How is email reputation handled?
Ensure reliable delivery of Agent Connect surveys
Every Medallia Agent Connect account has a reputation and an hourly quota for sending requests. These features hinder spammers that would otherwise send numerous emails quickly, which could damage the reputation of the Agent Connect servers and potentially affect other accounts.
An account's reputation can be Poor, Good, or Excellent, and is determined by bounce rate, spam complaints, and unsubscribe requests. The more bounces and spam complaints relative to the overall volume of sent requests, the lower the reputation.
A positive reputation score (Good or Excellent) is determined by successfully achieving a bounce rate below 5% and preventing as many spam complaints as possible. Maintaining a positive reputation score greatly improves your account's ability to send requests that successfully reach customers, allowing for a greater response rate and increasing customer interaction with your brand.
Bounce rate
Bounces are undeliverable emails, typically because the receiving server or mailbox encountered a delivery issue. Bounces are considered normal when sending large volumes of email. However, industry standards suggest that your bounce rate should be below 5% of your total email volume. You might see high bounce rates because of old or stale recipient email addresses, fake or incorrectly spelled email addresses, the use of unconfirmed or single opt-in lists, and so on. A bounce might also occur when a recipient's inbox is full.
Spam complaints
When you send email for long enough, spam complaints are inevitable. However, a large number of complaints can mean that recipients do not recognize why they are receiving your emails.
At certain spam-complaint thresholds, ISPs might begin routing Agent Connect email to spam folders, completely block Agent Connect email, or even blacklist the Agent Connect sending IP addresses. The reputation of Agent Connect IP addresses is paramount to ensuring high deliverability for all accounts.
As you approach spam-complaint thresholds a Medallia representative will contact you to let you know that spam complaints have increased and work with you to reach an acceptable standard.
Improve email reputation
Use the following guidelines to improve the email reputation of your accounts:
Always ensure that you send email only to recipients who have a prior business relationship with the account.
Do not use purchased, rented, or third-party recipient lists.
Remove stale or old email addresses.
Validate email addresses before sending email.
Use a confirmed or double opt-in process.
When you use a double opt-in method, you target only those recipients who want to hear from you. Double opt-in lists have much higher engagement levels over time, which translates to more opens and clicks, and fewer spam complaints and bounces.
