How should I group Microsoft email provider data for deliverability reporting?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit explains that they recommend differentiating between Outlook.com/Hotmail and Office 365 due to differing spam filter behaviors and feedback loop mechanisms. Treating them as distinct segments improves deliverability troubleshooting.
Email marketer from Sender states to segment email lists based on different domains such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft. By focusing on the deliverability metrics such as open rates, click through rates and complaint rates, deliverability issues from your campaign can be highlighted so you can take appropriate action.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that using domain-based segmentation to track email performance provides valuable insights into deliverability issues specific to certain providers (e.g., Microsoft). This allows you to identify and address deliverability problems more effectively.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests keeping Outlook (free offerings like outlook.com, Hotmail) and M365 (commercial hosted domains) data separate due to significant variations in filters and remediation paths.
Email marketer from Talking Shrimp recommends segmenting email lists based on email providers (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook) to address any deliverability issues specific to each provider and optimize content accordingly.
Email marketer from EmailOversight Blog states to segment your email list by domain in order to identify and resolve deliverability issues that may be specific to certain providers. This is crucial for reputation management and preventing deliverability issues.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that domain segmentation allows you to monitor how your emails perform with different email providers. This helps identify deliverability issues specific to certain domains (like Microsoft) and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that they suggest grouping email provider data for deliverability reporting by separating major domains such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft (including Outlook, Hotmail, and Office 365). This segmentation helps track performance and address issues specific to each domain.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum recommends separating email lists based on recipient domains (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) to identify and address any deliverability issues specific to each provider.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks agrees with rolling up data by MX domain but recommends segmenting it into Microsoft OLC (Outlook Consumer) with MX's of *.olc.protection.outlook.com versus O365 (Microsoft B2B mail hosting) with MX's of *.mail.protection.outlook.com. They also mention mail.messaging.microsoft.com (Exchange Online?) and *.mx.microsoft (O365 w/Dane?).
Expert from Spamresource explains that not grouping and monitoring your email provider data can lead to missed opportunities for improving deliverability with various domains such as Microsoft's. Without this you may not be aware of how Microsoft are treating your emails.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that in a detailed post it is beneficial to group email provider data, as it provides a way to monitor your sending reputation with those email clients and also diagnose problems that are specific to those providers. These problems could include unique filtering algorithms.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests grouping the data by MXes that have similar behavior, which aligns with Ken's suggestion.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft explains that they recommend monitoring your sender reputation within their services, and segmenting data by different parts of their infrastructure might be needed for comprehensive understanding. Different MX records correlate to different departments/services which could impact delivery.
Documentation from Google explains that you should monitor your sending reputation with Google Postmaster Tools. While not directly Microsoft-related, Google's documentation stresses monitoring deliverability by domain, implying similar importance for Microsoft domains.
Documentation from AWS explains that you should track your sending authorization, this is so you can make sure that only expected email is sent and identify any abuse to your email systems which can negatively impact deliverability. AWS uses a similar structure of services for email which means that they would suggest breaking down provider metrics for deliverability monitoring.
Documentation from RFC states that it is useful to separate different classes of email (bulk vs. transactional) on separate IP addresses and/or domains as it makes it much easier to diagnose and deal with reputation issues on one stream without affecting other streams. This segregation would also apply to specific providers if necessary.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that segmenting email traffic based on recipient domain helps in pinpointing deliverability issues specific to providers like Microsoft (Outlook, Hotmail, Office 365). This allows for more targeted troubleshooting and reputation management.