Email Deliverability

EmailIdea has always maintained that strong email reputation is crucial, also referred to as your sending reputation. This is determined by how mail providers assess their subscribers’ responses towards emails. Thus, if there are too many spam complaints generated from your email outreach attempts then it will affect negatively on your sending reputation resulting in future messages having difficulties accessing subscribers inboxes. To find out more about key tools, statistics and tips that can be used in tracking and gaining better understanding of sender’s reputation for emails read on. Why is sending reputation important? You may be used for sending a lot of emails with little thought, but you might wonder, “Why is sending reputation important?” Simply put, a sender’s email reputation determines whether or not their email will get sent to spam or whether it will reach the user’s inbox. On the other hand, when recipients interact with your emails, you build a good sending reputation; therefore, your future messages are likely to be delivered into their inboxes. According to the Data & Marketing Association’s 2020 Consumer Email Tracker Report, only 58% of individuals check their personal spam folder at least once per day compared to 95% who check general mailboxes on daily basis. This means that for organizations whose aim is maximizing email outreach efforts, sending reputation is key. What do you mean by check, email reputation? An email reputation checks involves assessing and keeping an eye on the reputation of your email domain and IP addresses from which you send emails. This email reputation is a significant factor that Internet Service Providers (ISP) and email services use to determine whether your emails should: – Be delivered to the recipient’s inbox – Land in the spam folder – Be blocked entirely This is very similar to a credit score for your email sending practices – this is what we call an email reputation (often referred to as sender reputation). Factors that contribute to it include: -Since large amounts of e-mail messages are sent quickly, this can harm a person’s reputation if it is not comparable to their regular way of sending messages. -Bounce rates: High proportions of messages failing to reach their final destination (bounced mails) may ruin your standing. -Complaint rates: The ratio at which people opt for junk during e-mailing process -Engagement: The usage patterns in reading or responding to emails such as opening rate, determining contact opportunities post-click-through or even deleting them without opening. -Blocklists: One or more mailing lists would indicate that you have most likely damaged yourself badly by losing all credibility as a sender. They are repositories held by different groups containing recognizable sites and IPs responsible for sending unsolicited messages. 6 tools to check your sending reputation Although there isn’t any unique sender score utilized by all mail providers in assessing your email’s reputation, there are some third-party or even mailbox-specific tools that could help you comprehend the ways in which the mail providers might categorize your emails. In these tools, different data sources as well as user opening performance and sending practices are employed to give a score of the sending reputation of this organization. However, as independent sources of truth, these scores normally do not reveal everything about this issue. Nevertheless, when combined with other indicators, they can really simplify the identification of any email reputational challenges obstructing your organization. Some of the tools that take you through how to check your domain reputation include: 1. Sender Score Validity’s Sender Score is a free email reputation measurement, similar to how a credit score reflects your credit history. Just as your Sender Score moves up on the range of 0 to 100, your sending reputation improves which in turn increases your email deliverability rate. This data is calculated using rolling 30 day average and indicates where exactly does an IP address rank among others. 2. Barracuda Central Through Barracuda Reputation System -real time database consisting of IP’s with either “bad” or “good”, Barracuda Networks offers both IP and domain reputation lookups. With this tool you can use it to check if they need to be treated as fake messages by testing these from your domain’s IP score. 3. URL ticketing system for customers with McAfee McAfee provides such services like email and internet reputation on domain issues by various Smart Filters networks or Web Washer URL Filter Database. Through products purchased, you can search the domain history, its associations, domain name system and mail server too. 4. Postmaster tools Gmail Postmaster Tools from Google are intended for senders who need to handle huge quantities of email sent to user Gmail accounts. With this information, your company gets informed about IP address and domain reputation as well as their feedback loops and any specified problems in delivery. 5. Microsoft SNDS Smart Network Data Services (SDNS) are Microsoft’s answer to Google’s Postmaster Tools. This service provides insights into factors such as your rate of spam complaints, your IP sending reputation, and the number of deliveries made to Microsoft spam traps—emails that enable identification of non-compliant senders. These tools enable you to simply obtain a daily review of your message reputation as viewed by prominent providers, a factor that could be crucial. After all, it can be confidently asserted that any warning signals issued by the biggest service providers are disseminated among numerous others. 6. MxToolbox MXToolbox is a specialist in nurturing a specific tool checking if any domain or IP address is listed on some email blocklists. As it pertains to your sender reputation, a blocklist can dramatically change the way you deliver emails. Be aware of blocklists that your domain/IP exists on. A domain being listed does not always influence all the emails sent from it, but only those sent to people who email providers filter their incoming messages using that specific blacklist. Each blacklist has its own procedure for removal requests, usually requiring proof that listing reasons have been remedied such as: compromised server securing, better mailing practices. Depending

Every business sends emails to its customers. The most critical of these are transactional emails such as OTP, verification and password-reset emails. If they don’t reach their recipients, your email sender reputation could be to blame. This article explains what an email reputation is and ways of improving it. Why is an email sender reputation important? Email sender reputations play a vital role in the deliverability of emails. A bad email sender reputation can hinder the company’s abilities to send their marketing messages or communications. There are several ways to enhance your email sender reputation. For instance, always use double opt-in for subscriptions, provide clear opt out instructions, do not send emails too frequently, and more. One should consider using a monitoring service which will send alerts if there is problem with your account enabling prompt action before it gets too far. How a positive email sender reputation can change your life: Those who have ever sent transactional emails understand that there are several aspects which must be considered for good email delivery. Although transactional emails are legitimate by themselves however their consideration goes beyond just the legit concern of sending these types of messages. For example, one needs to think about the email sender reputation because this is a technical consideration. Why should you care about this reputation? The main reason behind this is preventing your messages from being seen as spam or junk so that they might be completely ignored or not landed into someone’s inbox at all. Transactional emails have significant information that customers are eagerly waiting, therefore if you do not deliver these emails instantly it can have a great effect on your brand and the user experience. Thus, it is essential to focus on those things which influence the email sender reputation score. By neglecting these aspects, you will not just heavily affect your ROI but also add to your stressors and work burden. Factors Affecting Email Conveyer Reputation At present, we’ve established the significance of determining factors that make email sender reputation important and make sure your mails reach the recipients’ inboxes. Thus we will review four crucial elements that might influence an IP rating. But don’t worry, as most of them are quite easily correctable. There are degrees of errors that may occur which can take long or shorter but can still be corrected; and this is what we will discuss next. How do I make my email sender reputation better? At this point you should expect us to guide you on improving your email sender reputation through domain authentication and creating a professional email address among others. You shall ensure that your customers receive their important transactional messages in time by observing the measures discussed below. 1.Authenticating Your Domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC): The main reason your e-mails may not arrive in the inboxes of recipients is due to incorrect configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. It should be fixed knowing only a little bit about the technology used. However, we will just discuss its fundamentals here. Notable records include SPF, DKIM and DMARC. These are methods used for email authentication which confirm to ISPs and mail providers that an e-mail sender is authorized to send an email from a particular domain. They work as a sort of validation on your e-mail sending server. What is the process for authenticating your domain? There are certain guidelines to adhering to when setting up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, as shown below: 2. Do send emails to the relevant ones only. Email spamming is not allowed :  One thing that you need to remember is that you have to avoid sending out emails to anyone who does not exist and this is as a result of modern compliance regulations. What this means is that one must be a good digital citizen and make sure they are sending it to valid addresses only and that the sender has adhered to all the compliance guidelines. By employing double opt-in methods, you can verify your recipient’s address easily and without stress. It requires someone to agree twice before getting an email from you. An initial mail containing clicking buttons may be sent to them while they are still inquisitive about their validity on your site, before redirecting them using a link given in a body message itself for submission or checking box confirmation about receiving future messages from sender. If you’re also counter parting in case marketing emails must be sent separate from transaction-based ones then these tips might help: Keeping Your Email List Clean A clean mailing list that is compliant with all regulations must be maintained all the time. For this purpose, you should abide by the guidelines below: 3. Refrain from using subject lines that look like spam The subject line also influences the first impression of a user. It is pointless to enhance the technical aspects of email sender reputation if the contents in your emails do not urge them to open them. To prevent this, it is important to know how to write an effective email as well as when to send one. For legitimate transactional emails, it is best to get straight to the point. At the same time, spam filters are also watching for the titles that sound like spam ones. Do not use all caps or catchphrases such as “Guess what we have in store for you!” Though you can always have some fun with subject lines, keep them brief and on-topic. Conclusion Email sender reputation is the score that is generated by ISPs and used by mailbox providers to determine whether an email is being sent from a trusted source. When the reputation of the organization is low, it is likely that the message will end up in spam/junk folder rather than inbox. Following these simple guidelines will help to improve your organization’s sender reputation, in compliance with regulations and ensuring that mailboxes are fully authenticated.

There comes a time when for an unexplained cause the traffic to their pages or the deliverability of emails starts falling but cannot be associated to anything with online business owners and email marketers. This could be as a result of several things including search engine indexing problems among others. But sometimes marketers may wonder, is my IP blacklisted? One way in which cybercriminals are stopped from abusing client-private systems via bogus or unsolicited messages is through IP blacklisting. Systems are created by organizations to watch out for communication between company secured networks and all other outside IP addresses. Gmail and Microsoft are examples of email service providers who may have access to these blacklists, enabling them to mark emails associated with these IPs as junk or spam automatically in their subscribers’ inboxes. In general, owners of blacklisted IPs observe a considerable decrease in email penetration rates, which has an adverse impact on the reputation of the source and efforts to market it. Despite the fact that IP blacklisting is largely advantageous for security purposes in online businesses, customers and vulnerable data; there are occasions when an IP address happens to be misplaced in terms of being tagged as malicious. To assist marketers comprehend this intricate matter better, here is a comprehensive manual that shows how to recognize, manage and avert unintentional blacklisting your IP address. The Punishments of an IP on the Blacklist When one is an IP address holder, they are able to use different ways to know if their IP has been blacklisted by some organizations. While a lot of people think all email service providers get their IP blacklist information from one centre or centre agent, there are many different kinds of IP blacklists used today. Some lists hurt holders of these special codes more than others. The most reputable IP black lists damaging email delivery include: Email marketers may ask themselves, “Is my IP blacklisted?” The easiest way to do this is by finding the IP address of your email server and inputting that one or more of the aforementioned IP blacklist sites. From the search results, you will determine if these services have flagged your IP as suspicious or not. Your IP has been blacklisted by a reliable source; possible ramifications include: Getting Emails Not Delivered No matter how pressing your email message may seem at the time, don’t waste your breath; if it came from an IP that was once blacklisted by some bloody provider, it will not find its way in someone’s inbox, but rather in the trash bin. When an IP address holder sends an email through a blacklisted server, he/she would receive immediately after tellingly referred to messages called bounce messages after which such a person decides to compare the names with those on Google blacklists service list and URL Links. High of emails flagged as spam servers Most likely, any messages from such an address would land directly on the junk folder because major email providers like Google and Microsoft see blacklisted IPs as potential sources of spam. So if you have clients who happen not to receive your emails from them there is no way beyond saying anything about it furthermore there is no other specific message except for those saying this mail has been filtered out due daringly visible mails through people’s insights. Significant reputational damage Companies associated with blacklisted IPs can suffer significant reputational damage, as all emails sent from official accounts will be at risk of being marked as suspicious. If customers associate your brand with spam, your company’s credibility and reputation will be adversely affected, with 70% of email users believing spam negatively impacts their online experience. Wider business communication issues Emails sent from blacklisted IP addresses are not only less likely to reach potential clients, but may also be sent to junk mail inboxes associated with existing customers and internal employees. At present, it’s believed around 61% of internet users deploy some form of spam filter intended to automatically block suspicious emails, potentially hindering wider business communications for any entities that find their IP address wrongfully linked to an IP blacklist. Reputational Loss Reputation has a high price tag for companies linked to blacklisted IPs; emails sent and received from official accounts are always being eyed with suspicion. Your business will be tarnished if customers relate it to spam because human ignorance, says that unsolicited messages make 70 % of email users feel like they are being cheated online. Broader Business Communication Problems It is hard for emails coming out of blacklisted IP addresses to reach potential customers; sometimes they do not even get beyond existing clients’ junk mailbox and internal workers’ spam folders. At the moment, around 61% of internet users are thought to use some sort of anti-spam filter which is intended to automatically reject spam-like messages otherwise known as junk or unwanted e-mails thereby limiting any chance to broaden business interactions if an entity inadvertently finds itself listed together with other entities categorized as such by themselves due to error in listing their own site’s unique identifiers. It has been noted that, although various IP blacklisting services have their own criteria for identifying suspicious accounts (most are not revealed), some of the reasons are widely accepted by digital communication specialists. For marketers who often wonder whether their IP’s are blacklisted or not, it is advisable to establish if any of these instances apply to one’s internet protocol address. Promotion through excessive email Email marketers who continually send large quantities of identical messages to many different non-related accounts could be perceived as fraudsters and hence be flagged by internet service providers. The chances of your IP address being blacklisted will increase if spammers pay attention, such behaviour or if many recipients report you to their own email servers as a junk mail sender. Instances used as examples on how spam-like looks like according to IP blacklisting services include: Emails directed to non-existent accounts Organizations that send large volumes of messages

What are Email Spam Traps? As an email marketer or sender, one of your primary concerns is ensuring that your messages reach the intended recipients and don’t end up in spam folders. However, there’s a hidden threat that can harm your email deliverability: email spam traps. In this blog post, we will delve into the world of spam traps, explore how they can impact your email campaigns, and provide valuable tips on how to avoid them and maintain a healthy sender reputation. Email spam traps are email addresses specifically created to identify and catch spammers. There are two types of spam traps: pristine traps and recycled traps. Pristine traps are email addresses that have never been used by real individuals and are strategically placed on websites, forums, or other online platforms to attract spammers. Recycled traps, on the other hand, were once legitimate email addresses that have been abandoned by their owners and converted into traps. Impact on Email Deliverability: When you unknowingly send emails to spam traps, it raises red flags to internet service providers (ISPs) and email security organizations. This can result in a damaged sender reputation, leading to your emails being marked as spam or blocked altogether. Your IP address may also be added to blacklists, making it difficult for your emails to reach any inbox. It’s essential to understand that spam traps are often associated with poor email list hygiene or questionable acquisition practices. Causes and Prevention: A. Poor List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email lists by removing inactive or unengaged subscribers. Implement a re-engagement campaign to identify and remove disinterested recipients. Use double opt-in methods for acquiring new subscribers to ensure a valid and engaged audience. B. Purchased or Scraped Lists: Never purchase or use email lists obtained through questionable means. These lists are likely to contain spam trap addresses and can harm your sender reputation. C. Permission-Based Email Marketing: Practice permission-based email marketing, where subscribers willingly opt-in to receive your emails. This ensures that your recipients are engaged, interested, and less likely to mark your emails as spam. D. Regular Engagement: Maintain a healthy engagement rate by sending relevant and valuable content to your subscribers. Encourage recipients to interact with your emails by including compelling calls to action and personalization. Email Authentication and Monitoring: Implement email authentication protocols such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC). These protocols help ISPs verify the authenticity of your emails and reduce the chances of your messages being flagged as spam. Regularly monitor your email deliverability metrics, track spam complaints, and promptly address any issues that arise. Collaboration and Reputation Monitoring: Join reputable email monitoring services and collaborate with other legitimate senders to share information about spam traps and email threats. Stay updated on industry best practices and changes in email filtering algorithms to proactively adapt your email marketing strategies. Email spam traps pose a significant risk to your email deliverability and sender reputation. By understanding the causes of spam traps and implementing preventive measures, you can protect your email campaigns and maintain a healthy sender reputation. Prioritize list hygiene, engage in permission-based email marketing, implement email authentication protocols, and monitor your deliverability metrics closely. By staying vigilant and proactive, you can avoid the pitfalls of spam traps and ensure that your emails reach the intended recipients’ inboxes, improving the success of your email marketing efforts.

Email vs. Spam: Crucial Steps for Successful Email Marketing Campaign Raise your hand if half of your inbox is flooded throughout the day with emails that mainly get sent straight to the trash/spam. Everyone? Yeah, we thought so… But, can you tell the difference between Email vs. Spam? Sometimes, the difference is subtler than you may think, and the last thing that you want to do is start sending your targeted clients and customers spam emails. Because that’s just bad business. So where do you go from here? It starts with defining both authentic email and spam emails. You can then move forward with an understanding of how you can utilize email marketing and more personalized messaging to best reach out to your network in order to build the better relationships. The best business relationships are built on trust between both the customer/audience and the business, and you can’t gain anyone’s trust by sending spam emails. Don’t be a spammer, Read on to understand how Break it down now Before you send one more email, let’s start by understanding what exactly qualifies as an email and spam and what will land your emails directly in the spam folder or trash. Remember these two words: unsolicited and bulk emails. This is the key to becoming a spammer. If you’re sending emails that are both unsolicited and are sending in bulk to hundreds or even thousands of contacts, then you are officially spamming. Unsolicited and bulk emails are nowadays considered quite normal. Unsolicited emails are more probable to be classified as spam. Unsolicited emails can be cold emails to prospective clients and bulk emails are often how big brands send out their newsletters or marketing information to their targeted customers. But once you combine the two, and send a big newsletter out to hundreds of people who did not sign up for the said newsletter, it becomes spam. Unsolicited emails are more probabl to be classified as spam. Do better So, what’s the solution? Start by becoming an email marketer for your business or brand by creating better and more engaging email content for your customers and your targeted audience that they’ll really want to see in their inbox. Be as personalized with each email to create an email campaign that drives more enquiries. More than half i.e. 58% of individuals surveyed said they’ll not even open an email if it doesn’t look interesting to them or perhaps looks irrelevant to them. Even more importantly, 74% of those same folks said they’re more likely to open an email if it’s coming from someone they trust and they are interested. These are two very important steps for successful email marketing practices to keep in mind. The caveat here is that even if you have the best intentions and you represent a legitimate business, you’ll be marked spam by your contacts simply because you’re emailing too much or the emails aren’t relevant to them. How not to spam Smart subject lines Would you open an email with a subject line ALL IN CAPITALS???? Doubtful. Avoid using classic spam trigger phrases like “win big now,” “earn per week,” or “great offer”. Also, steer clear of over-capitalization and excessive punctuation. Keep your subject lines natural, engaging, and professional. Be personalized Instead of blasting the same email to your entire list and addressing recipients as “Sir” or “Madam,” use an email marketing tool that supports personalization. Insert your contact’s first name or relevant personal info to make the message feel tailor-made. If you’re looking for a solution that enables personalized batch emails, consider using Emailidea. Not sure how much personalization to use? Check out our blog on How much of email personalization is recommended? If you’re sending a newsletter, do you provide your contacts option to unsubscribe? It’s not just good practice—it’s the law in many countries. Failing to include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your emails can lead to serious complaints and legal consequences. Make sure every newsletter gives recipients an easy way to opt-out. Want to reduce your unsubscribe rate? Read our guide on How To Deal With Email Marketing Unsubscribe Rate? Be relevant Don’t try to fool your subscribers. Avoid sending the same message to your entire list when only a portion of them actually need that information. Use list segmentation to target the right audience with the right content. If recipients consistently receive irrelevant messages, they’ll start ignoring your emails—or worse, unsubscribe. How to check Your best bet is to start out by following basic email marketing practices, but if you find yourself with low open rates and little to no responses from your network, you’ll be going straight to that spam folder. You may be using many spammy words or phrases in your email content without even realizing it. So it is important to check your email with the list of spam words that is updated every year. Know the difference and just do it Know the difference and just do it – H3 Take the time to reach out to some of your loyal/targeted customers, and maybe even some of those at the bottoms of the barrel customers too, you never know what may come of it and who may appreciate hearing from you the foremost. Be sure to include information in there that you know they will be interested in and work towards nurturing a trusting relationship between you and your email network. If you are consistently sending out impressive content that they want to read, you will find yourself with some very happy folks on the receiving end of your emails! So, here’s the question, why be a spammer when you can be so much better than that? We challenge you to go beyond the spam and take your emails to the successive level. You’ll always be considered SPAM to Somebody. Don’t take it personally. Keep fighting the grey area. How we help you Start with email marketing services from us for bulk and targeted emailing to grow your