What are signs your cold domain reputation is damaged?

Reputation damage often shows in multiple signals before becoming critical.

Deliverability indicators:

Declining delivery rates across campaigns

Increasing bounce rates for valid addresses

Messages landing in spam for seed tests

Rate limiting or deferral errors appearing

Tool and platform signals:

Gmail Postmaster Tools: Reputation showing low or bad

Microsoft SNDS: Trap hits or complaint spikes

Blocklist monitoring: New listings appearing

Campaign metrics: Open and reply rates declining

Recipient behavior signals:

Increased unsubscribe requests

More negative or hostile replies

Spam complaint feedback (if FBL enrolled)

Recipients mentioning they found you in spam

Technical signals:

SMTP error codes changing (more 4xx and 5xx)

Specific rejection messages mentioning reputation

Sending velocity restrictions imposed

Action required:

Investigate immediately when signals appear

Don't increase volume hoping to push through

Reduce sending until cause identified

Address root cause before resuming