7 Tips to Improve Your Sender Reputation

7 Tips to Improve Your Sender Reputation

Presenters: Carly Brantz and Paul Kincaid-Smith

Tuesday, April 24, 12

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Carly [email protected]

@carlybrantz

Paul [email protected]

@cyclingup


mailto:[email protected]




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“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.”

-American Indian Proverb


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What is Email Reputation?


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Why Should I Care About Email Reputation?


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Where Does Reputation Fit In?

How Email Appears to Work

Sender’s Outbox Recipient’s Inbox


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Where Does Reputation Fit In?How Email Actually Works

Sender’s Outbox Recipient’s Inbox

Sender’s Mail Server (MTA)

The Internet

Recipient’s Mail Server (MTA)

Anti-Spam Filter


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Where Does Reputation Fit In?

Recipient’s Inbox

The InternetRecipient’s Mail Server (MTA)

Sender’s Outbox

Sender’s Mail Server (MTA)

Feedback Loop

Reputation Data

Anti-Spam Filter


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How Can I Improve My Sender Reputation?


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#1: Minimize Complaints


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How do recipients complain?

• Mark the message as spam via email client’s “This is Spam” button

• Email a complaint to abuse@

• Submit complaints to 3rd party spam detection systems (e.g. SpamCop, Cloudmark Authority)


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Keep spam complaints low by:

1. Sending the right message

2. To the right person

3. At the right time

4. With the right frequency


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#2. Send Relevant Content

“I have a hundred and seventy-three thousand, six hundred and eighty-two unread emails. You tell me what I have to live for.”


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• Send a welcome message

• Make it easy to unsubscribe

• Make sure your emails are clear and branded

• Use past interaction and sales

Manage Expectations


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#3: Send at a Consistent Volume


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Don’t mail too much... Or too little

• Warm up your IP -- establish trust

• Use the appropriate mail frequency

• Be consistent

• Erratic sending is a red flag

• Transactional emails must be timely


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#4: Keep Bounce Rates Low


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What is a bounce?

1.Hard Bounce- Knock knock. Go away, don’t try again.

2.Soft Bounce- Knock knock. Come back later.


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Bounces affect reputation

• Purchased lists often contain many defunct addresses. When spammers send to those lists, bounce rates are high

• If your bounce rates are high, you may be mistaken for a spammer.


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Bounce guidance

• Red flag if bounces over 10%

• Keep bounces low by:

- Regularly removing bounced addresses from your list

- Find the right sending cadence


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#5: Stay Off Blacklists


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What is a blacklist?

• Receivers use BLs to identify abusive senders quickly and cheaply

• IP blacklists -- lists of IPs that spam

• Domain blacklists -- lists of domains found in spam content


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How do I stay off blacklists?• Don’t send to purchased lists

• Ensure your recipients want the email you send them

• Use reputable ESP that provides you with clean IP addresses

• Don’t get exploited by hackers -- system security is essential


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What do I do if I get blacklisted?

1. Identify the error that led to complaints or spam traps

2. Reform your sending practices

3. Petition for delisting


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#6: Avoid Spam Traps


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What is a spam trap?

• An email address that doesn’t send mail but identifies spammers who send it mail

• Two types of spam traps

1. Pristine

2. Dormant


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How do you avoid spam traps?

• Don’t purchase lists

• Ensure permission via confirmed opt-in

• Segment your list by engagement


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#7: Let An Expert Do The Heavy Lifting For You


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Infrastructure Reflects Your Business

• The way you send tells ISPs a lot about you

• Infrastructure issues are easy to fix

• Home grown systems are susceptible to problems

• Common problems are around authentication and server configurations


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Why SendGrid?

We make email delivery simple and easy for developers everywhere.


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What Our Clients Are Saying

“Marrying the SendGrid Platform with SoftLayer's offering in both Infrastructure as a Service and Cloud Computing really does give the customers the most robust, turnkey

offering available to the market today.”

“We’re now enjoying email delivery rates of 96% and have saved thousands of dollars in engineering resources.”

“Their account management team is responsive and proactive, providing us with the space we need to focus on strategic plans, rather than day to day email management.”


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Key Takeaways


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• Upcoming Webinar:

- “Tips and Tricks to Stay Out of the Spam Folder”

• SendGrid’s Deliverability Guide

• SendGrid’s Blog

- www.sendgrid.com/blog

Learn More


http://www.sendgrid.com/blog

http://www.sendgrid.com/blog

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Questions?


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Carly [email protected]

@carlybrantz

Paul [email protected]

@cyclingup






Technology

7 Tips to Improve Your Sender Reputation