Domain reputation

Domain reputation is the “trust score” email providers assign to your sending domain.

It is not a single public number, and it is not something you can fully control.

But it is absolutely something you can destroy.

When your domain reputation is strong, more of your cold emails land in the inbox.

When it is weak, you start hitting spam or promotions, open rates drop, and reply rates collapse.

What affects domain reputation?

Email providers infer reputation from consistent patterns over time.

The biggest inputs are:

1. Authentication and alignment

If SPF/DKIM/DMARC are missing or misaligned, you are immediately higher risk.

Even when authentication is technically “passing”, misalignment can still hurt performance.

2. Bounce rate

High bounces signal bad data.

As a rough rule, once bounce rate goes above 3-5% on a domain, you should pause and fix the list quality before continuing.

3. Spam complaints

Spam complaints are one of the fastest ways to kill a sending domain.

Providers treat “mark as spam” events as a direct user signal that you are unwanted.

4. Engagement signals

Opens and clicks are imperfect metrics, but they still contribute.

If you consistently send email that gets ignored, deleted, or never opened, your future placement gets worse.

5. Volume spikes and inconsistent sending

Sudden volume increases are a classic spam pattern.

Consistent ramp schedules and inbox rotation protect you from triggering automated filters.