Operating Since 2015
Week of: _____________ · Reviewed by: _____________
Weekly monitoring is what catches reputation drift early enough to act on it. Daily monitoring catches incidents; weekly monitoring catches trends. The template below collects the metrics that matter from the three free provider tools plus your own delivery data, comparing this week against last week and against the 4-week average to surface direction rather than just absolute values.
Spend 15 minutes on this template each Monday morning. The discipline matters more than the depth: three consecutive weeks of declining metrics in any single section is the trigger for a full deliverability review, and missing the trend by skipping a week typically costs 2-4 weeks of recovery later.
Google Postmaster Tools
Postmaster Tools v2 launched September 2025 and retired the four-tier Domain Reputation gauge. Spam rate is now the primary signal: target sub-0.10%, treat 0.10-0.30% as warning, treat above 0.30% as urgent. Authentication pass rate should sit at 99%+ for a properly-configured domain; any dip below 95% indicates an alignment problem worth investigating before reputation accumulates damage.
| Metric | This Week | Last Week | Trend | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domain reputation | ↑ ↓ → | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW ☐ ACTION | ||
| Spam rate (avg) | ____% | ____% | ↑ ↓ → | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW ☐ ACTION |
| Spam rate (peak) | ____% | ____% | ↑ ↓ → | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW ☐ ACTION |
| Authentication pass rate | ____% | ____% | ↑ ↓ → | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW ☐ ACTION |
Microsoft SNDS
SNDS publishes IP-level reputation tier (Green / Yellow / Red) plus complaint rate via the JMRP feedback loop. Microsoft's filtering is stricter than Gmail's at the same complaint rate; treat Yellow status as a warning, Red as a stop-and-investigate signal. Trap hits accumulate slowly and recover slowly — even one or two per week sustained is a list-hygiene problem worth diagnosing.
| IP Address | Status | Complaint Rate | Trap Hits | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ___________________ | ☐ Green ☐ Yellow ☐ Red | ____% | ___ | |
| ___________________ | ☐ Green ☐ Yellow ☐ Red | ____% | ___ | |
| ___________________ | ☐ Green ☐ Yellow ☐ Red | ____% | ___ |
Delivery Performance
Deferral rate per ISP is the leading indicator of reputation problems. Healthy programmes sit at 5-10% deferral as steady state; sustained rates above 15% at any major ISP indicate either capacity tuning issues or reputation drift. Yahoo and Outlook tend to defer more aggressively than Gmail at the same reputation level, so cross-ISP comparison matters more than absolute thresholds.
| ISP | Deferral Rate | vs Last Week | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | ____% | +/- ____% | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW |
| Outlook | ____% | +/- ____% | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW |
| Yahoo | ____% | +/- ____% | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW |
| European ISPs | ____% | +/- ____% | ☐ OK ☐ REVIEW |
Blacklist Status
Spamhaus ZEN is the universally consulted list and the only listing that produces immediate placement collapse at major ISPs. Barracuda and SORBS have lower direct impact but are leading indicators — appearance on these often precedes Spamhaus listings by 24-72 hours. Free DNSBL lookup at Spamhaus.org and MXToolbox covers the major lists in one query.
| IP | Spamhaus ZEN | Barracuda | SORBS | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ___________________ | ☐ Clean ☐ Listed | ☐ Clean ☐ Listed | ☐ Clean ☐ Listed | |
| ___________________ | ☐ Clean ☐ Listed | ☐ Clean ☐ Listed | ☐ Clean ☐ Listed |
Campaign Performance Summary
Engagement metrics matter for reputation regardless of how good the infrastructure looks. The 4-week average column reveals drift that single-week comparisons miss. If open rate trends down 2-3 percentage points across the 4-week average, list health is declining even if no other metric flashes red.
| Metric | This Week | Last Week | 4-Week Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total sends | |||
| Hard bounce rate | ____% | ____% | ____% |
| Unsubscribe rate | ____% | ____% | ____% |
| FBL complaints | ___ | ___ | ___ |
| Open rate | ____% | ____% | ____% |
Action Items This Week
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