How to resolve deliverability issues with .mil email addresses?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from SparkPost advises monitoring your sending reputation closely, as .mil domains are sensitive to IP reputation. Also, ensure your content doesn't trigger spam filters and that you are compliant with CAN-SPAM regulations.
Email marketer from StackExchange recommends performing a deliverability test using tools that simulate various email clients and spam filters to identify potential issues specific to .mil domains.
Email marketer from SendGrid advocates using reputation monitoring tools to track your sender score and identify any issues that may affect email deliverability to military domains. Immediate action on warnings can mitigate long term deliverability problems.
Email marketer from Reddit User u/EmailPro shares that .mil domains often have strict filters and suggest providing recipients with the option to use a non-.mil address for subscriptions.
Email marketer from Mailjet advises checking if your sending IP is blacklisted and ensuring proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are in place. Military domains often have stricter security policies.
Email marketer from Litmus recommends testing your email with various spam filters and email clients to identify and fix any issues that might be causing deliverability problems with .mil addresses.
Email marketer from EmailOnAcid advises ensuring your email includes a plain text version, as some older .mil systems might require it. Having both HTML and plain text versions improves deliverability across different email clients.
Email marketer from GlockApps suggests segmenting your list to isolate .mil addresses and sending a test email campaign. This helps identify specific deliverability issues related to those domains. Also important to ensure you aren't on any blocklists.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that .mil only accepted plain text, no HTML, the last time they dealt with them.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that .mil is a special case, and blocks are often unrelated to spam. Also, some .mil domains have been pulled from the public DNS and are only reachable from certain networks. Suggests asking recipients for a non-.mil address.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that a platform they worked at was asked to suppress all .mil emails at one point in the past.
Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes the importance of understanding that .mil domains are government controlled and have different rules than commercial ISPs. Addresses are often for official use only, which makes sending non-official content problematic. Permission is key and working to ensure the recipients actually want the mail and are expecting it is important. Also make sure to have feedback loops enabled.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that blocks are unrelated to spam because it’s DoD space, not commercial ISP space, and the rules are very different. You typically can’t appeal their decisions as they have no interest in facilitating the military using .mil addresses for non-military purposes.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from DKIM.org details the process of implementing DKIM signing. DKIM signing validates the authenticity of your emails, which is essential for getting past the security measures implemented by .mil email servers.
Documentation from DMARC.org emphasizes the importance of DMARC implementation for improving deliverability. Proper DMARC configuration helps prevent email spoofing and ensures that your emails are authenticated, which is crucial for delivery to stricter domains like .mil.
Documentation from Cisco explains that SenderBase reputation services are used by some .mil email servers to filter incoming mail. A poor SenderBase reputation score can lead to deliverability issues. Suggests monitoring SenderBase reputation and taking steps to improve it.
Documentation from RFC Editor (RFC 7208) describes the technical specifications for SPF records. Ensuring a correctly configured SPF record is critical for authenticating your emails and preventing them from being flagged as spam, which is essential for delivery to .mil addresses.
Documentation from Microsoft Docs explains that the SmartScreen Filter in Outlook can block emails to .mil addresses if the sender's IP address has a poor reputation or the email content triggers spam filters. Suggests monitoring sender reputation and ensuring email content is compliant with best practices.