{"id":45558,"date":"2021-04-15T14:26:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T07:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/act.com\/the-key-to-inbox-placement\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T10:49:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:49:58","slug":"the-key-to-inbox-placement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.act.com\/en-gb\/blog\/the-key-to-inbox-placement\/","title":{"rendered":"The Key to Inbox Placement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Globally, hundreds of billions of emails are sent every day, and many estimates consider around half of those to be spam.\u00a0 Inbox providers like Gmail and Microsoft face the problematic task of filtering out all that junk while still delivering as much legitimate email as possible.\u00a0 How do they decide if your email should be delivered to the inbox, the junk folder, or blocked altogether? Instead of relying solely on checking email authentication and content for every message, inbox providers also use the concept of sender reputation, which is a measure of your trustworthiness as a sender.\u00a0 For example, if you\u2019ve sent too much unwanted mail every day for the past month, they\u2019re willing to bet that you\u2019ll do the same today and they will block or junk your mail, even if it passes their other filters.<\/p>\n

You might be thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s fine, I don\u2019t send unwanted mail\u201d. But in this case, the inbox providers get to decide what\u2019s unwanted and what\u2019s too much. Their definition of \u201cunwanted\u201d isn\u2019t limited to prototypical spam either – many marketers send unwanted mail without even knowing it.\u00a0 So assuming your email authentication and content checks out, sender reputation is the largest remaining factor for inbox placement, and managing your reputation becomes critical to realising the potential of your email marketing strategy.<\/p>\n

A Credit Score for Email Quality<\/h2>\n

The first step to managing your sender reputation is understanding how inbox providers track it. You can think of sender reputation like a credit score based on your history of email quality.\u00a0 Much like a credit score, sender reputation is harder to repair than to maintain: you can\u2019t get points for sending high-quality mail if your reputation prevents you from inboxing.\u00a0 Additionally, a lack of sending history means you won\u2019t have a sender reputation. Inbox providers will accept some mail from you, but you\u2019ll have a low limit until you gain their trust. You can build a positive reputation by sending engaging, properly authenticated mail at consistent volumes. Your reputation will be negatively impacted by behavior generally associated with spam or indications that your email was unwanted, including:<\/p>\n