What causes bounces from Barracuda-based domains and how to resolve them?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit says to check if your IP is blacklisted and to ensure your domain has proper SPF and DKIM records. Sometimes Barracuda blocks can be overly sensitive.
Email marketer from SendGrid suggests checking sender reputation using tools like Sender Score, ensuring proper email authentication, and monitoring bounce rates to identify and address deliverability issues that could cause Barracuda to block emails.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that Barracuda can block emails based on content. Try removing suspicious links or phrases that might be triggering the filter.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that maintaining a clean email list, segmenting audiences, warming up new IPs, and monitoring sender reputation are crucial for improving email deliverability and avoiding blocks from security systems like Barracuda.
Email marketer from Gmass shares that if sending via Gmail/Google Workspace, adhering to Google's sending limits and best practices is essential. Exceeding limits or triggering spam filters can lead to temporary or permanent blocks.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that crafting engaging and relevant content, optimizing email design for various devices, and A/B testing different elements can help improve engagement and avoid spam filters.
Email marketer from StackOverflow suggests that the issue might be related to the reverse DNS record of the sending server. Ensuring the reverse DNS matches the sending domain can help resolve the problem.
Email marketer from EmailOctopus explains that using a dedicated IP address, avoiding URL shorteners, and providing clear unsubscribe options can help avoid spam filters and improve email deliverability, reducing the likelihood of being blocked by Barracuda.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that if it's a user-implemented block (as the bounce message suggests), those addresses should be removed from the mailing list permanently.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that if all addresses at all Barracuda domains are bouncing, it's likely a Barracuda-implemented block. If some Barracuda domains or addresses are accepting mail, it's likely a user-implemented block, which may be related to content or a blocked From: domain/address.
Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) explains that Barracuda-hosted domains often rely on user-defined block lists, which may be overly sensitive. Addressing issues such as content and sender reputation can assist in improving deliverability.
Expert from Spam Resource (John Levine) explains that Barracuda spam filters are used by many companies and ISPs. They use a combination of techniques including blacklists, content filtering, and reputation analysis, so bounces may be due to various factors. To resolve bounces, it is important to check if your IP address or domain is blacklisted, ensure your email content is not spammy, and configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records properly.
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from Barracuda Networks recommends ensuring proper sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining a clean IP reputation, monitoring feedback loops, and avoiding spam trigger words in email content to improve deliverability and avoid being blocked by Barracuda systems.
Documentation from RFC explains that SPF records need to be correctly configured to authorize sending mail servers. Incorrect or missing SPF records can lead to email rejections.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that emails might be rejected due to sender reputation issues, IP address blacklisting, content filtering identifying spam-like characteristics, or issues with sender authentication. They recommend checking bounce-back messages for specific error codes.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that maintaining a good IP reputation is crucial for email deliverability. Blacklisted IPs are often blocked by systems like Barracuda. Checking and removing your IP from blacklists can help resolve blocking issues.
Documentation from DKIM explains that DKIM records need to be implemented to allow recieving mail servers to verify the integrity of mail and that the email was actually sent from the specified domain. Incorrect or missing DKIM records can lead to email rejections.
Documentation from Barracuda Networks explains that Barracuda email security solutions block senders based on reputation scoring, content filters, and sender authentication failures (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Senders can be blocked due to high spam scores, sending from blacklisted IPs, or failing authentication checks.