Why did my open rate change after switching to SleepPRO™?

Noticed your open rate change after moving to SleepPRO™? This is common. Here is why.

Your sending footprint

Every email you send leaves a footprint with email providers: your domain, sender address, links, the IP addresses used and more. Over time this becomes your sender profile, with a reputation which decides where your emails land: the main inbox, Promotions or spam.

Sender reputation

Your reputation reflects the quality of your sending habits. A good reputation helps your emails reach the main inbox instead of Promotions or spam. Delivery means the email reached the receiving server. Deliverability means it reached the main inbox.

Delivery rate and placement

The delivery rate is emails received divided by emails sent. Deliverability is the share landing in the inbox. Once an email is delivered, the provider (Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo) decides which folder it goes to, based on its own rules and the reader's habits.

What affects your reputation

• IP address and domain. With SleepPRO™, the reputation of the sending IP addresses is managed for you.
• Links. They need to match your content and come from trusted domains. Suspicious links harm your reputation.
• Content. How similar your email is to others the reader received.
• Changing email tools. Moving changes the technical setup, including IP addresses and email headers. This creates a new sender profile and resets your reputation, even with the same domain and content. Rebuilding it takes time.

What this means for your open rate

During the move, your emails may land in Promotions or spam for a while, and your open rate can go up or down until your new profile settles.

Tips to build your reputation

• Email your most engaged parents first. Their opens and clicks send a good signal.
• Keep your list clean. Do not import unsubscribed or inactive contacts.
• Keep your domain and address if they have a good reputation. If you must change, warm the new one up and build up gradually.
• Grow your volume slowly. Gmail considers more than 5,000 emails a day as bulk sending.
• Do not test several email tools at once. It creates competing sender profiles and confuses your results.
• Invite parents to open, click and mark your emails as not spam if they land in their junk folder.