Email Delivery Guide

Email Server Reputation

Understanding Email Reputation

Email reputation is a critical factor that determines whether your emails reach the inbox or get filtered to spam. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use sophisticated systems to evaluate sender trustworthiness.

What is Email Reputation?

Think of email reputation like a credit score for email senders. Just as banks use credit scores to determine loan eligibility, ISPs use reputation scores to decide how to handle your emails.

There are two main types of reputation that affect email deliverability:

  • IP Reputation: The trustworthiness of the specific IP address sending your emails
  • Domain Reputation: The overall trustworthiness of your sending domain

IP Reputation Simulator

Experiment with different factors to see how they affect your IP reputation and email deliverability. Toggle the factors below to see the impact on your reputation score.

IP Reputation Factors

Too LowOptimalToo High
Good (0%)Concerning (5%)Bad (10%+)
Good (0%)Bad (0.5%+)Critical (1%+)
None (Good)Critical
PoorExcellent
NewEstablished

Reputation Analysis

Reputation Score100
Excellent

Deliverability Prediction:

Excellent inbox placement across all providers

Provider-Specific Outlook:

Gmail
Outlook/Microsoft
Yahoo
Corporate Filters

Recommendations:

  • Maintain current best practices to preserve reputation
  • Your email reputation is excellent - continue your current practices

IP Reputation

IP reputation evaluates the sending behavior associated with a specific IP address.

Key factors affecting IP reputation:

  • Sending volume and consistency
  • Spam complaint rates
  • Bounce rates (hard and soft)
  • Spam trap hits
  • Recipient engagement metrics
  • Historical sending patterns

Domain Reputation

Domain reputation looks at the overall sending behavior associated with your domain, regardless of which IP addresses are used.

Key factors affecting domain reputation:

  • Authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
  • Content quality and relevance
  • User engagement metrics
  • Complaint rates across all IPs
  • Domain age and sending history
  • Blacklist appearances

Domain Reputation Simulator

See how different factors affect your domain reputation and email deliverability. Domain reputation is increasingly important as ISPs move toward domain-based filtering.

Domain Reputation Factors

PoorExcellent
LowHigh
NewEstablished

Reputation Analysis

Reputation Score100
Excellent

Deliverability Prediction:

Excellent inbox placement across all providers

Provider-Specific Outlook:

Gmail
Outlook/Microsoft
Yahoo
Corporate Filters

Recommendations:

  • Maintain current best practices to preserve reputation
  • Your email reputation is excellent - continue your current practices

Shared vs. Dedicated IP Addresses

Shared IP

Multiple senders use the same IP address.

Best for:

  • Low-volume senders (<100K emails/month)
  • Inconsistent sending patterns
  • Budget-conscious operations

Note: Your reputation is affected by other senders using the same IP.

Dedicated IP

Only your organization uses the IP address.

Best for:

  • High-volume senders (>100K emails/month)
  • Corporate email needs requiring whitelisting
  • Senders with well-maintained recipient lists

Note: Requires proper IP warming and consistent sending patterns.

How to Monitor and Improve Your Reputation

Monitoring Tools:

  • Google Postmaster Tools: Provides data on spam rates, authentication, and delivery errors
  • Talos Intelligence: Offers comprehensive IP and domain reputation data
  • Sender Score: Rates IP addresses on a scale from 0-100
  • Blacklist Monitoring Services: Check if your IP or domain is on any blacklists

Improvement Strategies:

  • Implement proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
  • Use double opt-in for subscriber lists
  • Maintain consistent sending volumes
  • Regularly clean your email lists
  • Monitor and reduce bounce rates
  • Engage with a reputable email service provider
  • Create relevant, engaging content
  • Properly warm up new IP addresses