What Microsoft domains should I exclude from my email segmentation?
Summary
What email marketers say15Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares how to use Mailchimp segmentation to exclude domains like `hotmail.com` by creating a segment with conditions 'Email Address Does Not Contain hotmail.com'.
Email marketer from Gmass shares how to use Gmass segmentation to exclude domains like `hotmail.com` by creating a segment with 'does not contain hotmail.com' in the email address.
Email marketer from Reddit advises that it's crucial to also consider subdomains and regional variations of Microsoft domains (e.g., hotmail.co.uk, outlook.fr) when excluding them for more accurate segmentation.
Email marketer from Litmus shares excluding certain domains can help improve overall deliverability scores by targeting only the most engaged users on preferred platforms, although they don't specifically mention Microsoft domains.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that you should consider excluding older domains like hotmail.com and msn.com if your target audience is primarily younger or more tech-savvy.
Email marketer from Sender shares that excluding Microsoft-owned domains can improve segmentation accuracy for campaigns focused on specific demographics outside of typical freemail users.
Email marketer from StackExchange details that excluding Microsoft personal domains (like `hotmail.com`) from Office 365 domains requires careful configuration, as many organizations use O365 with their own custom domains. You need to identify and exclude only the freemail domains, not the entire Microsoft infrastructure.
Email marketer from Email Geeks identifies that `*.olc.protection.outlook.com` is the right MS freemail MX.
Email marketer from Medium explains that you may exclude free email domains from your list (hotmail.com, outlook.com etc). They suggest this may be relevant if targeting professional or business emails for a specific campaign.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that there might be some MS domains or TLDs that Dusty isn't excluding in their segmentation.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that dbmail.com, dartybox.com, and netcabo.pt now use hotmail's MXs.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that 0.3% of traffic to `*.olc.protection.outlook.com` is being delivered to `windowslive.com`.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares a list of domains replying with `prod.protection.outlook.com`, including hotmail, live, outlook, msn, dbmail, dartybox, windowslive and others.
Email marketer from Neil Patel Blog shares to exclude domains like hotmail.com, live.com, msn.com, and outlook.com to prevent deliverability issues if you're targeting specific demographics.
Email marketer from Quora explains that excluding Microsoft domains may be necessary if you're running a campaign specifically targeted at business emails or a professional demographic. Freemail addresses might dilute your results.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that when filtering freemail domains, be comprehensive, including variations and country-specific domains (e.g., hotmail.co.uk). Also, look at the originating IP addresses associated with `protection.outlook.com` to identify freemail users behind those IPs.
Expert from Email Geeks shares notes on Microsoft domains including old hotmail servers, new MS freemail servers (`*.olc.protection.outlook.com`), old Office 365 servers (`*pamx1.hotmail.com`), and new Office 365 servers (`*.mail.protection.outlook.com`).
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that list hygiene is critical and segmenting users based on engagement and domain can greatly improve deliverability. Excluding Microsoft freemail domains could be a strategic move to focus efforts on more engaged users or business-oriented contacts.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft explains that to accurately segment and exclude Microsoft domains, one must consider the official Microsoft-owned domains: outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, and msn.com. In addition, consider regional variations, such as those used in specific countries.
Documentation from Microsoft details that `protection.outlook.com` is used for mail routing and filtering. If you are seeing traffic from this domain, but wish to exclude freemail users, you need to filter by the end recipient domain (e.g., hotmail.com) not the sending infrastructure domain.
Documentation from Microsoft outlines steps to set up mail flow rules to exclude specific domains. You can create rules within the Exchange admin center to bypass certain domains, such as `hotmail.com`, `live.com`, and `msn.com`, based on recipient address.
Documentation from SparkPost explains how to use suppression lists to exclude domains such as hotmail, outlook and msn. This prevents sending to these domains. It also prevents deliverability problems.
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