Sender reputation
Sender reputation is a score mailbox providers assign to a sending domain and IP address based on past behavior — bounce rates, spam complaints, volume patterns, and authentication — that determines whether your emails reach the inbox, the spam folder, or are blocked outright.
What affects it
The main inputs are how often recipients mark you as spam, how many addresses bounce, whether you authenticate (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), how consistent your sending volume is, and whether you hit spam traps. Sudden volume spikes from a cold domain and mailing unconfirmed lists both hurt.
Why it matters
Reputation is the foundation of email deliverability — without it, even well-written launch emails land in spam. For a waitlist, protecting reputation means confirming addresses, removing bounces, and warming up a new sending domain before a big send rather than blasting the whole list at once.
Related terms
- Email deliverability — Email deliverability is the rate at which sent emails reach the recipient's inbox rather than being routed to spam, bloc...
- Disposable email — A disposable email is a temporary, single-use address generated by services such as 10minutemail or guerrillamail, typic...
- Spam trap — A spam trap is an email address created or repurposed by mailbox providers and anti-spam organizations specifically to c...
Frequently asked questions
- How do I check my sender reputation?
- Free tools such as Google Postmaster Tools and various sender-score lookups report reputation signals for your domain and IP. Watching your bounce and complaint rates inside your email tool is the simplest early indicator.
- How do I build sender reputation for a launch?
- Start before launch day: send to confirmed addresses only, warm up a new domain by gradually increasing volume, authenticate with SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and prune bounces and inactive contacts so your first big send goes to a clean, engaged list.
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