Understanding Your IA Reputation Score

Your IA Reputation score tells you how email providers (like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook) view your sending domain. A higher score means better inbox placement and more of your emails reaching your subscribers.

What is IA Reputation?

IA Reputation is InboxAlly's proprietary scoring system that predicts your domain's email reputation. Think of it as a "credit score" for your email sending—it tells you how trustworthy email providers think you are.

The Four Reputation Levels

Where Do I Find My Score?

Your IA Reputation score appears on the Domain Reports page:

1. Log in to your InboxAlly account
2. Go to Domain Reports
3. Select the domain you want to check
4. View your IA Reputation score along with other domain metrics

What Affects My Score?

Your IA Reputation is based on several factors:

✅ Things That Help Your Score

• Consistent sending patterns — Sending similar volumes regularly
• Good authentication — Proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup
• High engagement — Subscribers opening and clicking your emails
• Clean lists — Removing bounces and inactive subscribers
• Gradual warm-up — Slowly increasing volume on new domains

❌ Things That Hurt Your Score

• Sudden volume spikes — Sending 10x your normal volume overnight
• High spam complaints — Subscribers marking you as spam
• Authentication failures — Missing or broken SPF/DKIM
• Blacklist appearances — Your IPs listed on spam blacklists
• Poor engagement — Low open rates, high bounce rates

How to Improve Your Score

If Your Score is LOW or BAD

1. Check your authentication — Make sure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are properly configured
2. Review your sending patterns — Look for sudden changes in volume or frequency
3. Clean your email list — Remove hard bounces, spam traps, and inactive subscribers
4. Reduce volume temporarily — Send to your most engaged subscribers first
5. Use InboxAlly's warm-up tools — Gradually rebuild trust with email providers

If Your Score is MEDIUM

1. Focus on engagement — Send to subscribers who actually want your emails
2. Improve your content — Write subject lines that encourage opens (not spam triggers)
3. Segment your list — Send more relevant content to different groups
4. Monitor regularly — Catch problems before they become serious

If Your Score is HIGH

Great job! Keep doing what you're doing:

• Maintain consistent sending patterns
• Keep authentication healthy
• Monitor for any changes

Frequently Asked Questions

How often is my score updated?

Your score is updated daily. Check back regularly to spot trends.

Why did my score drop?

Common reasons include:

• A spike in spam complaints
• Authentication issues (SPF/DKIM failures)
• Sending to a purchased or old email list
• Being listed on a blacklist
• Sudden increase in sending volume

How long does it take to improve my score?

It depends on how severe the issue is and how consistently you follow best practices. Generally, the lower your score, the longer it takes to recover. Email providers need to see sustained good behavior over time before trusting your domain again—there are no quick fixes.

Is this the same as Google Postmaster Tools?

No. IA Reputation is InboxAlly's own scoring system that uses multiple data sources to give you a more complete picture of your domain's reputation.

Does everyone see the same score for my domain?

Your IA Reputation score is unique to InboxAlly and based on data we collect. Email providers (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) have their own internal scores that aren't public.

Need Help?

If your score is LOW or BAD and you're not sure why:

1. Contact support — We can review your specific situation
2. Book a deliverability consultation — Our experts can help you recover

IA Reputation is updated daily and reflects InboxAlly's best prediction of how email providers view your domain. Individual provider experiences may vary.