For email marketers, ensuring that messages reach their intended recipients is paramount. Google Postmaster Tools provides essential insights that can help Cendyn CRM marketers optimize their email deliverability for gmail.com subscribers. Across Cendyn CRM, gmail.com emails make up just over 50% of all emails sent. This article will delve into three critical pieces of information available in Google Postmaster, guiding you on how to leverage these insights to maintain a strong sender reputation and enhance your email marketing efforts.

Domain Reputation Dashboard

The first is domain reputation. To reach the Domain Dashboard, from the main home page, click on the domain. Then drop down the menu to domain reputation.

The Domain Reputation dashboard displays the quality rating for the domains you use to send email. Domain reputation gives a sense of whether the Gmail spam filter might mark emails from that domain as spam or not. Please keep in mind that spam filtering is based on several signals. 

Ideally, a hotel’s Cendyn CRM sub-domain (the domain that is used to send transactional or marketing emails) should maintain a high reputation. Gmail tends to rely heavily on domain reputation. We suggest you look at your Domain Reputation across the largest reference window - 120 days. 

You can see on which days your reputation has declined or improved, etc. Anything lower than a high reputation can signal inbox placement issues, which can impact your Campaign Revenue Performance and overall Campaign KPIs. With deteriorating reputation, consider reviewing a google remediation plan to target highly engaged subscribers and inch up on the reputation. Please note that a google remediation process can take weeks or months, depending on the severity of the reputation issue.

The below is an example of the domain dashboard:

Spam Complaint Rate Dashboard

The Spam Complaint Rate dashboard in Google Postmaster Tools shows the percentage of your emails that reach engaged recipients’ inboxes but are then marked as spam. It tracks DKIM-authenticated messages sent to Gmail accounts. If many of your emails are automatically sent to spam by Gmail, the displayed rate might appear low since fewer messages reach the inbox. Please note that emails reporting you as spam are not reported in Cendyn CRM. This is not a product deficiency; Google does not send Cendyn CRM's email service provider the required feedback loop.

While maintaining a low spam rate is ideal, an extremely low rate might indicate data accuracy issues. Note that low email volume can affect the data shown, as the dashboard may not include all data to protect Gmail users’ privacy.

Below is an example of a spam complaint dashboard in Google Postmaster for one sample domain:

To ensure optimal email deliverability, it’s crucial to keep your spam rates reported in Google Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid exceeding 0.30%, per Google's Sender Requirements. Maintaining a low spam rate helps you withstand occasional spikes in user feedback, while a high spam rate can lead to increased spam classification. Remember, improvements in spam rate may take time to positively impact spam classification, so consistent monitoring and adjustments are key.

Authentication Dashboard

To reach the dashboard go to the main home page of Google Postmaster, at the top you will see the below message:

Click on dashboard and on the left navigation pane, click on Authentication. 

Email authentication plays a pivotal role in achieving this goal, safeguarding your brand reputation, and enhancing overall email deliverability. The Authentication Dashboard in Google Postmaster Tools provides crucial data on DKIM, SPF, and DMARC success rates for messages sent from your domain. When properly configured, DKIM and DMARC typically achieve success rates of 95% or higher, while SPF success rates may vary due to third-party senders. The dashboard displays the percentage of messages that pass DKIM and SPF checks and align with the From: header, as well as the percentage of messages that meet DMARC policy requirements. Factors such as message forwarding, mailing list handling, and malicious activity can impact these rates. To improve authentication success, ensure DKIM, SPF, and DMARC are configured correctly, use a reliable DNS provider, verify DNS records, and require third-party senders to use DKIM with unique keys for your domain. Note that low email volume may affect the data displayed in the dashboard.

Below is an example of Google Postmaster's Authentication Status:

In Cendyn CRM, you can re-verify your domain under account settings to ensure that your domain is properly authenticated. Another great tool is Google's Header Analyzer, which will analyze the header of a campaign to check proper authentication.

Setting up Google Postmaster for dedicated domains is essential for email marketers aiming to achieve optimal deliverability. By monitoring authentication issues, domain reputation, and spam complaint rates, marketers can gain valuable insights into their email performance. Domain reputation, in particular, plays a critical role in determining whether emails are marked as spam by Gmail’s filters. Maintaining a high domain reputation ensures that emails reach recipients’ inboxes, while a low reputation can lead to increased spam classification. Additionally, keeping spam complaint rates low helps build resilience against occasional spikes in user feedback. Regularly reviewing these metrics in Google Postmaster Tools allows marketers to make informed adjustments, ultimately enhancing their email marketing success.