placement.
If you're managing dedicated IPs, understanding these thresholds is paramount. Insufficient volume can mean you're not getting the full picture of your email performance, potentially delaying the detection of reputation issues or blocklist placements. This also relates to the minimum send volume needed for a dedicated IP address.
Importance of consistent email volume
The reason for these minimum volume requirements across platforms like SNDS and GPT is primarily statistical. Email service providers need a sufficient sample size of email traffic from a given IP or domain to accurately assess its sending behavior and assign a reputation score.
Without adequate volume, any observed metrics could be skewed or unreliable, leading to misleading conclusions about your deliverability. For instance, a sudden spike in spam complaints from a very low volume might look worse than it is, or a minor issue could go unnoticed due to lack of comprehensive data.
This also affects how quickly data appears. While a minimum threshold might be met, it often takes time for consistent sending to build a robust data history and for insights to become reliably available in these tools. The freshness of data also depends on consistent volume.
Actionable steps for senders
Beyond just meeting the minimum volume, consistent and healthy sending practices are key to maintaining a good sender reputation and ensuring data continues to flow into SNDS and GPT. Irregular sending patterns or sudden drops in volume can also impact data availability.
It's not just about getting data to appear, but also about the quality and actionable nature of that data. High, consistent volume over time provides more stable and reliable insights into your sender reputation, allowing for proactive issue resolution.
If you find your MicrosoftSNDS data not displaying or accessible, or experience delays, it could indicate either insufficient volume or underlying reputation issues that are causing your emails to be filtered before reaching the threshold. This makes it challenging to pinpoint the exact problem.
Regularly checking your metrics in both SNDS and GPT is a fundamental part of a robust email deliverability strategy. Pay attention to trends over time, not just daily snapshots, to understand the long-term health of your sending infrastructure and improve your domain reputation.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Maintain consistent daily email volume above thresholds for accurate data in SNDS and GPT.
Segment your email lists to ensure high engagement and reduce the likelihood of low volume to specific ISPs.
Warm up new IPs gradually to build a good reputation before sending high volumes.
Regularly clean your mailing lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses, improving deliverability.
Common pitfalls
Sending inconsistent volumes can lead to gaps and unreliability in your SNDS and GPT reports.
Ignoring low data availability in tools, delaying the detection of reputation issues or blocklist placements.
Failing to meet volume thresholds for too long can hinder your ability to get certified by ISPs.
Relying solely on volume, not also on engagement and recipient quality, for good sender reputation.
Expert tips
Monitor your domain and IP reputation regularly to identify issues early, even with moderate volumes.
Utilize other deliverability metrics like bounce rates and complaint rates to supplement SNDS/GPT data.
Implement DMARC authentication to gain visibility into email authentication failures and protect your brand.
Stay updated on ISP requirements as they can change, impacting data reporting and deliverability.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says: Microsoft Smart Network Data Services may not display mail traffic or spam data for IP addresses sending fewer than 100 messages per day.
2019-09-27 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says: Google Postmaster Tools also requires a minimum of approximately 100 messages per day to begin showing data.
2019-09-27 - Email Geeks
Optimizing your email program
Meeting the minimum volume requirements for platforms like SNDS and Google Postmaster Tools is a foundational step in effective email deliverability monitoring. While SNDS specifies 100 messages per day, GPT has an observed similar threshold, although not officially published.
These thresholds ensure that the data you receive is meaningful and actionable. By maintaining consistent sending volumes and adhering to email best practices, you can unlock the full potential of these vital tools to safeguard your sender reputation and optimize your inbox placement rates.
Microsoft SNDS provides data on mail traffic and spam for your registered IPs. For an IP address to show data in SNDS, it generally needs to send a minimum volume of emails.
Gmail delivery errors, spam reports, and domain reputation. Unlike SNDS, Google does not publicly disclose specific daily volume thresholds for data to populate in GPT.
Google recipients is a commonly observed threshold to start seeing data. For high-volume senders, Google Postmaster Tools is an indispensable resource.
