Reputation is the dominant factor in inbox placement. Content matters far less than the trust a provider has in your domain.
Mistake 1: Buying or scraping lists, which seed spam traps into your database#
Why it hurts: this undermines sender reputation at the point where mailbox providers make their decision, and it is rarely surfaced by your own tooling until placement drops.
Fix: Register in Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to see your domain and IP reputation directly.
Mistake 2: Blasting an entire list after months of silence#
Why it hurts: this undermines sender reputation at the point where mailbox providers make their decision, and it is rarely surfaced by your own tooling until placement drops.
Fix: Keep spam complaints below 0.1% (Gmail's threshold is 0.3% for enforcement) and hard bounces below 2%.
Mistake 3: Ignoring Postmaster Tools until placement has already collapsed#
Why it hurts: this undermines sender reputation at the point where mailbox providers make their decision, and it is rarely surfaced by your own tooling until placement drops.
Fix: Segment by engagement and stop sending to contacts inactive for 90+ days.
Frequently asked questions#
Domain reputation vs IP reputation: which matters more?
Domain reputation now dominates at Gmail and Yahoo. IP still matters for Microsoft and for dedicated-IP senders.
How long does it take to repair a bad reputation?
Four to eight weeks of clean, low-volume sending to engaged recipients is typical.