# Complaint

*Reputation*. A record of an email recipient reporting an email message as [spam][].

When a recipient makes a [spam report][], this counts as a complaint.

To calculate your complaint rate, divide the number of complaints that recipients reported by the total number of email messages the received.

As the number of complaints increase, your [reputation][ers] drops, then your [email deliverability][] drops.

[email deliverability]: /docs/glossary/deliverability

[spam]: /docs/glossary/spam

[spam report]: /docs/glossary/spam-reports

[ers]: /docs/glossary/email-reputation-score