Domain Reputation

Skipping domain warming is the most common problem new senders face. But even then, list health and email content issues can cause spam filtration and domain reputation issues post-launch. You’ll want to get ahead of these issues by taking the following steps:

Filter your audience

Especially when moving from a list from your old ESP to your new one, you will want to narrow your audience to users to remove:

• Non-engagers: Do not send email to historical audiences who have not opened an email or signed up in the last 120 days, 6 months at the most. Prioritize sending to the most engaged users and new signups first when warming
• Unsubscribes: Do not send to historical unsubscribes
• Suppressed emails: Do not send to emails that have been suppressed in the past
• List clean: Use a list cleaning service like Kickbox to scrub your list
• Explicit opt-ins only: Never send bulk or automated email to people who have not explicitly opted in

Content checklist

Follow these guidelines to ensure your email content avoids spam flagging:

• Limit image weight: Images are 100% ok to use, but do not exceed a 60:40 text to image content ratio. Additionally, avoid sending large image files - keep them as small as possible while still preserving fidelity
• Avoid link shorteners: Never, ever use link shorteners, and avoid link redirects. If your ESP offers link tracking, this will create safe link redirects for tracking purposes, but any other additional link redirects will look suspicious to inbox providers
• Use your own domains in links: Wherever possible, use your own domain in your hyperlinks. Outside links are ok, but the more the sending domain matches the hyperlink domains, the better it is for deliverability. Ask your ESP about using using a domain you own for click tracking
• Don’t use no-reply: Nor reply email addresses for sending like no-reply@example.com or info@noreply.example.com encourage low engagement and spam complaints. Avoid them.
• Include Unsubscribe Links: Review Steps 1 & 2 of this course. If your email is not Transactional, you must include unsubscribe links with the required List-header . Your ESP likely offers this as a built-in feature. If you choose to build your own unsubscribe management process, ensure that unsubscribe handling can be done without logging into your app (make it one-click button on a landing page!)
• Review Transactional Content: Review Steps 1 & 2 of this course. If your email is Transactional, ensure you include absolutely no content in your email that inbox providers might interpret as marketing, branding, or product messaging
• Whitelist B2B sending: Sending B2B messages? Reach out to your clients’ IT teams and ask them to whitelist your envelope domain

Following the above checklists will help maintain a healthy domain reputation. That said, we’ve covered what to do, but not necessarily why it’s important, or how to maintain a high reputation post-launch.

Consider taking our Spam and Deliverability course, covering the theory and practice of spam prevention, coming soon! Before you know it, you’ll become the deliverability expert in your company and/or community.