How do I get my emails out of spam for Hotmail and Outlook?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that the volume and reputation matter with Hotmail. Ensure you are slowly increasing volume to build up a good reputation with them as a sender. Make sure you follow authentication protocols SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Email marketer from Neil Patel highlights the significance of cleaning your email list regularly to remove inactive or invalid email addresses. He suggests using email verification tools and implementing a double opt-in process to ensure subscribers are genuinely interested in receiving your emails, improving your sender reputation.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester suggests segmenting your email list based on recipient engagement levels. Send targeted emails to active subscribers and re-engage inactive ones with special offers or surveys. This improves engagement rates and signals to ISPs that your emails are valuable.
Email marketer from Microsoft Support emphasizes the importance of using the Junk Email Reporting Program (JMRP) to identify and remove malicious or abusive email senders from your lists. This helps maintain a clean sending reputation. They also advise using Sender ID to authenticate your emails.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that to avoid spam filters, you should authenticate your emails and only send mail to people who want and expect it.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that feedback loops are crucial for identifying and removing recipients who mark your emails as spam. He recommends signing up for feedback loops with major ISPs like Outlook.com to receive notifications about spam complaints and promptly remove those recipients from your list.
Email marketer from GMass explains the importance of warming up new IP addresses gradually. Starting with a low sending volume and gradually increasing it over time helps establish a positive sending reputation with ISPs, preventing emails from being flagged as spam.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares their observation of increasing spam filtering for many clients since the beginning of April, even those with low complaint rates. They suggest reassessing engagement segmentation, volume, and frequency as Outlook may be adjusting its filtering algorithms.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares the advice to get as many Hotmail subscribers as possible to whitelist your From address to improve Hotmail deliverability.
Email marketer from Sendgrid shares advice specifically for outlook and hotmail including advice on not sending to inactive users and setting up a complaint feedback loop.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow mentions ensuring the 'From:' address matches the domain's SPF record is critical. He also notes that reverse DNS (PTR records) should be properly configured for your sending IP address to verify the domain's association with the IP, enhancing credibility.
Email marketer from Litmus recommends designing your emails with mobile devices in mind. Ensure your emails are responsive and display correctly on various screen sizes. Poor mobile experiences can lead to lower engagement rates and negative signals to ISPs.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares observations that common factors for clients experiencing spam filtering increases are high spam complaint rates, unsubscribe rates, and bounce rates.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that after cleaning up email sending practices, recovery from spam filters at Hotmail/Outlook takes longer than at Gmail.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that sender reputation is crucial for deliverability. Sending emails that recipients want and engage with builds a positive reputation, increasing the likelihood of inbox placement. She also suggests actively monitoring sender reputation metrics provided by ISPs.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that shared IP pools can be tricky, as the actions of other senders on the same IP can negatively impact deliverability, even if you are following best practices. IP reputation still matters at Outlook/Hotmail.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares the necessity for modern email delivery and authentication using SPF, DKIM and DMARC. This helps improve reputation and delivery rates.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that Hotmail's filtering is heavily influenced by its users. Getting users to add the sender to their address book or whitelist them significantly improves deliverability. He also notes that Hotmail's filters are very sensitive and can change frequently.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost explains the importance of monitoring your sending reputation and IP address for any blocklisting. They advise using tools like MXToolbox and Sender Score to check your reputation and taking immediate action to resolve any issues, such as contacting the blocklist provider.
Documentation from RFC describes DKIM, which allows an organization to take responsibility for a message by associating its domain name with it. Responsibility is asserted by affixing a digital signature to the message, which can be verified by mail systems.
Documentation from DMARC.org clarifies that DMARC builds upon SPF and DKIM to provide a policy framework for email authentication. It allows domain owners to specify how email receivers should handle messages that fail SPF and DKIM checks, preventing spoofing and phishing attacks.
Documentation from Return Path, now Validity, explains the impact of sender reputation on email deliverability. Sender reputation is based on factors like email volume, complaint rates, and engagement metrics. A high sender reputation increases the likelihood of emails reaching the inbox.
Documentation from Microsoft Docs outlines several best practices, including ensuring your sending IP address isn't on any blocklists, authenticating your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and providing an easy unsubscribe process. They also recommend monitoring your sender reputation using Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS).