Client overview
The client is an established loyalty program provider. It serves hundreds of enterprise clients and sends reward and notification emails to millions of end users. Many are time-sensitive, like eGift delivery, account updates, reward reminders, and transactional notices, so inbox placement is critical.
The organization runs a large, proprietary email platform with:
- 100+ active sending domains
- Multiple dedicated IPs
- Hundreds of transactional and automated programs
- Long-standing enterprise partnerships across regulated industries
For this company, email is core infrastructure, not a marketing channel.
Why the emails were failing
The client came to us knowing it had serious spam and deliverability problems, but not why. It ran its own dedicated IPs and custom systems, yet it could barely see domain reputation, engagement signals, or mailbox provider feedback.
Some sending domains were severely degraded, effectively burned, but that wasn't visible without the right tools. The client's team knew emails were failing. They didn't know where, how badly, or what to change.
They needed someone to lead, a clear structure, and a plan.
Our role
We were brought in to take control. We assessed the full environment, organized the work, and led the fix across infrastructure, data, and process. A single fix wouldn't solve this, so we set up ongoing governance.
How we restored domain reputation
1. Environment audit and visibility
We started with a full audit across all infrastructure.
- Mapped every sending domain, IP assignment, volume tier, and use case
- Assessed authentication, engagement signals, and reputation across mailbox providers
- Set up Google Postmaster Tools at scale, including feedback loops and spam-rate tracking
- Built central tracking sheets and dashboards to monitor progress, risk, and recovery targets
For the first time, the client could see the problem clearly.
2. Organization, governance, and execution
We put structure in place where there was none.
- Set remediation priorities by reputation severity and business impact
- Ran regular working sessions and technical check-ins with internal teams
- Introduced task ownership, sequencing, and recovery milestones
- Directed changes across domains, IP usage, sending behavior, and engagement logic
We led the recovery end to end, including sequencing, communication, and the technical work. The client's team stayed in charge of the parts they would carry forward.
3. Reputation recovery and IP strategy
With visibility and governance in place, we carried out the recovery.
- Recovery plans for severely degraded domains
- Engagement-based sending to rebuild trust with mailbox providers
- Smarter split of traffic across shared and dedicated IP pools, so one bad stream couldn't hurt the rest
- Custom automation and logic to define real engagement instead of vanity metrics
The recovery was controlled and driven by data.
Results
- Within ~30 days, multiple domains began showing clear signs of recovery in Google Postmaster Tools
- Within ~60 days, ~30 domains moved from Bad to High reputation
- By 3–4 months, ~95% of domains were fully restored and delivering reliably
- Spam complaints and bounce volatility dropped sharply
- IP reputation stabilized across all pools
- The client gained a repeatable system for monitoring, scaling, and governing new programs
The impact
What began as a vague "deliverability problem" became a governed, transparent email program. The client now sees domain and IP health clearly, has defined engagement standards, and has a set process for launching new loyalty programs. It can rely on its core delivery channel at very high volume.