Why are my emails not delivering to Outlook and being flagged as phishing?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit shares that if your emails are being classified as phishing, it could be due to suspicious links or wording in the email content. Avoid using URL shorteners or language commonly associated with phishing scams.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that a tracking pixel was being flagged by Microsoft as 'PHISH'. After removing the pixel, test emails started coming through. The pixel was for a deprecated product called Display, hosted on the <http://adnxs.com|adnxs.com> domain.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Blog shares that sending emails to spam trap addresses can severely damage your sender reputation and cause emails to be flagged as spam. Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Vendor explains that setting up feedback loops with email providers like Outlook can help you identify and address issues that are causing your emails to be marked as spam. This allows you to receive reports when users mark your emails as spam.
Email marketer from Email Hippo explains that using an email list validation service can help you identify and remove invalid or risky email addresses from your list, reducing the likelihood of sending to spam traps and improving your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Email Geeks confirms that disabling the deprecated tracking pixel resolved their Outlook deliverability issues, echoing Caleb Moore's experience. Credits Caleb's investigation and Laura's insight to solving the issue.
Email marketer from Quora responds that a sudden increase in email sending volume can trigger spam filters. Gradually increase your sending volume to establish a consistent sending reputation.
Email marketer from StackOverflow mentions that a low domain reputation can cause emails to be flagged as spam. Improving domain reputation requires consistent sending practices, proper authentication, and avoiding spam traps.
Email marketer from EmailGeek explains that using a shared IP address for sending emails can negatively impact deliverability, especially if other users on the same IP engage in spammy practices. This can lead to your emails being flagged as spam by Outlook and other providers.
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares that ensuring proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for improving deliverability. These protocols help verify that the email is genuinely from the sender and not a spoofed address.
Email marketer from Digital Agency Blog shares that using misleading or deceptive subject lines can cause emails to be flagged as spam. Ensure your subject lines accurately reflect the content of your email.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that certain keywords or phrases in your email content can trigger spam filters. Review your content for potentially problematic words and phrases.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that a poor sender reputation is a primary reason for deliverability issues, leading to emails being flagged as spam or phishing. Sender reputation is built over time and is based on factors such as spam complaints, bounce rates, and email authentication practices.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is critical for ensuring deliverability. These protocols help verify that the email is genuinely from the sender and not a spoofed address, reducing the likelihood of being flagged as spam or phishing.
Expert from Spam Resource shares that including suspicious links or language commonly associated with phishing scams in email content can cause emails to be flagged as phishing. Best practice is to avoid URL shorteners, use clear and direct language, and ensure that links point to legitimate websites.
Expert from Email Geeks asks if <http://adnxs.com|adnxs.com> is the user's domain or a third party's. If it's a third party, the user is sharing reputation and delivery with every other customer of that third party.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that a 'PHISH' flag is pretty specific, and if a tracking pixel is flagged, someone needs to check that a phishing site isn't being hosted or if the hosting/pixel domains are shared with someone compromised and participating in a phishing attack.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that maintaining a clean email list is essential for improving deliverability. Regularly remove inactive or invalid addresses, as sending emails to spam traps or unengaged recipients can negatively impact your sender reputation and cause your emails to be flagged as spam.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that helps prevent email spoofing and phishing attacks. Implementing DMARC can significantly improve email deliverability to Outlook and other providers.
Documentation from RFC standard explains that SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method used to prevent spammers from sending messages on behalf of your domain. An SPF record identifies which mail servers are authorized to send email for your domain.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that several factors can cause emails to land in the Junk folder, including the sender's IP address being on a blocklist, the email content triggering spam filters, or the sender's domain not being properly authenticated (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). User-defined rules and settings can also affect deliverability.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that being listed on a Spamhaus blocklist indicates that the sender's IP address or domain has been associated with spam activity. To check if you are on a Spamhaus blocklist, you can use their blocklist lookup tool to see if your server's IP address is listed.
Documentation from Microsoft shares that Outlook uses a sender reputation system. If a sender has a poor reputation due to spam complaints or other negative signals, their emails are more likely to be filtered as junk or even blocked.
Related resources0Resources
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