{"id":52184,"date":"2026-01-21T10:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=52184"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:44:46","slug":"how-to-fix-email-reputation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-email-reputation","title":{"rendered":"How to Fix Email Reputation and Improve Your Deliverability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<div id=\"simple-text-block-block_5a8b49ef82bffccd9641ab75186f6c9d\" class=\"block-simple-text-block alignfull \" style=\"background-color:\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n  \t<div class=\"row\">\n  \t\t<div class=\"col\">\n  \t\t\t<div class=\"copy\">\n  \t\t\t\t<table style=\"background-color: #f2f3f6;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"block-1\" style=\"padding: 20px;\">\n<h3>Key takeaways \u2728<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Email reputation is earned through consistency, engagement, and restraint.<\/strong> ISPs reward steady send volumes, positive subscriber interactions, and clean email lists.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Subscriber behavior is your strongest credibility signal. <\/strong>Opens, clicks, replies, and forwards act as votes of confidence with mailbox providers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you\u2019re struggling with deliverability, go back to your email list.<\/strong> Recovery starts by isolating the problem ISP, suppressing disengaged audiences, pausing risky automations, and gradually ramping volume only as engagement improves. Inbox trust is rebuilt slowly, not all at once.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Great deliverability comes from sending fewer, but better emails to the right people.<\/strong> The goal isn\u2019t maximum volume\u2014it\u2019s sustained engagement that proves your emails deserve to be opened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\">One in six legitimate marketing emails\u00a0fail to\u00a0reach the inbox, according to\u00a0<\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2025-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\">Validity\u2019s 2025 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\">. The average global placement rates at 83.5% for the inbox, 6.7% for spam filters, and 9.8% missing.\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0worse is that this number is declining over time. As recently as February 2024, inbox placement rates were just below 87%. At\u00a0Validity, we aim for a 98% inbox placement rate or better, so you can see how alarming these numbers\u00a0are!<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_122640\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122640\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-122640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Adobe-Express-file.png\" alt=\"Inbox, spam, and missing inbox placement rates globally\" width=\"800\" height=\"888\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Adobe-Express-file.png 800w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Adobe-Express-file-270x300.png 270w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Adobe-Express-file-768x852.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122640\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2025-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\">2025 Validity Email Deliverability Benchmark Report<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What\u2019s\u00a0going on? Well, every time you press send, your email goes through an obstacle course of deliverability checks.\u00a0They&#8217;re\u00a0meant to keep spammers and scammers from hurting your subscribers, but sometimes your innocent email marketing campaigns can get caught.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Three main factors influence your overall deliverability:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Infrastructure<\/strong>:\u00a0Identification and\u00a0authentication\u00a0records. These are technical must-dos like DNS, DKIM, and DMARC that your team (or your email service provider (ESP))\u00a0needs to complete if you want to send emails.<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Content<\/strong>:\u00a0What your message\u00a0contains\u00a0and how your subscribers respond. If someone marks you as spam,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0going to be in the spam folder.<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Reputation<\/strong>:\u00a0The receiver\u2019s rating of your sending domain and IP addresses,\u00a0kind of like\u00a0a credit score, but for email geeks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0struggling to land emails in the inbox, and\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0already dotted your i\u2019s and crossed your t\u2019s with infrastructure,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0time to dive into the nebulous black box of category #3:\u00a0your email sender reputation.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"2\">Table of contents<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Verdana\" data-listid=\"14\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;134225954&quot;:true,&quot;134225961&quot;:true,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#sender-reputation\">What is email sender reputation?<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Verdana\" data-listid=\"14\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;134225954&quot;:true,&quot;134225961&quot;:true,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#domain-reputation\">What is domain reputation?<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Verdana\" data-listid=\"14\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;134225954&quot;:true,&quot;134225961&quot;:true,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#decline\">Why has your email reputation gone down?<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Verdana\" data-listid=\"14\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;134225954&quot;:true,&quot;134225961&quot;:true,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#poor-reputation\">How to recover from a poor sender reputation<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Verdana\" data-listid=\"14\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;134225954&quot;:true,&quot;134225961&quot;:true,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#best-practices\">Email sender score best practices<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<div class=\"container pt-3 pb-5\">\n\t<div class=\"row blog-cta-blue  p-4\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col-12 mx-auto\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Looking to safeguard your email reputation? <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Validity Sender Certification is the industry&#8217;s most exclusive email allow-list\u2014helping senders reach more inboxes and bypass key spam filters around the world.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"button-blue arrow\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/sender-certification\/\" class=\"text-white text-decoration-none\">Get Certified<\/a><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/blog-cta-12172024.svg\" width=\"208\" height=\"171\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!--row-->\n\t\t<\/div><!--col-12-->\n\t<\/div><!--row-->\n<\/div><!--container-->\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n<h2 id=\"sender-reputation\" aria-level=\"2\">What is email sender reputation?<\/h2>\n<p>Your email sender reputation\u00a0is a score or measure that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) assign to an\u00a0organization\u00a0that\u00a0sends\u00a0emails.<\/p>\n<p>Your email deliverability\u00a0is a result of your email reputation. The better your reputation, the more likely\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0have higher\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/why-email-deliverability-matters\/\">email deliverability<\/a>. ISPs look at several different factors when determining your reputation:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Your sender behavior<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">ISPs are closely watching the volume of emails you send and how consistent you are. Sudden spikes can make it look like you\u2019re engaging in spammy behavior.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When you look at global sending volumes overall, you can see big spikes each November and December for Black Friday\/Cyber Monday. As you get closer to these big-ticket seasons, slowly increase the volume of your emails instead of all at once.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_122642\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122642\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-122642\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Global-email-sending-volumes-1024x476.jpeg\" alt=\"Global email sending volumes from July 2023 through December 2024\" width=\"1024\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Global-email-sending-volumes-1024x476.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Global-email-sending-volumes-300x139.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Global-email-sending-volumes-768x357.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Global-email-sending-volumes.jpeg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122642\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2025-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\">2025 Validity Email Deliverability Benchmark Report<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A sharp increase in volume\u2014say, going from 1,000 emails in a single week to 15,000\u2014is going to make an ISP notice.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0okay to send lots of emails (yay for big email lists!) but\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0overload your subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"quote my-5 col-12 blue-quote\" >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9\">&#8220;<em>We get lots of complaints, and it\u2019s about email overload. What we often see is almost a type of bombing, and &#091;subscribers&#093; get fatigued.<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 text-center\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ross-Adams.jpg\" alt=\"Ross Adams\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" class=\"mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\t<p><strong>Ross Adams<\/strong>\t<br><span class=\"quote-title\">PM Architect at Microsoft<\/span><\/p>\t<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rosspa2\/\" target=\"blank\"><i class=\"fa-brands fa-linkedin\"><\/i><\/a>\t<\/div>\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 15px; border-left: 10px solid #0d5477;\"><strong>LitTip: <\/strong>Consistency is key. Stick to a steady cadence and avoid massive jumps in volume.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">2. Your subscriber behavior<\/h3>\n<p>Your reputation hinges on how your subscribers interact with your emails. Are they opening them, clicking through, replying, or\u00a0forwarding? Or are they marking them as spam and unsubscribing? ISPs look for positive engagement signals.<\/p>\n<p>ISPs\u00a0regularly look\u00a0at:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"9\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Engagement<\/strong>: Deliverability metrics like\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/blog\/deliverability-metrics-that-matter\/\">how many subscribers engage with emails<\/a>\u00a0from you (based on actions like open, reply, forward,\u00a0delete\u00a0,and\u00a0click).<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"9\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Spam complaints<\/strong>: How many recipients mark your<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/why-emails-go-to-spam\/\">\u00a0emails as spam.<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"9\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Unsubscribes<\/strong>: Your\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/when-its-time-to-let-go-5-tactics-to-improve-the-unsubscribe-experience\/\">unsubscribe<\/a>\u00a0rate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The more your subscribers engage with your content, the better your reputation. If they\u2019re not engaging, it\u2019s time to rethink your approach\u2014because engagement is a vote of confidence in your emails.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Your email list hygiene<\/h3>\n<p>Keeping a clean email list is crucial for\u00a0maintaining\u00a0a good reputation. Hitting spam traps\u2014those sneaky addresses designed to catch spammers\u2014or being listed on a\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/what-to-do-if-youve-been-blocklisted\">blocklist<\/a>\u00a0can seriously damage your standing.<\/p>\n<p>Other factors ISPs evaluate include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"15\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">If your organization hit any ISP spam traps or is on any blocklists<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"15\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Email bounces<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Regularly scrubbing your lists for inactive subscribers and hard bounces will help you avoid these pitfalls. Good list hygiene shows ISPs that you\u2019re sending to a healthy, engaged audience.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Your email authentication<\/h3>\n<p>ISPs want to see that\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0playing by the rules. Setting up proper\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/help.litmus.com\/article\/275-email-authentication-protocols\">email authentication protocols<\/a>\u00a0like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps prove your legitimacy. Think of these as the \u201cID checks\u201d for your emails\u2014showing that you are who you say you are and building trust with both ISPs and your audience.<\/p>\n<p>Note: All ISPs weigh these factors differently.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"domain-reputation\" aria-level=\"2\">What is domain reputation and sender score?<\/h2>\n<p>Each email sender has a\u00a0sending domain.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0the text that follows \u2018@\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here the sending domain, or domain name, is \u2018peppercontent.in\u2019.<\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-122643\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sending-domain-example.png\" alt=\"Sending domain example in an email\" width=\"800\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sending-domain-example.png 800w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sending-domain-example-300x113.png 300w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sending-domain-example-768x288.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\n<p>Your sending score depends on the domain and IP address\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0sending emails from.<\/p>\n<p>If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0on a dedicated IP address, for example,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0have a much clearer image of your email-sending reputation. But if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0on a shared IP address, your email sending reputation may be\u00a0impacted\u00a0by others on your shared IP.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s\u00a0easy to think of your\u00a0sender\u00a0score\u00a0as an alpha or numeric score, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0better to think of it as the email-specific outcome of\u00a0what people really think about your brand. If your subscribers sincerely like you, their behavior will show it, and\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0be rewarded with inbox placement. Reputation\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a grade so much as an ongoing assessment of your brand\u2019s respect for your customers.<\/p>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n<h2 aria-level=\"2\">How to check your email sender score<\/h2>\n<p>Email deliverability can make or break your email marketing strategy. Yet, when Validity asked attendees\u00a0at\u00a0their State of Email Live\u00a0Event about their spam complaint rate\u2014a key metric that\u00a0determines\u00a0your email\u00a0sender\u00a0score\u201419%\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0know. (This is\u00a0why\u00a0we always recommend\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/email-deliverability-audit\">doing a deliverability audit<\/a>\u00a0on the regular.)<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that checking\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/email-deliverability-facts\">these deliverability metrics<\/a>, and\u00a0determining\u00a0your overall sender score,\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0have to be complicated or expensive.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_122644\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122644\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-122644\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Average-spam-complaint-rates-1024x479.png\" alt=\"Chart of average spam complaint rates showing less than .1 percent and .1-.2 percent tied at 25%\" width=\"1024\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Average-spam-complaint-rates-1024x479.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Average-spam-complaint-rates-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Average-spam-complaint-rates-768x359.png 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Average-spam-complaint-rates.png 1026w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122644\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2025-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\">2025 Validity Deliverability Benchmarks Report<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are free tools out there, like Google Postmaster Tools or\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/senderscore.org\/assess\/get-your-score\/\">Validity\u2019s Sender Score<\/a>, that make it easy to see how your emails are performing and where you stand. Just type your\u00a0domain or IP address into the tool and Validity will assess factors like blocklists, spam complaints, infrastructure, and send volume to give you a numeric value,\u00a0kind of like\u00a0a credit score, you can use to benchmark your performance.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"decline\" aria-level=\"2\">Why\u00a0has\u00a0your email reputation gone down?<\/h2>\n<p>Your email reputation is shaped by several key factors\u00a0including your:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"16\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Sender behavior.<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"16\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Subscriber behavior.<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"16\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/email-list-hygiene-how-to-build-a-clean-email-list\">List hygiene.<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"16\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Email authentication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0seeing a dip in your reputation score\u2014or noticing\u00a0poor performance\u00a0in your email campaigns\u2014it\u2019s\u00a0worth taking a closer look at these areas:<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Sender behavior<\/h3>\n<p>Sometimes, fixing your email reputation can be as simple as changing your own behavior. If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0seeing a drop in your sender score, ask yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"10\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Is the volume of emails too high or inconsistent?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"10\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Am I sending emails to people who have unsubscribed or show no engagement?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"10\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">What kind of\u00a0automations\u00a0do I have set up, and are they necessary?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"10\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Have I landed on a blacklist or blocklist?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Subscriber behavior<\/h3>\n<p>Your\u00a0sender\u00a0reputation is directly tied to how your subscribers respond to your emails. If engagement is low,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0time to dig into your metrics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Am I running any automated campaigns that consistently get low open or no clicks?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">What are my overall open and click rates for my email campaigns?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">How many unsubscribes have been reported recently?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Am I providing a clear and\u00a0easy way\u00a0for people to unsubscribe?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">How many spam complaints am I getting?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Are my emails too long and getting cut off by email clients?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Email list hygiene<\/h3>\n<p>If your subscribers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0responding to your emails the way you hope, then it may be a mismatch between who is on your list and the kinds of emails you send. Conduct an email list audit and ask yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"12\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Where did I get these subscribers? Did I have their explicit permission to email them?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"12\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">What is\u00a0my\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-a-hard-and-soft-bounce\">bounce rate<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-a-hard-and-soft-bounce\">hard bounces and soft bounces<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"12\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Am I sending emails to\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/a-guide-to-spam-traps-and-how-to-avoid-them\/\">spam traps<\/a>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 15px; border-left: 10px solid #0d5477;\"><strong>LitTip: <\/strong>never buy an email list. That\u2019s a surefire way to ruin your sender reputation.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Email authentication<\/h3>\n<p>Without proper email authentication, ISPs might not trust your emails. Make sure you have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up correctly. These protocols prove you are who you say you are, which builds trust with ISPs and helps protect your reputation. Not only is this important for your deliverability more generally,\u00a0it\u2019s now\u00a0an essential part of\u00a0complying with\u00a0mailbox provider protocols,\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/blog\/mailbox-provider-roundtable-recapping-microsoft-gmail-and-yahoos-thoughts-on-new-bulk-sender-requirements\/\">including Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft. <\/a><\/p>\n<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-guardian\">Diagnosing\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0causing a dip in your\u00a0sender\u00a0reputation<\/a> helps you address the problem head-on and get back on track.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"poor-reputation\" aria-level=\"2\">How to recover from a poor sender reputation<\/h2>\n<p>Trust us, poor sender reputation\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/preventing-deliverability-issues-3-things-to-check-before-you-send-your-next-campaign\">can happen to anyone<\/a>. In June 2022,\u00a0Litmus\u00a0experienced an issue with our email reputation:\u00a0we noticed our inbox placement had gone from 98-99% to less than 90%.<\/p>\n<p>Uh-oh.\u00a0Luckily, we got it fixed quickly!<\/p>\n<p>If this is happening to you right now,\u00a0here\u2019s\u00a0what to do:<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Step 1:\u00a0Identify\u00a0the problematic ISP<\/h3>\n<p>In our case, it was Gmail.<\/p>\n<p>The key here is to\u00a0identify\u00a0which ISP\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0having difficulty with and send only to your most engaged audiences for that ISP. While this will drastically bring down the number of people\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0reaching with your emails, it will improve your engagement rates and ensure inbox placement.<\/p>\n<p>This step will\u00a0indicate\u00a0to your mailbox provider that your emails are not spam, and your readers are engaging with them.<\/p>\n<p>We used\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-analytics\/\">Litmus Email Analytics<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0identify\u00a0subscribers who use Gmail to open our emails and\u00a0segmented\u00a0that audience into those who engaged in the last 10\/30\/45\/60\/90 days. We then suppressed Gmail subscribers who\u00a0hadn\u2019t\u00a0opened in the last\u00a010 days. Then, we slowly increased volume, week by week, and tracked engagement.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Step 2:\u00a0Identify\u00a0risky email automations and turn those off<\/h3>\n<p>Campaigns such as win-back email campaigns are risky. After all, they are reaching out to an already disinterested audience. The chances of them opening your emails and engaging with your content are low.<\/p>\n<p>Email automations your subscribers and customers might not engage with include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Cart abandonment emails<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/reengagement-winback-emails\/\">Re-engagement campaigns<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Even though these email flows can sometimes work to revive disengaged subscribers, they have a higher\u00a0likelihood\u00a0not working. Many go\u00a0unopened and not\u00a0clicked\u2014more\u00a0than transactional or other emails in the\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-utilize-gmail-promotions-tab\">promotions tab in Gmail<\/a>.\u00a0If these campaign emails do not lead to engagement, it will further harm your email reputation. Turn these campaigns off to improve your engagement rates if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0having a reputation crisis.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Step 3: Contact your postmasters<\/h3>\n<p>Once\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0taken steps to remedy your deliverability issues, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0still not working, you can also reach out to your ISP postmasters. A postmaster is the administrator of an email service. They deal with spam emails and sender reputation.<\/p>\n<p>Once\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0identified\u00a0your problematic ISP, send them a report using these forms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"5\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/mail\/contact\/gmail_bulk_sender_escalation\">Gmail<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"5\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/senders.yahooinc.com\/contact\">Yahoo Mail<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"\" data-listid=\"5\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/supportrequestform\/8ad563e3-288e-2a61-8122-3ba03d6b8d75\">Outlook<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gmail\u2019s postmasters may not respond. So, until you see an improvement in your inbox placement, keep\u00a0notifying Gmail\u00a0of your issues through their postmaster contact form\u2014advisably\u00a0every week.<\/p>\n<p>Outlook and Yahoo Mail, on the other hand, will\u00a0likely respond\u00a0to you via email within three to four days. Their response will\u00a0indicate\u00a0whether\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0found issues with your email domain and are working on a fix, or that they\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0found any issues.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Step 4: Start increasing send volume when engagement increases<\/h3>\n<p>Once you see an uptick in engagement rates\u2014and only then\u2014you can start sending emails to more people again.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if you were previously only sending your campaigns to people who had opened your emails in the last 15 days, you can now raise the bar to 30 days. Monitor the new results and then rinse and repeat until you hit your typical, full sending volume.<\/p>\n<p>For acquisition-related campaigns,\u00a0where\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0contacting new\u00a0or\u00a0unengaged\u00a0subscribers, having a secondary dedicated IP address\u00a0is\u00a0a good idea. It\u00a0protects\u00a0your primary IP address used for campaigns that drive business goals and need to have good inbox placement rates.\u00a0Take the step to onboard\u00a0a secondary IP address and a secondary sending subdomain for acquisition programs, cart abandon programs, and re-engagement nurtures.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"best-practices\" aria-level=\"2\">Email\u00a0sender score best practices<\/h2>\n<p>Hopefully,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0never have to deal with a dip in reputation like we did. (Phew, we hope it never happens again!) In the meantime, though, there are proactive steps you can take for your email marketing program:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Think about your send frequency<\/h3>\n<p>Subscribers who see your brand name pop up\u00a0again and again\u00a0in their inbox may start to get annoyed\u2014especially if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0using segmentation or\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-personalization\">personalization in your emails<\/a>. The name of the game is engagement, so give your subscribers the\u00a0option\u00a0to choose which emails they receive from you.<\/p>\n<p>This example from underwear brand\u00a0ThirdLove\u00a0is\u00a0a great way\u00a0not only to gather more first-party data from your subscribers but also to make sure that\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0sending the right emails to the right people:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-122647\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ThirdLove-email-send-frequency-example.png\" alt=\"ThirdLove frequency email example to gather more first-party data\" width=\"402\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ThirdLove-email-send-frequency-example.png 402w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ThirdLove-email-send-frequency-example-236x300.png 236w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 402px) 100vw, 402px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an expectation that you need to keep sending emails to be doing email marketing right\u2014but there is more value in sending fewer, more targeted emails to your list that receive higher engagement, rather than sending again and again to subscribers who aren\u2019t opening or clicking, which can impact your sender reputation.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Make the unsubscribe easy<\/h3>\n<p>Similarly, make it as easy as possible to unsubscribe. No more \u201chacks\u201d to get around legal requirements.\u00a0Don\u2019t\u00a0fear the\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/the-ultimate-guide-to-list-unsubscribe\">unsubscribe email list<\/a>!\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0much better to have a slightly smaller list with higher engagement than a large list of people who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want to hear from you.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0make it easy to unsubscribe,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0just see a spike in spam complaints\u2014which will hit your\u00a0sender\u00a0reputation hard. A clear unsubscribe link is the best way to make sure someone\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0just marking you as spam out of frustration.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, to\u00a0comply with\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/new-yahoo-gmail-email-deliverability-rules\">Gmail and Yahoo\u2019s sender requirements<\/a>\u00a0(including deliverability rules), for example, you must include a one-click unsubscribe button and\u00a0maintain\u00a0a spam complaint rate of 0.3%, or no more than three spam reports for\u00a0every 1,000 messages.\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/blog\/mailbox-provider-roundtable-recapping-microsoft-gmail-and-yahoos-thoughts-on-new-bulk-sender-requirements\/\">Clea Moore, Principal Product Manager at Yahoo, told us\u00a0<\/a>that senders should view these requirements not as a mere checklist but as a holistic improvement strategy for the subscriber and sender requirements.\u00a0Even\u00a0though the requirement\u00a0is\u00a00.3% for spam complaints,\u00a0she recommends closer to 0.1%.<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Your deliverability\u2014and your bottom line\u2014will thank you.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>3. Yes, artificial intelligence impacts\u00a0your deliverability<\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">AI has already completely changed how marketers conceive, plan, and execute their email campaigns.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0very real benefits to using AI\u00a0assistance\u00a0with\u00a0everything from audience segmentation to split testing to copywriting itself.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">However, using AI can have negative downstream impacts on your deliverability. Relying on AI for your copy or other marketing decisions can dramatically speed up your process, but by doing so, you may sacrifice the biggest element of engagement you have in your toolbox as a marketer: Your humanity. Engagement is the biggest indicator for mailbox providers that\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0a legitimate sender, so anything that\u00a0impacts\u00a0engagement impacts your deliverability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">But\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0also an issue\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0outside of your control: How mailbox providers deploy AI for their\u00a0customers.\u00a0Things like AI-generated summaries of your email, which may or may not be\u00a0accurate; or\u00a0<\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-your-content-could-trigger-the-spam-filter\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">LLM-powered spam filters<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0that catch more legitimate emails\u00a0in\u00a0their nets.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">4. Clean your email list regularly <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:320,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Make it a regular to-do to clean out those email lists. First,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0want to filter out common typos (like gmial.com or yaho.com) or any email addresses that have bounced. If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0seeing a lot of these kinds of emails, then consider doing double opt-in instead of single opt-in for your email acquisition. Yes, it adds an extra step for subscribers\u2014but it also ensures\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0never add a fake email address to your list.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">After that, sift through your email list based on engagement. Anyone who\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0opened an email in, say,\u00a060 days\u00a0should be tagged for a re-engagement email campaign.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-scroll mb-3\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cuisinart-email-example.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n\n<p>Sending a re-engagement campaign is\u00a0a last-ditch\u00a0effort to see if they want to stay on your list. If they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0engage with that\u00a0email, either, then\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0time to\u00a0say\u00a0buh-bye.<\/p>\n<p>If this all seems daunting,\u00a0Validity\u2019s end-to-end marketing success solutions have you covered.\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/demandtools\/\">DemandTools from Validity<\/a>\u00a0can help you clean,\u00a0monitor, and\u00a0maintain\u00a0your marketing data.\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/briteverify\/\">Pair that with\u00a0BriteVerify from Validity<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0make sure all new email addresses added to your list are real, working addresses\u2014no typos or spam traps here!<\/p>\n<h3>5. <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-deliverability\">Monitor and measure your email sender reputation<\/a> with Validity<\/h3>\n<p>Your sender reputation is a core part of your email marketing strategy.\u00a0Without inbox placement,\u00a0all of\u00a0the work you\u2019re doing crafting, designing, and coding incredible email campaigns evaporates.<\/p>\n<p>The thing\u00a0is,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no magic wand you can wave to fix your deliverability. The best thing you can do is still send great emails, which is\u00a0what\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0always been about here at Litmus.<\/p>\n<p>If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0struggling with your deliverability, go back to your data. With Validity, you can easily see patterns in your email list to\u00a0determine\u00a0engagement and inbox placement\u2014and make sure current and new subscribers alike receive targeted, relevant email messages that they\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0help but engage with.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/validity-for-email\/\"><span lang=\"EN\" xml:lang=\"EN\" data-contrast=\"auto\">See how Validity can help with your inbox placement and maximize subscriber reach &gt;<\/span><\/a>\n  \t\t\t<\/div>\n  \t\t<\/div>\n  \t<\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last thing you want is your emails to land in the spam folder. Learn how to fix your email reputation and save your email sender reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":52205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[10085,9986,10267,45,10246],"blog_category":[10302],"class_list":["post-52184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-blocklisting","tag-bounce-rate","tag-campaign-performance","tag-deliverability","tag-testing","blog_category-email-deliverability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Win Back Your Domain Reputation (The Smart Way)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An email marketer&#039;s worst nightmare: landing in the spam folder. Learn how to fix your email reputation and improve your email deliverability\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-email-reputation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Fix Email Reputation and Boost Deliverability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An email marketer&#039;s worst nightmare: landing in the spam folder. Learn how to fix your email reputation and improve your email deliverability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-email-reputation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Litmus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-21T15:33:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T13:44:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/How-to-fix-your-email-reputation.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How to Fix Email Reputation and Improve Your Deliverability\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Win Back Your Domain Reputation (The Smart Way)","description":"An email marketer's worst nightmare: landing in the spam folder. 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