Email marketing is the primary source of communication used by almost all businesses. It is preferred because it offers the opportunity to establish a long term relationship. Frequent contact means the people will be more loyal to your brand.
What if the emails are not delivered?
There are many reasons for a failed delivery. Among them, the domain blacklisting is the most harmful one. It damages your business reputation severely.
We will discuss what domain blacklist is? How does a domain gets into a blacklist? How to check if your domain is blacklisted? And how to avoid getting into domain blacklist?
What is a domain blacklist?
A domain or email blacklist shows the domains or the IP addresses that have a history of delivering spam. This blacklist used by internet service providers, mailbox providers, and antispam vendors. They use the list to keep their systems safe and clean. A domain can get into multiple blacklists depending upon the amount and quality of the emails it has delivered.
How does your domain gets blacklisted?
When you send an email, the ISP decides whether your email is legitimate or not. If the ISP has a blacklist, it checks the IP address associated with the email. Then the message passes through the spam filters. Furthermore, if the email passes all the tests, it’s sent to the receiver’s inbox.
If your email fails any of the tests, it is marked as spam. Your email won’t be delivered in this case. If you continue to send the spam, your domain and IP will be included in the list.
Once your domain gets into a blacklist, your followers won’t receive your messages anymore. If the spam rate of your domain is severe, the web browsers may warn or even block the access to your website.
Who manages the domain blacklists?
There are many companies which specialize in maintaining the blacklists. Following are some of them:
Spamhaus: Spamhaus manages various lists which are used by the companies worldwide. These lists include SBL (Spamhaus Block List), DBL (Domain Block List), XBL (Exploits Block List), and PBL (Policy Block List). Most people useSBL while doing regular marketing. It includes the addressees and IPs of the known spammers.
Spamcop: The Spamcomp list is created by using the spam trap and spam report addresses. A point system also checks the address for spam complaints before adding it to the list.
Barracuda: The list from the Barracuda is made up of the data, software, and email security system sold by the Barracuda itself. This list mostly contains the email addresses that spam the Barracuda’ systems.
Invalument: It uses a combination of 3 blacklists, i.e. ivmSIP/24, ivmSIP, and vmURI. Each list has different criteria for tracking, but the requirement of domain and IP is the same throughout the Invalument’s lists.
How to check for your domain on the blacklist?
You won’t find that whether your domain is on the blacklist or not without checking it directly. That’s why it’s essential to keep an eye on your email marketing performance. You also need to make sure that you are doing everything is set up correctly. You can use the tools like email checker to make it sure that none of your emails is included in the blacklist.
Things to do if your domain is in the blacklist
If you find your domain in any of the blacklists, you can take the following steps:
- Don’t panic. Multiple blacklists mean there is a possibility of finding your domain in a blacklist. If you are in a single blacklist, you can still send the emails. Bigger ISPs rarely use small blacklists, so there are high chances your domain will be in the whitelist of the ISPs.
- Every company that maintains the blacklists offers detailed guides on how to get your domain out of the blacklist. If you find your domain in a bigger blacklist, you can read the manual and contact the company accordingly.
- If you are using an email service provider for mailing, they will let you know the steps required to get your domain removed. Mostly, the email service providers contact the companies directly for whitelisting the domains.
How to avoid getting into domain blacklists?
For effective email marketing, It’s always best to avoid getting into a blacklist. To avoid getting into a blacklist, you can take the following steps:
Improve your email content
Be sure to send your audience what they are expecting to receive from you. In email marketing, personalized content is crucial. It not only helps in better communication but also increases the chances of one becoming your potential customer. If you send blank or low-quality content to everyone, there are high chances that you will find your domain in a blacklist soon.
Keep an eye on campaign stats
Every marketer cares about the open and clicks rate. Often, the domain opens are ignored. If you observe a drop off in a domain open rate, you need to check your blacklist status.
Use good lists
One of the basic principles of email marketing is never to buy an email list. Most of these lists contain the email addresses which have already been blacklisted because several marketers have already used them. You can create and maintain a good list by using email list verify option on MailTester. It will not only verify the emails for quality but will also clean the list by using several parameters.
Break your lists into segments
You need to make sure every subscriber is getting what he/she needs from you. You might have a bigger list. If you continue to send the same message to everyone, it will be considered as spam. You can divide your list by using the parameters like the location of the customer, type of product, or the interest of the subscriber. When you break your list into segments, it will make it easier to send the right message to the right subscriber.
Did you know that email verifier from Mailtester can help you select and download the segmented results?