Listrak has a great visual that explains the top 11 factors that ISPs use to assign a sender reputation.
Click on the image above to access an interactive version of the chart with a roll-over explanation for each of the 11 factors.
The good thing is that senders have control over most of these factors.
It is also interesting to note the shift that has occurred during the last few years from content to bounce rates as a major criteria for determining a senders reputation. It wasn’t too long ago that message content was a more critical factor. That’s not to say that your content doesn’t matter – it’s just that today it matters less than your bounce rates.
Of course, spam reports play a pivotal role in determining your sender reputation. Your recipients are ultimately the judge – and if you’re sending email to people who haven’t asked you for it or who find your message annoying, it can ruin your reputation.
Comments
3 Responses to “How ISPs Measure Your Sender Reputation”
Good name as the Bard of Avon wrote is the immediate jewel of our hearts. He who takes away our good name makes us poor indeed.
I think your spam reports should be pivotal in making or breaking reputations. There is just too much of the spam menace.
Right on! The bard certainly knew what he was talking about.
[...] Even if these processes are automated, however, it is important to keep an eye on things yourself to ensure that everything is well maintained. Removing unsubscribe requests and email addresses that bounce is very important. If you don’t do this in a timely fashion, you will irritate recipients who have requested to stop receiving emails from you and overburden your mail server with repeated bounces of invalid email addresses. A senders reputation is affected most by spam complaints by recipients and high bounce rates. Read How ISPs Measure Your Sender Reputation. [...]