Why did my email campaign bounce for Apple addresses and open rates drop?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit suggests checking sender reputation and IP address on blocklists if facing increased bounces and decreased open rates.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow says to always ensure that SPF and DKIM records are properly set up to authenticate your emails and prevent them from being marked as spam.
Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that A/B testing subject lines, personalizing content, and segmenting your audience are effective ways to improve email open rates.
Email marketer from Neil Patel Blog shares that factors like subject line relevance, sender reputation, and timing of the email send can heavily influence open rates.
Email marketer from Email Geeks forum suggests checking email content for spam trigger words or phrases that might be causing emails to bounce or go to spam folders.
Marketer from Email Geeks agrees with Alison Gootee, noting they've seen similar instances and it seems content-related, but without confirmation.
Email marketer from Litmus shares how Apple's Mail Privacy Protection can impact open rates by masking user IP addresses and pre-loading emails, which can inflate open metrics.
Email marketer from Email Geeks asks if DKIM/SPF/DMARC are correctly configured, as 'local policy' can indicate authentication issues.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that regularly cleaning your email list by removing inactive subscribers can improve deliverability and engagement rates.
Email marketer from Validity explains sender reputation as a score that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) assign to organizations that send email, based on sending behavior and the engagement of email recipients, it affects whether email is delivered to the inbox or spam folder.
Email marketer from GMass suggests the use of spam testing tools to check content before sending to see what issues there are with content and how to fix them.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares their understanding that the bounce reason is content-related and suggests contacting Apple support.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, responds to that sender reputation is a significant factor influencing deliverability, and a sudden drop in open rates could indicate a negative shift in reputation due to sending practices or list quality.
Expert from Spam Resource, John Levine, explains that a common reason for email blocking is due to content filters identifying the email as potential spam, which can result from specific keywords, formatting, or links within the email.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that Apple may have been testing to see if behavior changes after the bounce and also asks about segmentation strategies.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Apple Support explains that a 'Message rejected due to local policy' error (554 5.7.1) often indicates content-related issues or policy violations within the email.
Documentation from Mailjet suggests that a drop in open rates can be due to several factors, including changes in email content triggering spam filters, list hygiene issues (sending to inactive addresses), or changes in recipient engagement.
Documentation from Microsoft advises using the Sender Support form if your IP address has been blocked from sending emails to Outlook.com or Hotmail users.
Documentation from SparkPost details that bounce codes like 5.7.1 often signal content filtering or policy restrictions enforced by the recipient's mail server.