What steps should I take to troubleshoot a sudden drop in email delivery rates?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that Gradually increasing sending volume helps establish a good reputation with ISPs. If you've recently started using a new IP address, follow a proper IP warming schedule. Sending too many emails too quickly from a new IP can trigger spam filters.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that maintaining a clean email list is essential. Remove inactive subscribers, bounce addresses, and spam traps regularly. Use double opt-in to ensure subscribers are genuinely interested in receiving your emails. Poor list hygiene can significantly impact deliverability.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that Spam filters analyze email content for suspicious patterns. Review your email content for excessive use of spam trigger words, broken links, or poor HTML coding. Use a tool like Litmus to preview your email and identify potential content-related issues.
Email marketer from SendGrid explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for deliverability. A sudden change or misconfiguration in these settings can negatively impact your sending reputation and lead to deliverability problems. Verify that your authentication records are correctly set up.
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares that the first step is to review your recent email marketing activity. Look for changes in sending volume, list quality, or content that could be triggering spam filters. Analyse bounce rates, complaint rates, and unsubscribe rates to pinpoint potential issues.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that Closely monitor your email engagement metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. A sudden drop in engagement can indicate that your emails are not reaching the inbox or that your content is not resonating with your audience.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares that If you send a high volume of emails, consider using a dedicated IP address. A dedicated IP gives you more control over your sending reputation and allows you to isolate your sending practices from other senders sharing the same IP.
Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that checking if your IP address or domain is on any blocklists is crucial. Use tools like MXToolbox to monitor blocklist status. If you find yourself on a blocklist, take steps to get removed promptly by following the blocklist's removal process.
Email marketer from HubSpot shares that segmenting your email list can improve engagement and deliverability. Send targeted emails to specific segments based on their interests and behavior. Higher engagement rates signal to ISPs that your emails are valuable and relevant.
What the experts say8Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests to first check where the rejections are happening, broken down by recipient domain as a starting point for analysis.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that checking if you're on any blocklists is a key step. It also details specific steps to take if you find your IP or domain listed, including reviewing the blocklist's policy and contacting them for delisting following their procedures.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that if the issue is with Yahoo, the bounces are likely complaint-driven and resemble something like '[TSS04]'. They also state Yahoo prefers to see the full bounce message when requesting assistance with delivery problems.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests asking how is the deliverability rate being measured, what domains are affected, and what the bounce messages are to begin troubleshooting the issue.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that effective problem diagnosis for email delivery issues requires good logging. This involves maintaining a record of accepted messages, rejections, and deferrals, including complete SMTP logs. This data allows for a comprehensive analysis of what's happening with your email delivery.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that you should monitor your sending volumes and look for anomalies like sending a large volume to addresses that haven't received mail from you previously or sending a high volume to addresses known to complain. These patterns can lead to deliverability issues.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that any DNS issues, like changes to MX records, NS records, or SOA records, can have significant consequences for deliverability. Regularly monitoring your DNS configuration ensures that your email can be properly routed and delivered.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that ESPs should provide the full text of the bounce message, although it may take a few steps to obtain them.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft explains that NDRs provide valuable information about why emails are not being delivered. Analyze the error codes and messages in NDRs to identify specific problems, such as blocked IP addresses, spam filtering issues, or recipient mailbox problems.
Documentation from RFC explains that SPF is an email authentication method designed to prevent spammers from sending messages on behalf of your domain. Ensure you have a valid SPF record that includes all legitimate sending sources for your domain. Incorrect SPF records can cause deliverability issues.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains the importance of monitoring your sender reputation using their tools. A sudden drop in reputation could indicate deliverability issues. Check spam rates, IP reputation, and domain reputation for insights.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC helps email receivers handle messages that fail SPF and DKIM checks. Implement a DMARC policy to instruct receivers on what to do with unauthenticated emails (e.g., reject, quarantine). Monitor DMARC reports to identify and address authentication issues.