If you've ever taken a moment to look at your "complained subscriber" tab in your subscriber dropdown menu, you may have noticed there aren't any gmail.com users listed there. This is because Gmail does not function on a "normal" complaint feedback loop. Meaning, Gmail does not send user reported spam information to Email Service Providers. To put it simply, you do not have information about which Gmail users are marking your emails as spam. There is a tool however, that can help you see additional data from Gmail. It's called Google Postmaster Tools.
We highly recommend setting up Google Postmaster Tools to gain more insight into your user reported spam rate and domain reputation at Gmail.
Set up Google Postmaster Tools
Go to the Google Postmaster Tools website (postmaster.google.com)
Sign in with your Google accountAdd Your Domain:
Click on "Add a Domain" and enter your domain nameVerify domain ownership using one of the provided methods (DNS TXT record or HTML file upload)
Verify Domain Ownership:
Follow the instructions provided to complete the verification processOnce verified, you'll gain access to your domain's dashboard in Google Postmaster Tools
Insights
There are a couple dashboards that will be extremely helpful to monitor. The first will be user reported spam. The user reported spam tab will show day to day spam complaint rates. While there won't be specifics about who marked the email as spam it's important to keep this number below .1%. Anything above .3% can start to result in more spam filtering. You may need to dig into your ConvertKit account to identity any areas where users might be marking more of your emails as spam.
Domain reputation is one of the most heavily weighted aspect when it comes to inbox placement. If your domain reputation is anywhere between medium to low it's possible you'll see widespread spam filtering. Factors like subscriber engagement, spam complaints and email volume can all affect domain reputation.
You'll need to be sure you are sending at least 250 messages to gmail users to receive data each day
User Reported Spam Complaint Dashboard:
.1% user reported spam means 1 out 1000 subscribers marked your email as spam and gmail recommends trying to keep spam complaints below this number.
.3% user reported spam means 3 out of 1000 subscribers are marking your emails as spam. This may result in more of your emails being sent to the spam folder by Gmail
There are many reasons why senders see elevated complaint rates. Listbombing, recommendation tools and email volume are just a few of the reasons senders could see this issue.
Keep in mind the complaint rate is a % of the volume of mail sent to gmail users that day. So, if you are seeing an extremely high complaint rates double check your send volume from that day, it may be that there was a very small number of emails sent compared to complaints.
Domain reputation Monitoring
Track your domain reputation over time.
Identify trends and patterns that may impact your email deliverability.
Address any reputation issues promptly to maintain a positive sender reputation
We often see the domain reputation graph adjust quickly based on positive or negative signals that Gmail is seeing from your account.
These two dashboards are going to be the most helpful when dealing with potential deliverability issues. If you are seeing data that you are unsure how to address please reach out to our team and ask for the deliverability team!