Google launches its "Postmaster" page: Complaint rates, reputation scores, FBL, ...

They did it! In an article posted on the Gmail blogGoogle has announced the opening of its " Postmasters tools" . For those who are used to monitoring their deliverability, we can compare the tool to the SNDS (Smart Network Data Service) interface from Microsoft. For the others, we could compare the "Postmasters tools" to the "Webmasters tools" but in email version.

For a long time, despite having one of the most advanced interface and anti-spam technology on the market, Google refused to share data with email senders. Since a year, there was an opening with a FBL program, but it was still far from the richness of information delivered by Microsoft for example.

Statistics based on the domain

Not a big surprise, the statistics will be displayed mainly by shipping domain and not by IP as is the case with Microsoft's SNDS.

When using the Postmasters tools from Gmail for the first time, you need to add a domain name or sub-domain. Validation of this (to check that you have the right to access the data) is carried out by adding a record to your DNS (TXT or CNAME). This validation method is likely to raise questions, as it is much more cumbersome than what is done elsewhere. We'd have liked to see a simpler method of validation, such as sending a confirmation link to abuse@domain.com or postmaster@domain.com. Validation will be a real headache for ESPs wishing to gain access to customer data.

Last detail about domains, it is possible to add both a main domain and a sub-domain. In the case of the main domain, it will aggregate the data of all the sub-domains. At the same time, it will be possible to follow the statistics specific to a sub-domain.

What data is available?

Before talking about the different data present in the dashboard of the "Postmasters tools" of Gmail, it is important to note that only valid emails at the level of SPF and DKIM authentication will be used in the statistics.

• Spam complaint rate This is the most important data about your deliverability, and you will finally have the opportunity to receive accurate information about it. What is the spam complaint rate generated by your recipients compared to your total volume of emails sent.
• Domain and IP reputation Classified in 4 categories (Bad, Low, Medium, High), you have with the postmasters tools of Gmail, the possibility of following the evolution of the reputation of your domains and your IPs.
• Feedback Loop This dashboard is only available to senders who are part of the Gmail FBL program. It provides access to complaint rate and volume statistics by FBL ID.
• Authentication Here you will be able to check the percentage of emails that have validated SPF, DKIM and DMARC compared to your entire tafic.
• Encryption These statistics show the percentage of connections via TLS, in or out of Gmail.
• Delivery errors Here we have an extremely important piece of information for understanding and solving deliverability incidents where the email traffic does not even reach the spam box. This table shows the reason for email rejections at SMTP level: rate limit, low reputation, domain or IP in a blacklist, ...

As we can see, the data shared is extremely rich. However, there are still some unknowns:

• Will access to this data be limited to certain categories of email senders?
• Will it be possible to automate the export of data from the postmaster interface for use in other dashboards?
• Will routers be able to easily access their customers' data?
• …

We will be happy to answer these questions when we have the answers!

To register and test the service, click here: postmaster.google.com