Intro
A successful marketing strategy shouldn’t remain confined to a certain channel. It should have a broader aim with multiple KPIs to satisfy, and it is only possible when the strategy is well thought off.
Unfortunately In 2022 having a perfect – I don’t think perfect marketing strategies can even exist but for the sake of discussion let’s assume so – won’t be enough to meet the end goals.
And why is that?
Reputation!
Marketing: In layman idea, it is an act of putting yourself out there. But there is a catch. What good would it incur if your brand would have a bad reputation? Or no reputation?
The same fate Email Marketing suffers when the Domain Reputation is deemed not credible enough by ISPs. All efforts are lost and nothing can be salvaged.
But what is Domain Reputation?
What Is Domain Reputation?
You can think of Domain Reputation as the score ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and MSPs (Mailbox Service Providers) assigned to your brand on the basis of authority, credibility, and longevity. It is quite similar to how in the SEO world – another marketing channel – Domain Rating/Domain Authority is the measure of the backlink profile of a website.
Although unlike SEO Domain Rating that’s not a direct ranking factor in Google Algorithm in the Email Marketing World Domain Reputation holds significant value. It can influence the ROI, CTR, OR, and much more of your Email Marketing campaigns.
How Does Domain Reputation Affect Email Campaigns?
As it is explained above Domain Reputation is an important factor to take care of. If you would plan an Email Marketing Strategy without taking Domain Reputation into consideration it might backfire.
And why and how?
Well, let’s consider the following case:
You are recently hired by a TV company that’s been in the town for two years now. They have a dedicated customer base but it’s all confined to the physical store. Despite the efforts of the previous Email Marketing person they couldn’t set up a successful flow, and though he has managed to get a long list of contacts, none of them seems to be reaching the recipient.
What would you do?
If your answer is to do a wide audit to check Domain Reputation then you have a bright future ahead. Because that’s where the problem lies, Domain Reputation of the brand is at the point where it is impossible for any ESP (Email Service Provider) to pull the strings to make it pass the ISP filtering.
Role Of Email Service Provides: Enough To Make Miracles?
Many Email Marketers believe ESPs hold value in this equation and change of one can bring fortune and improved Email Delivilibrity. They couldn’t be further from the truth.
While it is always recommendable to be registered with a premium company it wouldn’t change the fate of your Email Marketing campaign if you’d implement bad Email Marketing practices.
Use Mailchimp or HubSpot CRM.
Use anything you want Domain Reputation would stay the same with each one of them.
A New Domain: New Hope?
You can opt to work with the new Domain to leave the checkered past behind. It is not always the ideal alternative, and there are reasons for it:
- Domain names are unique and key parts of a brand image. Change of Domain can lead to loss of aversion.
- Since a new Domain wouldn’t have a previous record to assess its reputation ISPs would make it passes through advanced filtering.
- It takes time to create a respectable standing in front of ISPs. You’d need to invest substantial resources to have a credible image.
Time To Turn Around? Domain Reputation
Contrary to popular belief it is neither easy nor quick to better the Domain Reputation. Depending on the severity of the case (number of spam complaints, bounce rate, low engagement rate, spam trap hits, CTR) it could take a few months to years to have a shot at making the Domain Reputation considered good enough.
Although given there is scrumptious availability of resources if you are with an enterprise or a business with a huge budget, the time period can be halved.
Methods ISPs Used To Measure Domain Reputation
While numerous variables affect Domain Reputation the following are some of the biggest culprits:
Blacklisting
To stop spam, ISPs and mailbox providers blacklist the domains and IPs.
When email recipients report emails as spam or garbage, blacklisting happens. A domain may be blacklisted if an email sent to a sizable database generates a lot of spam complaints.
Email blacklisting has a negative impact on a domain\’s reputation and can significantly harm your domain\’s reputation.
Spam Traps
Spam traps are fictitious email addresses that can be found buried throughout the internet and are run by blacklisting services. Sending emails to spam traps should be avoided as this could seriously reduce email deliverability.
In contrast to bounce rates and spam complaints, spam traps are challenging to spot because they don\’t reply to emails or join mailing lists.
Poor Engagement
One of the key causes of a domain\’s reputation deteriorating is poor email interaction. High unsubscribe rates and low open rates in emails send the ISP the wrong message about your domain, harming its image.
Inconsistency
As time goes on, more emails are routinely shared. It becomes a business need to go for quantity. However, the pattern shouldn’t drift off from the path of a consistent approach.
Or…
Your domain reputation will suffer if you send emails too frequently. Hence you should determine the ideal email frequency and timings to prevent it.
Domain Age
Anti-spam filters look at the age of the domain. In order to build a solid sender reputation, you must warm up your domain, that is, use it for at least three months by sending out cold emails to your database.
Tips & Tricks To Improve Domain Reputation
There are many ways to create a successful strategy to put your Domain Reputation on the map. The following three are the certainly good starting point:
Use of Tools To Monitor Domain Reputation
Although there are many third-party tools available, we\’ve found that for general monitoring, the following programs offer useful insight and require no setup effort:
Google Postmaster Tools: According to ActiveCampaign research, the average email sender\’s contact list contains more than 60% Gmail/GSuite addresses. You may obtain analytics like spam complaint rates and reputation by domain and IP by setting up Google Postmaster Tools. This will enable you to assess the general \”health\” of your domain and track changes in reputation in real time, allowing you to modify your mailings as necessary. Here is some more information to assist you as you set up your account.
Update Database
An excessively high number of hard bounces (invalid emails) over time might damage a domain\’s reputation. Although it may be tempting to send emails to as many people on your list as you can, doing so could damage your reputation if you use little to no segmentation or don\’t have a sunsetting policy in place to get rid of inactive subscribers.
Strong sign-up procedures, such as double opt-in, are also required to help prevent erroneous and potentially dangerous data from entering your lists and harming your reputation in the future.
Sending to recipient addresses can further damage your reputation because they may be exploited in the future as spam traps or honeypots. You have a better chance of reaching more recipients and can increase engagement if you have good data.
Keep Track Of User Behavior
It\’s crucial to monitor how your consumers interact with and respond to your emails if you are concerned about the reputation of your domain. Do you notice more spam folders being used? Recent reports of spam relating to your sends? Take a step back and assess how your sending procedures match those in our guide on Email Deliverability:
Tip: Make the necessary adjustments to match with best practices, and you should eventually notice an improvement in your reputation.
Outro
As usual, be careful to follow the proper advice for enhancing the reputation of your domain and working with respected ESPs to maximize the deliverability.
With work and effort, any Email Marketer can make a huge shift towards an improved and better Domain Reputation and as such begin building toward a prosperous Email campaign.
Everything is possible!
Frequnelty Asked Questions – FAQs
How do I fix Email Domain Reputation?
You can clean your contact list to keep it relevant and updated, decrease frequency flow on a monthly basis, work on personalization for greater appeal, and add an unsubscribe button.
What is a bad Email Reputation?
When your domain has had itself backlisted and your attempts to reach the customer inbox show a high level of bounce. It’s the result of a bad Email Reputation. ISPs don’t trust your domain.
What is a good sender score?
Sender Score has the highest point with 100 and the lowest with 0. Hence anything that’s above the 70 mark could be deemed good enough to carry on improving.
Is SMTP guaranteed?
If you are working for an organization that has to deal with a large number of Emails send in a day. Using SMTP (mail relaying) can help to land your message in the user’s inbox.
Why is Domain Reputation important?
Domain reputation is interpreted as a credibility metric by many ISPs. Having a bad rep for Domain might lead to blocking and extensive filtering