Are you the Master of your Domain?

At the beginning of April, Gmail and Hotmail made some significant changes to their inbox filtering mechanisms, which caused an increased amount of email to land in the Gmail bulk folder and to be deferred by Hotmail.  ReturnPath, a third party deliverability consultancy, discusses some of these recent changes in their blog.

Changes like this are signs of a larger trend – ISPs are increasingly shifting from IP-based to domain-based reputation to determine sender quality and ultimately whether messages land in the inbox. This concept is not new and was initiated in 2007 when Yahoo launched the Domain Keys email authentication system. Now, however, this direction is becoming more significant factor in determining inbox placement.

What does this change mean for you?  AOL, MSN, Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail and other major ISPs will be more significantly weighing factors like sender’s domain name, From Name, From Address, IP address, URLs included in the message, content to evaluate your sending reputation and where to deliver your email.  With these changes, the first thing for you to answer the Seinfeld-esque question: Are you the Master of your Domain?

Historically, marketers, who wanted more control and visibility over their deliverability, opted for a dedicated IP address from which to send their messages.  Over the last few years, the industry has seen a rising trend of domain-based reputation and the use of private domains. Private domains let marketers customize the domain name that their message is sent from and the domain name used in all the links in their message.  Ultimately, you want both the ISP’s and your customers to immediately recognize your brand as the trusted sender that you have worked so hard to become.

An established, consistent reputation as a trusted brand, along with sending relevant content to those who want it, is the surest way to increase engagement and your inbox placement.  Ensuring your domain name, along with all the other important sending factors, are an accurate reflection of your brand is an important step in your reputation and being the Master of Your Domain.

For more information on Bronto Private Domains we'll have a follow-up post next week on Brontoversity.

Chris Kolbenschlag
Director of Deliverability at Bronto