What is the impact of being on the UCEPROTECTL3 blacklist and how to deal with it?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests contacting your ISP to investigate and resolve the spam issues within the subnet. They also recommend implementing stricter email authentication measures like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to improve sender reputation.
Email marketer from Quora emphasizes that prolonged blacklisting can significantly damage an organization's email reputation. They suggest actively monitoring blacklist status and taking proactive steps to prevent recurrence.
Email marketer from Reddit mentions that UCEPROTECT Level 3 can cause significant deliverability issues, especially when sending to recipients who use providers that rely heavily on UCEPROTECT. They advise monitoring bounce rates and contacting the ISP to resolve the underlying spam issues.
Email marketer from Digital Marketing Blog highlights the importance of regularly auditing email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses. They also recommend implementing a feedback loop mechanism to promptly address any spam complaints received.
Email marketer from StackExchange advises implementing stricter outbound filtering rules to prevent spam from leaving the network. They suggest monitoring network traffic for suspicious activity and blocking open relays to minimize the risk of blacklisting.
Email marketer from Email Geeks clarifies that it's pay for early de-listing, their listings expire if the trap hits stop. If the trap hits continue, the listings will just recur.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that UCEProtect made it easy to find their spam traps by the bounce code, if you searched for the word "definitively" in your bounces, and they usually used mailinator.com disposable addresses.
Email marketer from Email Consultancy details list hygiene being essential for deliverability. List hygiene is the process of making sure the contacts in your email list are valid, up-to-date, and engaged.
Email marketer from Email Geeks states that any blocklist that offers a pay-to-delist seems counter to the spirit of a blocklist.
Email marketer from SendGrid Support Forum notes that being on UCEPROTECT Level 3 can negatively affect email deliverability rates, particularly for recipients using email services that utilize UCEPROTECT's blacklist. They recommend monitoring delivery metrics and addressing any underlying sending issues.
Email marketer from EmailGeeks Forum states to start by figuring out what the root cause is as to why you are on the blacklist, if it's spam traps then solve that problem, and then request removal.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that UCE Level 3 means the provider's network is sending a lot of mail hitting spam traps hosted by UCEPROTECT. Listings escalate as problems escalate. It likely won't have a huge impact on blocking/bounces but could be part of a scoring system. There's also a lot of collateral damage from an L3 block.
Expert from Email Geeks shares updated information on a post about dealing with blocklists and offers a whitepaper on "What Blocklists Matter" for internal discussions about ignoring certain lists.
Expert from Email Geeks mentions that UCEPROTECT listings will eventually time out if enough of the level 1 issues are addressed.
Expert from Email Geeks responds that UCEPROTECT is not widely used due to being overly broad at the L2 and L3 levels.
Expert from Spamresource explains that when dealing with blocklists it is essential to gather as much information as you can, find out exactly what is listed, find out why and then address that.
Expert from Wordtothewise explains that reputation isn't everything, but impact on individual senders is dependant on which blocklist you are on. Some are very influential but some are not used at all. It also depends on your customer base and which lists they use.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests reviewing rDNS as Talos thinks it's not properly set up and looks like dynamic residential IPs.
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from Cisco Talos details the importance of maintaining a good IP reputation and addresses factors that contribute to blacklisting. While it doesn't specifically mention UCEPROTECT, it underscores that consistent spam complaints and poor sending practices can lead to inclusion on various blacklists, including those at the subnet level.
Documentation from RFC on SMTP details that administrators are responsible for ensuring relaying policies are followed by implementing authentication and authorization. They should ensure that all messages from a client are valid and meet domain policies.
Documentation from MXToolbox details that a UCEPROTECT Level 3 listing indicates that the entire netrange / subnet from which the listed IP originates is listed because too many IPs within this netrange / subnet are listed in UCEPROTECT-Level1 or UCEPROTECT-Level2 within a short time.
Documentation from Validity (formerly Return Path) details the components of sender reputation and the importance of factors such as sending volume, complaint rates, and spam trap hits. While it does not directly address UCEPROTECT, it provides context on the broader ecosystem of email deliverability.
Documentation from UCEPROTECT Website explains that a Level 3 listing means an entire ISP subnet is listed due to excessive spam or malicious activity originating from that subnet. They state that the impact can vary, but generally, it leads to email delivery issues for senders within that subnet.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that while they operate independently, listings on UCEPROTECT can sometimes correlate with broader spam issues that might eventually lead to listings on Spamhaus. However, they emphasize that UCEPROTECT's criteria are different and often more aggressive.