Email reputation refers to the perceived trustworthiness of an email sender by email services based on their sending behavior, content quality, and recipient engagement, among several other factors. Every email service – including the one you use and the one your recipient uses – performs these checks to ensure that the message is not harmful and can be safely delivered.
When the reputation parameters are not met by your messages, you may encounter delays or delivery issues, such as emails ending up in the spam folder of the receiver. To fix it, you can apply measures that will improve your domain’s email reputation by following these steps 👇
Step 1 – Add Email DNS Records
Aside from the MX records, which are an absolute must for emails to work, there are two additional types of records that are essential for email deliverability – SPF and DKIM records:
SPF (stands for Sender Policy Framework) record allows domain owners to specify which email servers are authorized to send emails on their behalf
DKIM (stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail) record is used for signing and verifying the authenticity of emails: it involves adding a digital signature to outgoing emails that can be verified by the recipient's email server
Both these records are of TXT type and should be added to your domain's DNS zone. The values for SPF and DKIM records vary depending on your email service provider, for instance:
Step 2 – Improve the Email Subject
One of the most important things that affect email deliverability is the subject line of your messages. Make sure to compose subjects that are relevant to your audience and related to the message content.
In addition, you should avoid the following:
Misspelled words
Using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
The words "Test", "Check", or similar
Phrases like "Open this", "Read me", "Urgent" or similar
Random letters or numbers, as well as using any special characters (like %^>)
More recommendations:
Aim for shorter subject lines, though use more than one word; e.g., avoid writing only "Hello"
Don't leave the subject blank
Remove the "Re:" from message replies
This way, your subject line will be more positively accepted by both the mail services and your recipients 😊
Step 3 – Review Your Contact List
When it comes to engaging email recipients, make sure to send messages only to users that have opted-in to receive your emails. Sending emails without recipient permission can result in high rates of unsubscribes and spam reports.
In addition, regularly check your email list for nonexistent or invalid email addresses. Sending emails to these addresses can also impact your email reputation and lower deliverability rates.
In regards to the volume of messages sent, make sure to stay within your account's limits and avoid mass mailing. If you want to conduct an email campaign, consider a dedicated solution, as they are specialized in handling high email volume while also providing greater tools, features, and analytics.
Step 4 – Test Your Messages
Once you have applied the previous steps, you can check your emails against several reputation algorithms with one single tool. All you will need to do is:
Go to Mail-Tester and obtain the recipient testing address
Send a message from your email account to the test address using the same subject and content that you would send to any of your usual recipients
Go back to the Mail Tester page and click on Check your score
Scroll down the score page and expand each section to find specific recommendations to improve deliverability
That’s it! After completing the above steps, your emails should properly reach your recipients 📫