How to troubleshoot email sending issues to Cox, Charter, and Optonline domains?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that charter.net is Spectrum Communications, which owns smaller cable services and RoadRunner domains, with a strong presence in NY state. Suggests deliverability issues at charter.net may indicate problems with these other related domains as well.
Email marketer from GlockApps Blog shares that monitoring your sender reputation is essential for identifying and addressing deliverability issues. Sender reputation is a measure of your trustworthiness as an email sender, and it is based on factors such as spam complaints, bounce rates, and engagement metrics. Use tools like GlockApps to monitor your sender reputation and take steps to improve it if necessary.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog shares that regularly cleaning your email list is crucial to remove inactive, disengaged, and invalid email addresses. This helps maintain a healthy list, improves engagement metrics, and boosts your sender reputation. Regularly use email verification tools and remove any contacts that haven't engaged in a while.
Email marketer from SendGrid Blog shares that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may throttle emails from senders who exceed certain sending volume thresholds or have poor sender reputation. To avoid throttling, gradually increase your sending volume, especially when warming up a new IP address. Monitor your bounce rates and engagement metrics to identify and address any potential issues.
Email marketer from Email on Acid Blog explains that list segmentation involves dividing your email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement level. Sending targeted emails to segmented lists can improve engagement rates and reduce the likelihood of subscribers marking your emails as spam.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that analyzing bounce codes is crucial for understanding why emails are not being delivered. Different bounce codes indicate different issues, such as invalid email addresses, full inboxes, or spam filtering. Use the bounce codes to identify and address the root cause of deliverability problems.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains they are experiencing deliverability issues with cox.net, charter.net, and optonline.net, especially during large sends. The issue appears as a 550 5.1.0 bounce, temporarily suspending the subscriber. They are currently batching sends to warm up these domains, throttling sends every 30-60 minutes, and asks how long to continue this, when to increase send volume, and when to stop throttling.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains they started warming up at the beginning of January and confirms emails go through with targeted sends. She is seeking guidance on whether to treat these domains with a specific warm-up plan (sending X emails per day and building from there) or to small batch based on a given list.
Email marketer from MailPoet Blog explains that improving email deliverability involves authenticating your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to prove your emails are legitimate and less likely to be marked as spam. Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses, and segment your audience to send targeted emails that are more likely to be engaged with.
Email marketer from Reddit r/emailmarketing shares that maintaining a good domain reputation is crucial for email deliverability. Factors that influence domain reputation include spam complaints, bounce rates, and engagement metrics. Regularly monitor your domain reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Sender Score, and take steps to address any issues.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains the benefits of A/B testing elements within emails to optimize performance with specific segments, including trialing different subject lines, content, or calls to action. Over time, insights from A/B testing enables increased engagement rates, conversions, and ROI from email campaigns.
Email marketer from Litmus Blog shares that proper email authentication, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, is essential for improving email deliverability. Authentication helps prove that your emails are legitimate and reduces the likelihood of being marked as spam. Use tools like Litmus to test your email authentication setup and identify any issues.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are crucial for proper sender authentication. These authentication methods help prove that your emails are legitimate and reduce the likelihood of being marked as spam by ISPs such as Cox, Charter, and Optonline.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that feedback loops (FBLs) are critical for identifying and addressing spam complaints. Participating in FBLs allows senders to receive notifications when subscribers mark their messages as spam, enabling them to remove those subscribers from their lists and prevent future deliverability issues. They are essential with ISPs like Cox, Charter, and Optonline.
Expert from Spam Resource emphasizes the importance of practicing good list hygiene and maintaining a clean sending reputation. Regular list cleaning, including removing bounced and unengaged addresses, helps improve deliverability and ensures messages reach engaged subscribers.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) is a protocol that allows email senders to specify how recipient mail servers should handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks. Setting up DMARC involves creating a DMARC record in your domain's DNS settings, specifying a policy for handling failed emails (e.g., quarantine or reject), and configuring reporting to monitor email authentication results.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that it's important to adhere to best practices around maintaining email security. These measures include keeping systems updated with security patches, employing strict user authentication methods (like MFA), and regular security audits to ensure compliance with industry standards and internal policies.
Documentation from Google Support explains that to ensure delivery to Gmail users, bulk senders must authenticate their emails using SPF and DKIM. Keep your spam rate below 0.1% and avoid sudden spikes in sending volume. Monitor your sender reputation through Google Postmaster Tools to identify and address any deliverability issues.
Documentation from RFC 4408 specifies that a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record lists the IP addresses and domains authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. Creating and maintaining an accurate SPF record helps prevent spammers from forging your email address and improves your email deliverability by verifying the legitimacy of your emails.
Documentation from DKIM.org explains that DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing recipient mail servers to verify that the email was sent from an authorized source and has not been tampered with. Implementing DKIM involves generating a public/private key pair, publishing the public key in your domain's DNS record, and configuring your email server to sign outgoing emails with the private key.