Why is AT&T blocking my emails and what can I do?

Summary

AT&T blocks emails due to a combination of factors related to sender reputation, list quality, email content, and user feedback. Poor sender reputation stems from high bounce rates, spam complaints, and being blacklisted, often resulting from poor list acquisition practices like purchasing lists. Sending to inactive or non-existent email addresses further damages reputation. Content filters identify spammy content, while user feedback (spam reports) directly influences filtering. Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for proving legitimacy. Maintaining a clean, engaged email list, monitoring feedback loops, warming up IP addresses, testing emails, and adhering to best practices are vital for mitigating blocking.

Key findings

  • Bounce Message Analysis: Analyze bounce messages for specific reasons for blocking.
  • Sender Reputation Impact: Poor sender reputation is a primary cause of blocking. Actions such as spam complaints and blacklisting affect this.
  • List Quality Critical: Sending to inactive or invalid addresses harms reputation. Validating emails is a must.
  • Email Authentication Needed: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for proper verification and authentication.
  • Content Matters: Avoid spam trigger words, excessive capitalization, large attachments, etc. that will cause content filters to flag.
  • User Feedback Weighs Heavily: AT&T filtering is heavily affected by users marking emails as spam.
  • Engagement Matters: Engagement (opens, clicks) affects your reputation with AT&T.
  • Poor List Source: Never buy lists. Building your list organically is key.

Key considerations

  • List Hygiene: Continuously clean your list. Remove inactive and invalid addresses.
  • Email Validation: Check contacts before sending, by using validation services.
  • Feedback Loop Management: Monitor feedback loops and quickly address complaints. Make sure unsubscribing is easy.
  • IP Warmup is Critical: Warm up your IP slowly. Avoid sending large volumes suddenly.
  • Email Testing is Important: Test your emails before sending, check all links and content.
  • Double Opt-in Highly Recommended: Have users confirm their email addresses.
  • Check Blacklists: Ensure your IP address and domain aren't blacklisted.
  • Engaging Content: Make sure the emails are interesting, useful, and relevant to users.
  • Postmaster Contact: Contact the postmaster team at AT&T for help.

What email marketers say
17Marketer opinions

AT&T blocks emails for various reasons, primarily related to sender reputation, list quality, and email content. Poor sender reputation arises from factors like high bounce rates, spam complaints, and being blacklisted. List quality issues include sending to inactive or non-existent email addresses, often resulting from poor list acquisition practices or lack of proper opt-in procedures. Email content can trigger spam filters if it contains spam trigger words, excessive capitalization, or large attachments. To mitigate blocking, it's crucial to maintain a clean and engaged email list, authenticate emails using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, monitor feedback loops and address complaints, gradually warm up IP addresses, test emails for deliverability issues, and ensure proper rendering across different devices.

Key opinions

  • SMTP Responses: Check SMTP responses from AT&T for clues about the reasons for blocking.
  • Sender Reputation: Poor sender reputation is a primary cause of blocking; monitor and improve it.
  • List Quality: Sending to inactive or non-existent addresses damages sender reputation; regularly clean your list.
  • Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate emails and improve deliverability.
  • Content Filtering: AT&T uses content filters to identify spam; avoid trigger words and other spammy elements.
  • User Feedback: AT&T relies on user feedback, such as spam complaints, to refine filtering.
  • Engagement Matters: Engagement metrics like opens and clicks affect your sending reputation. Low engagement equals potential blocks.

Key considerations

  • List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses and avoid purchased lists.
  • Email Validation: Use email validation services like BriteVerify, XVerify, & NeverBounce to ensure contact validity.
  • Feedback Loops: Monitor feedback loops and promptly address complaints to improve sender reputation.
  • IP Warmup: Gradually warm up IP addresses when starting sending to build a positive sender reputation.
  • Email Testing: Test emails for deliverability issues, such as broken links and spam trigger words.
  • Double Opt-In: Implement double opt-in to confirm email addresses.
  • Blacklist Check: Check if your IP address or domain is blacklisted.
Marketer view

Email marketer from StackOverflow suggests using double opt-in to ensure list quality. Confirmed opt-in helps ensure that you aren't accidentally mailing to email addresses that haven't signed up for emails, thus ensuring a higher chance of avoiding blocks.

June 2022 - StackOverflow
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailjet Blog explains that AT&T, like other ISPs, uses content filters to identify and block spam. Avoid using spam trigger words, excessive capitalization, and large attachments in your emails.

May 2024 - Mailjet Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email on Acid Blog shares that testing your emails before sending them can help identify and fix potential deliverability issues, such as broken links, rendering problems, and spam trigger words, reducing the risk of AT&T blocking your emails.

August 2021 - Email on Acid Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus Blog explains that ensuring your emails render correctly across different devices and email clients (including those used by AT&T customers) is important for a positive user experience. Poor rendering can lead to engagement issues and potentially affect deliverability.

April 2024 - Litmus Blog
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks recommends BriteVerify, XVerify, & NeverBounce as email validation services.

December 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks reiterates that SMTP responses should provide clues to the issue and if the AT&T MX servers are bouncing emails, it likely indicates a block due to the IP address and should include information on how to get support.

September 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the bounce messages from AT&T servers indicate sending to non-existent users, suggesting that the help from the postmaster team should be sufficient and recommends reading sending best practices.

February 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Quora recommends checking if your IP address or domain is blacklisted. Blacklisted IPs are almost certain to get blocked from sending. Removing yourself can prevent blocks.

November 2022 - Quora
Marketer view

Email marketer from GMass Blog shares that gradually warming up your IP address by slowly increasing sending volume can help build a positive sender reputation with AT&T. Avoid sending large volumes of email from a new IP address all at once.

May 2024 - GMass Blog
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks emphasizes the point about non-existent users, suggesting that at least part of the mailing list was not built with actual consent.

June 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit shares that sending to a large number of inactive or invalid email addresses can damage your sender reputation and lead to AT&T blocking your emails. Regularly cleaning your email list is recommended.

August 2024 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from SendGrid Blog shares that monitoring feedback loops and promptly addressing complaints can help improve your sender reputation and reduce the chances of being blocked by AT&T. They also advise ensuring an easy unsubscribe process.

August 2023 - SendGrid Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from SuperUser explains the importance of practicing proper email marketing techniques. These include but aren't limited to relevant content and a good sender reputation that can help to avoid blocks.

April 2024 - SuperUser
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that if blocked by the AT&T MX servers, the bounces should indicate the reason for the block.

March 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from EmailGeek Community Forums shares that a poor IP reputation is a frequent cause of AT&T blocking emails. They suggest checking your IP's reputation using online tools and contacting AT&T's postmaster team to request delisting if necessary.

May 2022 - EmailGeek Community Forums
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks advises ensuring contacts are valid before sending, suggesting an email validation pass and securing the signup process.

December 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests providing more information about the nature of the emails, whether they are cold emails, the duration of the issue, the sending platform, and whether the IP address is shared or dedicated.

July 2023 - Email Geeks

What the experts say
3Expert opinions

Experts agree that AT&T blocks emails primarily due to poor list acquisition, low engagement, and negative user feedback. Purchasing or scraping email lists leads to high bounce rates and spam complaints, triggering blocks. Lack of engagement signals that emails are unwanted, prompting filtering or blocking. AT&T also relies on user feedback (marking emails as spam) to refine its filters, meaning a significant number of spam reports can lead to blocking, even with a generally good sender reputation.

Key opinions

  • Poor List Acquisition: Purchasing or scraping email lists leads to high bounce rates and spam complaints, resulting in blocking by AT&T.
  • Low Engagement: Lack of engagement (low opens and clicks) signals that emails are unwanted, leading to filtering or blocking by AT&T.
  • User Feedback: AT&T relies on user feedback (marking emails as spam) to refine filtering, with a significant number of spam reports triggering blocking.

Key considerations

  • Ethical List Building: Avoid purchasing or scraping email lists. Focus on building lists organically through opt-in methods.
  • Engagement Strategies: Implement strategies to improve email engagement, such as personalized content and relevant offers.
  • Content Relevance: Ensure emails are relevant to the recipients' interests to reduce the likelihood of being marked as spam.
  • Feedback Monitoring: Implement mechanisms to monitor and respond to user feedback, such as unsubscribe requests and spam complaints.
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, explains that lack of engagement (opens, clicks) can lead to AT&T blocking emails. AT&T, like other mailbox providers, uses engagement data to determine which emails are relevant to users. Low engagement signals that the emails are unwanted, leading to filtering or blocking.

February 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource, Hal Helms, shares that AT&T relies heavily on user feedback, such as marking emails as spam, to refine its filtering. If a significant number of AT&T users mark your emails as spam, it can trigger blocking, regardless of other sender reputation factors.

April 2021 - Spam Resource
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource, John Levine, explains that AT&T and other providers often block emails due to poor list acquisition practices. Purchasing lists or scraping addresses leads to high bounce rates and spam complaints, resulting in blocking.

February 2025 - Spam Resource

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Documentation sources consistently point to sender reputation, list hygiene, and email authentication as critical factors in AT&T's email blocking decisions. Poor sender reputation, high complaint rates, and sending to invalid addresses are directly identified as reasons for blocking. The importance of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) is emphasized as a key method for proving sender legitimacy and preventing spoofing, thus improving deliverability and reducing the chances of being blocked by AT&T.

Key findings

  • Sender Reputation Matters: Poor sender reputation is a key reason for AT&T blocking emails.
  • List Hygiene is Crucial: Sending to invalid email addresses contributes to blocking.
  • Email Authentication is Essential: Proper implementation of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is critical for deliverability and trust.
  • DMARC Protects: DMARC implementation safeguards domains from spoofing and phishing.

Key considerations

  • Monitor Reputation: Regularly monitor sender reputation to identify and address issues.
  • Clean Email Lists: Implement processes to validate and clean email lists to remove invalid addresses.
  • Implement SPF, DKIM, DMARC: Ensure proper configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for all sending domains.
  • Monitor Authentication: Continuously monitor email authentication results to identify and resolve any authentication failures.
Technical article

Documentation from AT&T Postmaster Website explains that common reasons for blocking emails include poor sender reputation, high complaint rates, sending to invalid email addresses, and failing to authenticate emails using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

September 2023 - AT&T Postmaster Website
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for improving deliverability. It helps AT&T verify that you are a legitimate sender and reduces the likelihood of your emails being blocked.

September 2023 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from RFC explains how to correctly set up an SPF record to authorize sending servers. Incorrectly configured or missing SPF records can cause AT&T to flag your emails as suspicious.

September 2022 - RFC Documentation
Technical article

Documentation from DMARC.org explains that implementing a DMARC policy can help protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks. A strong DMARC policy can improve your sender reputation and reduce the likelihood of AT&T blocking your emails.

March 2025 - DMARC.org