Summary
Upon ending a contract with a deliverability agency, promotional emails often land in the spam folder due to a confluence of factors. Agencies actively manage sender reputation, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), IP warming, and user engagement. The transition away from their services requires careful oversight of these elements. Single instances of spam placement in testing tools may not be indicative of overall issues, and patterns should be observed over time. Google's spam filters weigh factors like sender reputation, authentication, engagement, and content. Therefore, post-agency, it is vital to maintain correct SPF records, monitor DMARC policy enforcement, manage IP reputation (potentially transitioning to dedicated IPs with proper warming), and address changes in content, engagement metrics, and suppressed cold leads. Ensuring domain registration and using a reputable email provider are also key to maintaining good deliverability.
Key findings
- Comprehensive Management: Deliverability agencies actively manage numerous factors impacting inbox placement.
- Email Authentication: Correct SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration is critical, especially after a transition.
- Sender Reputation: Maintaining a positive sender reputation is vital for inbox placement.
- IP Infrastructure: Transitioning IP infrastructure requires careful warming and dedicated IPs may be needed.
- User Engagement: User engagement metrics significantly influence deliverability.
- Content Quality: Email content must avoid triggering spam filters.
- Cold Lead Suppression: Discontinuing cold lead suppression can negatively affect deliverability.
- Domain Registration: Ensuring domain registration is up to date is essential
- Email Provider Reputation: Consider using a reputable email service provider
Key considerations
- Transition Plan: Develop a detailed plan for transitioning deliverability management in-house.
- Regular Audits: Conduct frequent audits of authentication settings and infrastructure.
- Continuous Monitoring: Implement ongoing monitoring of sender reputation, engagement, and DMARC reports.
- Gradual Changes: Avoid sudden changes in content, sending volume, or infrastructure.
- Dedicated IPs: Evaluate the necessity and feasibility of transitioning to dedicated IPs.
- Compliance: Ensure adherence to email marketing best practices and anti-spam regulations.
- Internal Expertise: Build or acquire internal expertise in deliverability management.
What email marketers say
8 marketer opinions
After terminating a deliverability agency contract, promotional emails often end up in the spam folder due to several factors. Agencies typically manage sender reputation, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), IP warming, and engagement strategies. Upon termination, these aspects require careful attention and management. Sudden shifts in content, decreases in engagement, increased spam complaints, or changes in IP addresses without proper warming can negatively impact deliverability. Additionally, the absence of previously suppressed cold leads and the lack of a dedicated IP address can contribute to deliverability issues. Continuous monitoring of sender reputation, authentication settings, and engagement metrics is crucial to maintain inbox placement.
Key opinions
- Sender Reputation: Agencies actively manage sender reputation; ensure consistent management post-termination.
- Email Authentication: Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings remain active and properly configured.
- IP Warming: If transitioning to new IPs, implement a gradual warming schedule.
- Engagement Metrics: Monitor engagement rates; declines can trigger spam filters.
- Content Changes: Avoid sudden changes in email content that might trigger spam filters.
- Dedicated IPs: Using dedicated IP addresses can help ensure good delivery
Key considerations
- Transition Plan: Develop a comprehensive transition plan outlining the management of deliverability aspects.
- Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring of sender reputation, authentication, and engagement metrics.
- Lead Suppression: Understand and maintain any cold lead suppression strategies previously employed.
- Internal Expertise: Ensure internal teams have the necessary expertise to manage deliverability effectively.
- Testing: Perform regular testing of email placement, not just relying on seed accounts.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Stackoverflow explains that to ensure good delivery you need to use a dedicated IP address for each domain you send from.
17 Sep 2023 - Stackoverflow
Marketer view
Email marketer from Quora explains that before terminating a contract, clarify whether the agency was suppressing cold leads (and what those criteria were) and what the engagement levels of those users were. If this stops it can cause problems.
28 Jan 2022 - Quora
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
After terminating a deliverability agency, a primary concern is the potential disruption to carefully managed infrastructure and reputation. It's critical to note that a single instance of bad delivery might be an isolated event. Before reacting, observe delivery patterns over multiple sends and days. Agencies often manage sender reputation and IP infrastructure, making a well-managed transition of authentication settings and IP reputation essential. Shared IP addresses can also lead to deliverability issues due to blacklisting; dedicated IP addresses can mitigate this risk.
Key opinions
- Single Email Issue: A single bad delivery instance isn't always indicative of a larger problem.
- Agency Infrastructure: Agencies often manage critical deliverability infrastructure.
- Sender Reputation Management: It is important to ensure agency reputation policies are maintained.
- IP Blacklisting: Shared IPs may get blacklisted, impacting deliverability.
Key considerations
- Observe Trends: Avoid immediate reactions; monitor delivery patterns over time.
- Audit Authentication: Thoroughly audit and manage authentication settings post-transition.
- Managed Transition: Ensure the agency transition includes a plan for managing deliverability.
- Dedicated IP: Consider using a dedicated IP address.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that bad delivery for a single email could be related to something specific to that email and not necessarily indicative of ongoing deliverability problems.
13 Feb 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that a common cause of deliverability problems is an IP address ending up on a block list. This can happen if the email provider shares IPs. Using dedicated IP addresses can help.
6 Apr 2023 - Spamresource.com
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Following the termination of a deliverability agency contract, the sudden shift of promotional emails to the spam folder is often linked to changes in factors that email providers like Gmail assess. These factors include sender reputation, authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), user engagement, and content quality. Incorrectly configured or missing SPF records can lead to emails being marked as spam, particularly after a transition. Additionally, changes in DMARC policy enforcement without proper configuration and monitoring can cause deliverability issues. Ensuring domain registration, using a reputable email service provider and proper email authentication are vital.
Key findings
- Gmail's Algorithm: Gmail's spam filtering algorithm considers various factors affecting inbox placement.
- SPF Configuration: Correct SPF record configuration is essential for authorizing sending mail servers.
- DMARC Policy: Changes in DMARC policy can cause deliverability problems if not properly managed.
- Email Authentication: It's essential to have email authentication setup correctly
Key considerations
- Authentication Audit: Conduct a thorough audit of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations post-transition.
- DMARC Monitoring: Continuously monitor DMARC reports to identify and address authentication failures.
- Maintain Reputation: Prioritize practices that maintain a positive sender reputation.
- Domain Registration: Ensure domain registration is up to date
- Email Provider Reputation: Consider using a reputable email service provider
Technical article
Documentation from DMARC.org details that a DMARC policy helps email receivers handle messages that fail authentication checks. A sudden shift in DMARC policy enforcement (e.g., from 'none' to 'quarantine' or 'reject') can cause deliverability problems if not properly configured and monitored after agency changes.
4 Dec 2024 - DMARC.org
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft explains you should make sure your domain name is registered. Microsoft also advises that you should use an email service provider to send bulk emails to ensure a good reputation and that email authentication is also setup correctly
9 Sep 2021 - Microsoft
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