Sender reputation is a trust score that mailbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and others) assign to your sending IP address and sending domain. It is calculated from your past sending behavior, including spam complaints, bounce rates, spam trap hits, and how recipients engage with your messages. When your reputation drops, providers throttle your mail, delay delivery, or route it straight to the spam folder.
How it works
Every time you send email, the receiving provider records signals: did the recipient open it, mark it as spam, or does the address even exist. It ties those signals to your IP and your domain, then builds a rolling score. High complaint rates, sending to dead addresses, and hitting spam traps (addresses that only exist to catch bad senders) all pull the score down. Consistent volume, low complaints, and proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) pull it up.
Why it matters for B2B quoting
A quote that lands in spam is a quote the buyer never sees, and in B2B the deal cycle is long enough that a missed email can cost the sale. If you send quotes from your own domain, your reputation is on the line every time. One batch of hard bounces or a spam complaint from a cold prospect can degrade delivery for legitimate, requested quotes.
How to protect it
- Send to buyers who asked for a quote, not cold lists.
- Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on your sending domain.
- Remove invalid addresses before they bounce.
- Keep volume steady rather than spiking.
With ShopQuotes you can send a quote from your own email domain, or share it as a hosted Live Quote link or PDF. When domain reputation is a concern, link and PDF delivery still get the quote in front of the buyer without relying on inbox placement. See pricing for what each plan includes.