Sender reputation
Sender reputation is the trust score mailbox providers assign to your sending domain and IP based on how recipients react to your mail — high reputation means the inbox, low reputation means the spam folder.
What shapes sender reputation
Every mailbox provider keeps a running assessment of your domain and IP. It's shaped by how people engage with your mail and how clean your sending is — and it directly decides whether you reach the inbox or the spam folder.
- Engagement: opens, clicks and replies raise reputation; deletes-without-reading lower it
- Complaints: hitting 'mark as spam' is one of the most damaging signals
- Bounces: sending to invalid addresses signals a poorly maintained list
- Spam-trap hits: mailing dormant or purchased addresses is severely penalised
- Authentication: valid SPF, DKIM and DMARC are table stakes for trust
How to build and protect it
- Only mail people who genuinely opted in — permission is the foundation
- Remove hard bounces and long-term non-openers to keep engagement high
- Make unsubscribing easy so people leave instead of hitting spam
- Warm up new IPs and keep a steady, predictable sending rhythm
- Watch complaint and bounce rates and act the moment they rise
Frequently asked questions
Domain reputation vs IP reputation — which matters?
Both. IP reputation covers the server you send from; domain reputation follows your domain everywhere, even if you switch IPs. Providers increasingly weight domain reputation most.
How do I check my sender reputation?
Use provider postmaster tools (like Google Postmaster Tools) and monitor your own bounce, complaint and engagement rates. A sudden drop in inbox placement is the clearest warning.
Can a damaged reputation recover?
Yes, but slowly. Stop the bad behaviour, mail only engaged contacts, and rebuild trust over weeks. There's no instant reset.
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