How does domain blocking in some countries affect email deliverability and image rendering?

Email marketer from StackExchange shares that domain blocking can sometimes be due to legal or policy reasons in certain countries. While it might not directly affect deliverability elsewhere, it's crucial to respect these regional restrictions and potentially segment your audience to avoid sending emails where they're not allowed, which can help maintain a positive sender reputation.

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that website blocking at a country level is country-specific and should not impact deliverability elsewhere if the sending reputation is good.

Email marketer from Reddit shares that if email images are hosted on a subdomain of the blocked domain, users in those countries may not be able to view the images, even if the email itself is delivered. This can significantly reduce engagement and the effectiveness of the email.

Email marketer from EmailAnalyticsBlog.com suggests using monitoring tools to look at open rates in various countries and segments. A sudden drop from one country where your domain has been blocked would be a red flag.

Email marketer from Quora suggests that if domain blocking is a recurring issue in some countries, consider using a separate sending domain specifically for those regions (if legally permissible). This can isolate the impact of the block and protect your primary domain's reputation.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum mentions that a DNS block in a country can prevent authentication, but also impact click tracking. If the tracking links rely on the blocked domain, clicks from that region won't be recorded, skewing engagement metrics. They suggest using a separate tracking domain.

Email marketer from SendGrid explains that if a domain is blocked and thus emails aren't delivered to a region, there can be an impact on sender reputation. Email Service Providers (ESPs) monitor deliverability rates and engagement metrics, and a significant drop in one region can lead to concerns about the sender's overall quality and legitimacy.

Email marketer from Reddit suggests using deliverability testing tools to monitor inbox placement in different regions. This can help detect if domain blocking is causing issues in specific countries and provide insights into potential solutions.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that a domain being blocked in specific countries shouldn't directly impact deliverability in other regions, assuming your sending infrastructure and authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are properly configured. However, they caution that if a substantial number of recipients are affected, it could skew engagement metrics.

Email marketer from SparkPost mentions that if images are served from a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that uses a subdomain of the blocked domain, users in those countries will experience broken images. They recommend using a CDN with global reach and resilience to regional blocks.

Expert from Word to the Wise shares that if you use a content delivery network (CDN) to host images or other content in your email and the CDN's domain is blocked in certain countries, those images may not display properly for recipients in those locations. They advise using a CDN with a broad global presence and ensuring redundancy in your content hosting strategy.

Expert from Email Geeks confirms it depends on how the blocking is handled, but it’s a distinct possibility that the images won't render.

Expert from Email Geeks shares some ways domains can be blocked that can affect deliverability to those countries. For instance, if there’s a block at the DNS level and lookups can’t be done, then all of the authentication for the mail doesn’t work.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that if a domain is blocked at the DNS level in certain countries, it will create significant problems with email delivery to those regions. It disrupts the ability of mail servers to properly look up the sending domain's records, such as SPF and DKIM, causing authentication to fail and emails to be blocked or sent to spam.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests if your email's images are served from a subdomain of the blocked domain, your email might not render.

Expert from Email Geeks shares she wouldn’t expect it to affect deliverability to anywhere outside those countries - assuming that there are no major commercial services with systems inside said country and bound to obey the country restrictions.

Documentation from DKIM.org clarifies that if a domain is DNS blocked, the receiving server will not be able to retrieve the DKIM record to authenticate the email. This will probably cause issues with deliverability.

Documentation from DMARC.org shares that DMARC relies on DNS to validate both SPF and DKIM. If a blocking is impacting DNS in any way, DMARC fails, which leads to email being rejected or quarantined.

Documentation from ietf.org details that if a domain is blocked at the DNS level within a country, it can prevent mail servers in that country from resolving DNS records required for email authentication (SPF, DKIM). This can lead to delivery failures or messages being marked as spam within that country.

Documentation from Google explains that domain reputation is crucial for deliverability. Blocking a domain in some countries can indirectly affect overall reputation if a significant portion of your audience is located there, leading to lower engagement rates and potential spam classification.

Documentation from Microsoft explains that while a domain being blocked in a specific country shouldn't globally affect deliverability, Microsoft's SmartScreen filter considers user feedback and engagement metrics from different regions. A high volume of complaints or low engagement from a blocked region could negatively influence your overall sender reputation.