How Recipient Engagement Affects Your Sender Reputation

For over a decade, email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail have used recipient interactions to determine whether emails land in the inbox or the junk folder. Today, filtering based on recipient behavior is even more sophisticated and AI-connected, with more ESPs relying on engagement signals to assess sender reputation.

Let’s break down how different recipient actions influence your email deliverability and what you can do to maintain a strong sender reputation.

Positive Engagement: Actions That Improve Inbox Placement

Opens—A high open rate signals ESPs that your emails are valuable and relevant, which helps improve your sender’s reputation.
Clicks – A strong Click-Through Rate (CTR) indicates engaging content and interest. Low CTRs can signal irrelevant messaging, potentially hurting deliverability.
Replies—Positive replies enhance engagement, boosting deliverability. A lack of replies over an extended period shows disengagement.
Mark as Important/Starred/Pinned—When recipients mark emails as necessary, they signal trust and relevance to ESP filters.
Categorize emails (Moving to a folder) – If recipients move emails into folders, ESPs recognize that the content is organized and valuable, reducing the likelihood of being marked as spam.
Reading, marking as unread, and Re-Reading—When recipients read an email and return to it later, it reinforces its relevance, improving the sender’s reputation.
Moved between tabs—If a recipient moves an email from “Promotions/Others/Offers” to “Primary/Focused/Priority ” (or similar), it signals interest and can enhance deliverability.
Forwards—When an email is forwarded, it indicates high relevance, positively impacting the sender’s reputation.
Engagement Over Time (List Energy)—Consistent engagement growth signals a healthy list. Declining engagement may require list cleaning, re-engagement campaigns, or adjusted sending frequency.
Read Rate—A high read rate shows that recipients find the content valuable and trust your emails.
Time Spent Reading the Email—Longer reading times indicate valuable content, which can improve inbox placement.
Add sender to contacts/favorites—If recipients add you to their contacts or favorites, ESPs recognize that your emails should not be sent to junk, strengthening deliverability.

Negative Engagement: Actions That Hurt Deliverability

Spam Complaint—When recipients mark your email as spam, ESPs view it as a significant red flag, which can lead to inbox filtering or outright blocking.
Unsubscribe—A high unsubscribe rate (initiated through ESPs infrastructure) indicates dissatisfaction with content, frequency, or targeting, negatively affecting reputation.
Ignoring Emails – If recipients consistently see your subject lines but do not open your emails, ESPs may lower your inbox placement.
Deleting without reading – Frequent deletions without engagement show irrelevance, which weakens the sender’s reputation.
Blocking the sender—Being blocked by recipients signals profound dissatisfaction and can cause ESPs to apply stricter filtering.
Having a high average open rate—to get an inbox delivery reputation, keep your average open rate between 20%-40% and above.

Other Factors That Impact Sender Reputation

Beyond recipient engagement, ESPs also evaluate:

• Email Design & Usability – A well-structured, mobile-friendly format encourages interaction.
• Sustainable List Growth – Growing your list gradually (without high spikes in sending) signals legitimacy to ESPs.
• Content Rendering – Ensuring emails display correctly across devices improves user experience.
• IP Reputation & Blocklists – A sender’s IP health directly affects deliverability.
• Authentication & Compliance – Proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication enhance trust and security.

Want to Improve Your Email Deliverability and Learn More?

Let’s connect if you want to enhance your sender reputation and optimize email performance. Book a call or explore one of our deliverability blueprints to unlock better inbox placement and engagement.