What are the limitations of Amazon SES regarding Microsoft SNDS access and is there a workaround?
Summary
What email marketers say7Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Gmass shares that to overcome the SNDS access limitation, consider using third-party services that provide detailed deliverability reports by setting up feedback loops. These services can help monitor your sender reputation and pinpoint delivery issues.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow user suggests monitoring bounce and complaint rates within SES and using feedback loops as an alternative to directly accessing SNDS. They emphasize that analyzing these metrics can provide similar insights into deliverability issues.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum answers that Amazon SES offers reputation metrics in its dashboard, which can be monitored to gain insights into deliverability performance. These metrics include bounce rates and complaint rates.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains about setting up feedback loops (FBLs) with major ISPs, including Microsoft. This allows you to receive reports on spam complaints, helping you identify and remove problematic recipients from your mailing lists, which helps maintain a good sender reputation.
Email marketer from Mailhardener explains ensuring correct setup of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for your sending domain to improve email deliverability and reduce the likelihood of being flagged as spam when sending via Amazon SES. Correct setup increases trust with receiving mail servers
Email marketer from Reddit user recommends closely monitoring the SES console's reputation metrics, setting up SNS notifications for bounces and complaints, and using a third-party deliverability tool for more comprehensive monitoring.
Email marketer from Email Provider Review Site suggests using third-party email deliverability monitoring tools that integrate with Amazon SES. These tools often provide insights similar to SNDS, such as spam trap hits and feedback loop data.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains it's Amazon's policy not to give direct SNDS access to their customers but they do provide access to the data for your use without leaking it to unauthorized parties.
Expert from Wrd to the Wise explains that improving reputation is key, particularly in SNDS. Proactive monitoring, prompt response to feedback, and best sending practices are crucial for maintaining a positive reputation and successfully reaching inboxes.
Expert from Email Geeks says that he would find it irksome too, and he does not see any way to force them to change their policy.
Expert from Spam Resource highlights that while direct SNDS access isn't available with Amazon SES, focusing on maintaining a clean sending reputation and proactively monitoring bounce/complaint rates can mitigate deliverability issues. This expert also recommends leveraging feedback loops and engaging in sender authentication practices to enhance email deliverability to Microsoft domains.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft states that SNDS provides data about your IP address's reputation, complaint volume, and spam trap hits. This data can help you identify and address deliverability issues when sending to Outlook.com and Hotmail.
Documentation from Amazon Web Services details using CloudWatch to monitor SES sending activity, including bounce rates, complaint rates, and delivery rates. This provides a way to track deliverability without direct SNDS access.
Documentation from Amazon Web Services explains that Amazon SES provides SNDS data in CloudWatch metrics. These metrics offer insights into sending behavior, including complaint rates, spam trap hits, and more, without direct SNDS access.