The relationship you create with your audience determines your success as a business. Inbox providers are constantly measuring against audience behaviors to make sure you are matching with the relationship you desire to build through digital communication. 

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Audience behavior is the bridge between technical deliverability (your domain setup, DNS records, etc.) and ability to close prospects and retain customers. For Inbox providers, it’s not just about whether your email is technically sound; it’s about whether your recipients want your emails.

Inbox providers constantly analyze audience behaviors to decide if your emails should land in the Inbox, Promotions, Spam folder—or nowhere at all. Here’s how to factor in the audience behavior equation to your Inbox provider flags. 

How Your Audience Influences Deliverability

To maintain a good sender reputation and ensure your emails reach the right place, you need to encourage the following audience actions:

1. Open the Email
   Open rates indicate interest and engagement. Low open rates signal to Inbox providers that your audience is uninterested or are illegitimate, which can lead to lower deliverability over time.
2. Avoid Unsubscribes
   High unsubscribe rates indicate mismatched expectations. This alerts Inbox providers that your list may not be as targeted or engaged as it should be.
3. Avoid Spam Complaints
   When users mark your emails as spam, Inbox providers interpret this as a major red flag. A high spam complaint rate can cause immediate deliverability issues, including blocklisting.

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How Inbox Providers Use Audience Behavior Data

Inbox providers have benchmarks to evaluate your email performance. If your performance falls short, your emails may face consequences such as spam placement, quarantining, or outright blocklisting.

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What Happens When Engagement Drops?

• Level 1: Promotions or Spam Folder Placement
  If engagement rates drop, Inbox providers may shift your emails to the Promotions or Spam folder. This is an early warning sign that you have too many flags and need to re-engage your audience.. 
• Level 2: Quarantine or Spam Traps
  Spam traps are used by Inbox providers to catch senders who use old or uncleaned email lists. If you send to inactive or invalid addresses, your emails may be delayed in quarantined or flagged as spam.
• Level 3: Blocklisting
  If your emails generate significant spam complaints or other negative signals, specific Inbox providers may blocklist your domain. At this stage, delivering emails to that provider becomes nearly impossible.
• Level 4: Domain Burning
  The worst-case scenario is being blocklisted across all major Inbox providers. This happens when your domain is flagged as untrustworthy. Once burned, it’s extremely difficult to recover.

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Building and Maintaining a Responsive Audience

For New Domains: Warming Practices

If you’re starting with a new domain, Inbox providers won’t immediately trust you. They require proof of positive audience engagement over time. Here’s how to warm up your domain:

1. Start Small
   Begin by sending emails to a small, highly engaged segment of your list. These are individuals who are most likely to open and interact with your emails.
2. Use Seed Lists
   A seed list is a set of emails specifically designed to engage with your content. These lists are often provided by domain warming services to help build your sender reputation.
3. Gradually Increase Volume
   Over 6–8 weeks, increase your sending volume while monitoring engagement metrics. This gradual approach signals to Inbox providers that you’re a legitimate sender.

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For Established Domains: Regular Maintenance

Even if you’ve established a good reputation, Inbox providers continue to monitor your performance. Ongoing maintenance is crucial to avoid issues.

1. List Suppressions
   Regularly suppress inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails in months. Sending to inactive recipients lowers your overall engagement rates and hurts your sender reputation.
   
   
2. Sunsetting Campaigns
   When subscribers become inactive beyond the typical lifecycle of your product or service, run a sunsetting campaign. Send a re-engagement email to determine their interest. If they don’t respond, suppress or remove them from your list.
   Example Sunsetting Email:
   Subject Line: "We’ll miss you – are you still interested?"
   Body: "We’ve noticed you haven’t been opening our emails. If you’d like to stay subscribed, click below to let us know!"
   
   
3. List Cleaning
   Remove hard bounces, invalid addresses, and frequent soft bounces. Clean lists improve deliverability and ensure your emails reach engaged recipients.
   
   
4. Quarterly Monitoring
   Review engagement metrics every quarter to identify trends and issues. Focus on audience behavior to determine which segments need re-engagement or suppression.

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Handling Bounce Issues

Bounces are a natural part of email marketing, but different types of bounces require different solutions.

1. Hard Bounces
   These occur when an email address is invalid or no longer exists. Suppress hard bounces immediately to avoid triggering red flags.
2. Soft Bounces
   These are temporary issues, such as a full inbox or server error. Monitor soft bounces over time. If an address soft bounces consistently (e.g., 5+ times), suppress it to maintain list health.

Common Types of Soft Bounces:

• Mailbox Full: Temporary; retry sending after some time.
• Server Error: Retry later; if persistent, suppress.
• Temporary Block: Often caused by throttling; resolve with better segmentation or send pacing.

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For Expanding Businesses: Adapting to Growth

If your business is growing rapidly, it’s essential to adapt your email strategy to avoid deliverability issues.

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Special Offers and Campaigns

When running sweepstakes or seasonal promotions, consider the impact on your list health. New signups during these campaigns often have lower engagement rates. Segment these subscribers separately and tailor your approach to their specific intent.

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Sales Seasons and High Volume Sending

During peak seasons like Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM), businesses often increase email frequency. While this can drive sales, sudden spikes in sending volume (known as throttling) can harm deliverability.

Best Practices for High-Volume Campaigns:

• Segment your list based on engagement.
• Make your frequency increases gradual to showcase you are not spam
• Treat those who enter the funnel during a one-time promotion or season differently than your engaged audience
• Keep checks on unsubscribes and spam complaints so you know when to pull back your audience
• Use behavioral data to determine best send times and when to send to the audience

‍ConclusionYour audience is your greatest advocate for deliverability. Establishing the right relationship with them as you communicate to their Inbox will vouch for you to Inbox providers, allowing you to go into the right placement in the Inbox. Keeping audiences engaged and working strategically to get results will keep you at front and center of Inbox deliverability while keeping your stats in a healthy place.

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