<< The Components of a Good Reputation
Message Header
Most recipients never see the header of the message. However, it is the first thing that is seen by an email receiver; and, therefore, it has the first chance of being blocked. There are four major areas within an email header that should be checked prior to sending the message. These areas include:
- Sender IP address
- Host name of sender IP address
- Envelope header From or Return Path address
- Reply-To and From addresses
The IP address that email campaigns are sent from is a critical component of the overall reputation. First and foremost, you should be sure that you are mailing from an IP address that is dedicated to your use only and it is not shared by other customers of your ESP. If a typical list size is over 100,000, it makes sense to use two or more IP addresses.
In order to comply with Internet standards, the IP address needs to resolve to a DNS-based host name. It is important that the host name of your IP contain your domain name and not the domain name of the ESP.
The envelope header’s From address is the Return Path email address, and it is the first address given from the sending email server to the receiving email server. Some ESPs and in-house email marketing solutions will use the envelope header From address for automated bounce handling, so, again, it is important that this address contains your domain name and not the domain name of your ESP.
Many email marketing or sales force automation tools offer an automated reply handling feature. This is handy for anyone sending large volumes of email as it automatically handles unsubscribe requests, filters “Out of Office” replies, and intelligently routes real replies from humans through the proper channels. Again, it is important that your domain name is included in the email address of the Reply-To or From email address.
It is important that you work with your ESP to ensure that you are using a dedicated IP address. You should also analyze your message headers to make sure that only your domain name appears in the header of the email message. If any other domain names appear, correct it immediately. Doing so will ensure that your good reputation is being seen by the email receivers instead of the reputation of your ESP, which might be tainted due to abuse from its other clients.
