Sender reputation describes how a receiving email provider rates a sending domain or IP address based on its sending history. Ratings can vary by provider and affect how that provider handles incoming messages.
Which signals are useful?
Complaints and unusual sending behavior can affect the rating. Authentication helps a provider associate messages with a domain. Opens and clicks can be useful for analyzing your campaigns, but they do not yield a universal reputation score. An external blocklist listing is a separate signal, and the receiving provider decides how much weight to give it.
How can you investigate a drop in reputation?
If your domain reputation drops at Gmail, compare the spam rate, authentication results, and delivery errors in Google Postmaster Tools over the same period. Also check whether your sending volume, signup sources, or mailing list changed. This can narrow down the cause, even when no single metric explains it.
How should you interpret Sender Score?
Sender Score is one tool’s measure of IP reputation. Compare results from the same source. A good score does not guarantee inbox placement.
