What is Sender Reputation?
A simple way to demonstrate Sender Reputation is to compare it to a credit score. Just like the process of a car dealership checking your credit score before financing a new vehicle, Mailbox Providers (i.e., Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) will review your Sender Reputation.
Furthermore, similar to how credit bureaus rate you on your credit history, Internet Service Providers (ISP's) rate you based upon your list collection, list health, sending frequency, and the content you send; This rating is your Sender Reputation.
Having a good sender reputation will skyrocket both your Delivery and Deliverability rates.
You may be asking yourself... what's the difference?
Delivery Rate counts the number of emails successfully delivered, divided by the number of emails sent.
Deliverability Rate is the number of emails that successfully reach the inbox, divided by the number of emails sent.
The goal is to have the highest deliverability rate as possible, giving you higher probabilities of your contacts opening and reading your mail.
In this guide, we will walk you through 3 steps you can take to improve your sender reputation:
Mailing List Hygiene
The leading perpetrator of a low Click to Open Rate (CTOR) is a rotten mailing list. Keeping your list clean and healthy will improve your Sender Reputation, and in return, increase your deliverability rate. Here is how to make sure your mailing list is helping your reputation as a sender.
Offer a double Opt-In subscription:
The Number One rule of growing an Organic Contact List is using a Double-Opt-In form. Acquiring contacts through your own opt-in is vital to holding a good sender reputation.
Learn how to use double-opt-ins here!
Manage Inactive or Bounced Contacts
To improve your Sender Reputation, we recommend unsubscribing contacts who aren't responding or interacting with their emails after 90 days. ISPs take interaction, such as opens or clicks, as a positive sign, which improves the sender's reputation. Because we know how important it is for your content to reach your subscriber's inbox, Kajabi helps you manage your bounced contacts and improve your email deliverability by automating the process of unsubscribing your Bounced Emails. Learn more about How Auto Unsubscribe Helps you Maintain a Healthy Mailing List.
Learn how to manage your contacts to nurture a healthy list here!
Content
ESPs and ISPs will flag emails with "spammy" content. Here is a list of rules to follow to improve your email deliverability.
Personalize Emails
Address the recipient by name and be sure the content reflects the recipient’s specific interests or usage patterns.
To personalize an Email Sequence with a first name:
- Open the Marketing Tab from the dashboard and then select Email Campaigns.
- Select an Existing email sequence or create a new one.
- Scroll down to Body and navigate to the Personalize drop-down menu in the toolbar.
- Select First Name and then click Save.
Text-to-Image Ratio
In email marketing, using a combination of text and images will make your emails look professional, reveal your brand, and captivate your audience. Nonetheless, too many images and text links can trigger spam flags. To optimize deliverability, use both Text and HTML or text only.
Unfortunately, because ESP's consider many factors when calling out spam, there is not a clear boundary for the text-to-image ratio. However, Kajabi has got you covered with many Email Templates.
Learn how to access and use the Email Broadcast templates here.
Avoid promotional text
If you take a moment to look through the Spam/Junk folder in your email, you will notice consistencies in the content and language of the email subject lines. Most headlines will be in all caps, lots of numbers, and link shorteners. Using gimmicky promotional text, such as “Buy Now!” or “Free!” are major spam flags. Try to avoid using all caps or excessive exclamation marks.
Learn the best practices for your email subject lines here!
Identify who is sending the email
Make sure each email has a valid reply-to address, as well as a valid physical postal address. Not only will this validate your authenticity, but will give you the ability to encourage your subscribers to engage. Engagement will help raise your reputation as a sender but additionally help develop a relationship with your Subscribers.
Consistency
Consistency is an essential element to your sender reputation. If there are any unexpected changes to the way you're sending mail, ESP's will potentially mark your messages as spam. Here are some tips for keeping your sending habits consistent:
Quantity:
Though it is normal for your list to fluctuate, sending a consistent amount of outbound mail will raise your sender reputation. If you have been regularly sending to 100 subscribers, jumping to 2,000 subscribers at once will trigger ESPs. If you need to introduce a large number of new subscribers, start sending in small batches to avoid alarming mailbox providers.
Frequency:
Sending out mail to your lists on a regular schedule will keep your sender reputation upheld. If mailbox providers aren't seeing mail sent from you often enough, they won't be able to maintain a reputation for you. Also, be sure not to send too frequently, this too could cause them to mark your messages as spam!