The calculation of your sender reputation is based on a number of criteria and subject to a number of conditions. First, every sender reputation has to be be up-to-date. This is why we calculate an ongoing average over the past 90 days, approximately 3 months. Furthermore, the calculation needs some substance to it ( we cannot create a calculation based on 3 test e-mails). This is why a reputation score is only calculated when you have sent more than 100 messages in the past 90 days. Please note: this can also mean 100 recipients in just 1 campaign.
Secondly, the final sender reputation is based on 4 factors, namely:
A click (for example to download an attachment)
An open (to read the email)
A fail (when your message can't be delivered at all)
An opt-out (your message was delivered and opened, but the recipient actively chose to unsubscribe from your news).
These 4 factors are a reflection of the recipient behavior when he or she recieves a press release from you.
Thirdly, we start with calculating these factors separately. For each factor, we have determined the individual thresholds for what is seen as an excellent, good, reasonable and substandard (Excellent, Good, Fair & Poor) score. These thresholds are based on standard values in e-mail traffic, and on our own experience (i.e. the computed and averaged click rates and reputations of all Smart.pr users). Depending on where a value lies within these different threshold values, a score between 0.0 and 1.0 is assigned to each factor (click, open, fail, opt-out). After this step there are 4 individual scores, one for each factor separately.
Finally, these scores are brought together for each individual factor in the general sender reputation score on a scale of 0% to 100%. This is a weighted average of the individual scores. The generic explanation for the weights given to the 4 factors is as follows:
Clicks form a conscious action from the recipient and are therefore a good indicator that a journalist is interested in your news. Therefore, these clicks have a strong positive weight.
Due to Inbox settings at the receivers end (for example, automatically opening a message), opens are a less reliable indicator. That is why this action has a lower positive weight.
Fails are a strong indicator of a wrong or dated e-mail address, and are therefore weighted negatively.
Finally, opt-outs, represent a conscious negative action of the receiver and are therefore a strong indicator of unwanted reporting or spam. By definition, we consider spam to be undesirable. Spam is very harmful to the relationship between PR and journalism and therefore recieves the heaviest negative weight.
Together, these factors form the general sender reputation score, easily readable on a scale of 0% to 100%. In the app you can always see your Sender Reputation in the upper right corner. This is the average reputation of all email senders in your account.