Inbox placement and reputation
Reputation is earned by consistent identity, predictable volume, engaged recipients, and low complaints. Warm new domains gradually. Fix list quality before buying deliverability myths.
Lesson objectives
- Plan a domain warmup without fake engagement tricks
- Identify complaint and bounce thresholds that demand a pause
- Separate content problems from infrastructure problems
Signals that matter
- Hard bounces: remove immediately
- Spam complaints: pause and inspect acquisition source
- Engagement: opens are noisy; clicks and replies are stronger
- Blocklist hits: investigate, do not panic-buy a new domain
Warmup without theater
Warmup means sending real mail to people who want it, starting small and increasing as positive signals accumulate. Artificial open farms and purchased lists are how domains get buried.
Worked exercise: Write a one-page reputation runbook
- Define owners for DNS, ESP, and content.
- List weekly metrics you will review (bounces, complaints, spam-folder samples).
- Document the pause condition for marketing sends.
End-of-lesson checklist
- Role accounts and never-engaged addresses suppressed
- One-click unsubscribe working on commercial mail
- Sudden volume spikes scheduled and justified
- Seed tests used for diagnosis, not as a vanity score
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a dedicated IP?
Only when volume and consistency are high enough that shared-IP neighbors become the bottleneck. Most early teams should perfect authentication and list hygiene first.
Sources
Related: Deliverability fundamentals · Best AI email tools