Intro
A time in human history that could be regarded for its abundance of information flow. It is ironic to be on receiving end of irrelevant or spam data. Where is the good stuff?
Every day hundreds of inboxes are fed with thousands of messages that quite honestly don’t add any value. And who is to be blamed for it? Hackers? Spammers? Or someone else?
Either way with time it has only gotten frustrating and a menacing attack on the otherwise incumbent practice of Email Marketing. However, the Internet seems to have remained one step ahead – like always.
And the solutions are here. And the solutions work.
IP Reputation: Email Marketer’s Saving Grace?
Despite the popular beliefs of many the world of the web isn’t a concept not coined by a human mind. It shares various similarities with us and by an extent the greater society. This makes sense, Internet didn’t develop on its own. It was the creation of the human mind.
Hence it is no surprise when it might act how a human might or could.
In real life if you would like to contact a person who happens to hold a higher position relative to yours or if you would like to address your ideas to a massive group of people. It would be implied on your part you hold a certain degree of credibility.
Failing to do so there are high chances you’d be denied to meet that person or no one would show up to hear you out. Even if you had ideas that could literally change the world, it wouldn’t matter.
But why?
Well, your credibility defines your reputation, without one, you won’t have the one enough to make due. The same principles apply in the field of Email Marketing.
The Internet is an art. It allows data to flow from one node to other. Every node is a complex yet intriguing piece of origin. When an Email is sent from a node with an IP carrying the reputation with it, gatekeepers on the other side have the ability to dissect the request to reach the destination and make a decision based on the reputation.
A good and bad IP reputation can make and break it.
And by ‘it’ it means ‘everything.’
How IP Reputation Affects Email Marketing Campaigns
As an Email Marketer, it can be a scary prospect to wonder about the lost in vain effort teams put into creating a perfect Email body with amazing copy and responsive features only for it to be denied entry. In order to stay far from the heartbreak of it, it is vital to understand to how IP Reputation affects Email Campaigns.
In 2022 it might not be common for you to see mails appearing in the letterbox outside your home, although it still happens, there was a time when our only way of communication was snail mail. Post Offices were a holy grail of every neighborhood and people used to be excited to have received mail from a close loved one. Surely, with time and tech, snail mails have been phased, and we have moved on to better things.
Have you ever wondered why Email is labeled a better thing compared to predecessors in time?
If your answers are: speed, accessibility, availability, and so on.
You are not wrong but there is one thing many seem to miss and it is screening. Emails are screened before they reach their destination. As much as we would love to receive mail from a close friend none of us would want to be recipients of futile, lewd, or threatening content, or from a source of the same nature.
And yes, even Emails are not 100% secured from the raging plague, you have to agree it is much more controllable. ISPs (Inbox Service Providers) monitor each coming Email to inbox with a keen sight. Anything that sets the alarm is flagged and lost in the web vacuum.
Are their practices 100% effective?
No. Every ISP has a different set of rules when it comes to screening an Email. It is possible your Email might end up in the Inbox of the client on Yahoo but not on Gmail. Or vice versa.
What you should do as an Email Marketer is know the standing of your IP Reputation. Tools like SenderScore are good starting points to get familiar with the level of your IP and then work your way to a reputable position.
Or if you are on a shared IP service then perhaps it’s time to switch to the premium side. Because sometimes even if you are not practicing the shady art someone else on your IP could be and it would have a detrimental effect on your Reputation which is not what you need.
Yes, you might have to incur a cost, but in the long run, it would be a worthy investment.
Otherwise, follow the Best Email Marketing Practices and you would get there one way or another.
Methods Used To Calculate IP Reputation
Depending on the ISP methods could vary and have slight changes to how they actually do it. The following below is a good reference point to keep in mind while planning Email Marketing campaigns.
Complaints:
An email\’s recipient can express a direct grievance by marking it as spam. The \”mark as spam\” button found in the majority of electronic messaging interfaces allows the recipient to instantly mark any email as spam with a single click.
The quantity of spam complaints significantly affects the IP reputation score. Apply the thought-out strategies to secure yourself from ending up with the flag.
Spam Traps:
Email addresses designed to catch spammers are referred to as spam traps or honeypots. Old email addresses can become spam traps, but they can also be created on purpose.
The owners of these traps search for circumstances in which no certified opt-in has ever occurred. They are aware that every email they have received does not adhere to best emailing practices (nor most laws). Because third-party lists are often comprised of a sizable proportion of these spam trap email addresses.
IP Network:
IP networks are collections of IP addresses, and the reputation of the network as a whole can have a significant impact on the reputation of a single IP address.
Consider it this way: Your IP network is like your neighborhood if your IP address is like your house address. Sadly, it is also feasible to reside in a \”bad neighborhood.\”
When enough bad actors use IPs that are a part of your network to transmit spam, conduct fraud, or engage in cybercrime, your IP network might negatively impact your IP reputation and sender score. If your IP address is a member of a botnet or other network of machines carrying malicious software, your reputation may suffer even more.
History of IP:
It\’s critical to remember that this score isn\’t based solely on one or two instances. In fact, when ISPs determine your IP risk score, they take into account the full history of your IP reputation. And we are sorry if we\’ve made you doubt every internet search you\’ve ever done.
5 Ways To Improve the IP Reputation
It is quite possible to get stuck with a bad IP Reputation or have one deprecated to the point it serves little to no purpose. In any case, it is important to know what are the best practices to improve the falling reputation and have a chance for future success, below are 5 tried and tested methods to improve the IP reputation.
Keep Bounce Rate Low
Giving your email list some TLC will ensure that you are not sending your marketing messages in bulk to email inboxes that won\’t see them if you are an email marketer. Either manually or with an email address validation service, you can do this. Additionally, keeping a watch on your email list could enable you to identify spam traps or email addresses that could result in spam comments or unfavorable reviews of your content.
Perform IP Warming Up
This is the time to gradually raise your email output in order to demonstrate that anti-spam software is monitoring your cadence and building your credibility. Sending 300 emails on day one and then 20% more each day until you\’ve reached 100% of your contacts is the suggested course of action. This will increase the likelihood that your IP reputation will be favorable. Your sender rating and email reputation will both be impacted by the use of a warm-up method. Win-win!
Refer To Tools Whenever Needed
A strong IP reputation requires ongoing maintenance. Regularly check to make sure your reputation isn\’t getting in the way of your email marketing efforts.
You can use the following tools to perform it:
- An IP address health check program is MultiRBL.
- Use Mailjet email spam checker to check for issues with your email marketing\’s reputation.
- A service that monitors IP reputation can assist with risk scoring.
Identify The Blocklists
What are some ways I can check and raise my IP score? Discovering which blocklists have labeled your IP address as the fake is the first step.
Delist Blocklists
Once you are aware of which blocklists contain your IP address, go to those pages; there should be instructions on how to remove your IP address from the list. Keep in mind that it typically takes 24 hours to successfully appeal to be removed from a list.
Once you\’re off those lists, though, you\’re not entirely safe. To prevent yourself and your IP address from being included in those blocklists again, you must exercise extra caution. Each time your IP score is lowered, it becomes more difficult to remove yourself from the list.
IP Reputation: Saving Grace Of Email Marketing
Although IP Reputation falls on the technical side of the marketing world and perhaps not every marketer would like to get their hands dirty. It is always advisable to have a basic understanding of the notion.
Businesses should treat it as an integral part of the organization, just as much as the other values related to a brand image. Yes, a human might or might not be able to figure out the IP Reputation of your brand, you won’t be able to reach him if you won’t. And do you want to do that?
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
How do I increase my IP reputation?
Engage in best email marketing practices. Develop meaningful partnerships with customers on board. Incentive the loyalty of ideal clients. Avoid Spam activities.
How can I check my Email Reputation?
Google Postmaster Tool is a good starting point to get know how about your Email Reputation. It computes a different set of data to drive a conclusion.
How do I protect my Email domain reputation?
By making sure your client database is updated. Any email that lands in a honeytrap or gets bounced – slow or hard – indicates a lack of quality on the business end.
What does a high-risk IP address mean?
It means ISPs have identified the source of IP as fraudulent and Spam and thus renders its email network unable to land/reach the intended destination.
How do you check if an Email is blacklisted?
While there are many tools on the web that could aid in this regard aggregator service like MXToolBox is one of the best options you could avail to trace your steps in the dark world.