When should domains be allowlisted for email sending?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign recommends that recipients add the sender's email address to their contacts. This simple step can significantly improve deliverability, as email providers tend to trust emails from known contacts more than those from unknown senders.
Email marketer from EmailOctopus suggests that recipients should add the sender's email address to their contacts. This can improve deliverability because many email providers prioritize emails from contacts.
Email marketer from Litmus suggests that one of the easiest ways to ensure emails reach the inbox is for recipients to add the sender's email address to their address book. Most email clients will then categorize these emails as "safe."
Email marketer from Sendinblue suggests that recipients should add the sender's email address to their contact list or address book to help improve deliverability. This signals to email providers that the sender is trusted, reducing the likelihood of emails being marked as spam.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that domains should not be whitelisted unless they are fully authenticated and verified because spoofing would be seen as legitimate. They add that whitelisting should only occur when one of your domains is used in the From: field and DMARC is valid for this domain.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that senders should advise recipients to add their sending email address or domain to their address book or safe sender list, to improve email deliverability by signalling to mailbox providers that the sender is trusted. This should be after the user has signed up to their email list.
Email marketer from SparkPost states that if recipients are missing important emails, they should add the sender's address to their address book or safe sender list. This is especially important for transactional emails.
Email marketer from Reddit responds to a question in a post that enterprises might add specific domains to an allowlist to ensure business-critical communications, such as invoices or order confirmations, are received without delay. This is typically done when other deliverability methods aren't sufficient. Ensure that email authenication is setup first.
Email marketer from StackExchange states it's crucial to whitelist specific internal domains to prevent internal email communications from being flagged as spam, particularly in organizations with strict security policies. Only allowlist trusted domains.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Spamresource explains that allowlists (whitelists) are sometimes required to receive legitimate emails, especially when aggressive spam filtering is in place. This approach should be used cautiously and with robust authentication methods in place to avoid abuse.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains to set expectations with recipients. Tell them what address you will be sending from and encourage them to add it to their address book. If they don’t want to add the address, ask them to watch their spam folder for your mail.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Proofpoint answers that organizations use allow lists when they need to ensure that emails from crucial business partners, vendors, or internal systems are delivered reliably and without delay, bypassing standard spam filters.
Documentation from Cisco Email Security explains that organizations should implement allowlists to bypass spam filters for specific senders or domains, usually partners or internal systems. This helps guarantee delivery of critical emails.
Documentation from Microsoft Support explains that users should add senders to their safe senders list when they trust the sender and want to ensure their messages are always delivered to their inbox.
Documentation from Barracuda states that in Exchange Server environments, administrators might allowlist domains or sender IP addresses to bypass certain security checks for known and trusted sources. This ensures critical messages are delivered while still maintaining a strong security posture.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help answers that Administrators should create allowlists to ensure that messages from specific senders or domains are never marked as spam and are always delivered to users' inboxes when required by the business.