Why is Hotmail blocking my emails and how do I fix it?

Email marketer from SenderScore shares that hitting spam traps can severely impact deliverability to Hotmail. Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses to avoid spam traps.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that emails are going to spam because Hotmail is being too agressive. They share that you should check blacklists and use a service like mail-tester to check your score. They also mention that it will slowly improve over time.

Email marketer from Gmass blog shares that it is important to ensure email reputation is good before sending emails to Microsoft servers. They also state that you must authenticate emails to verify you are who you say you are.

Email marketer from StackOverflow suggests checking the reverse DNS record of your mail server. A missing or incorrect rDNS record can cause Hotmail to block your emails.

Email marketer from Microsoft Support explains that emails might be blocked if the sending IP address has been used to send spam, or if the email content is considered spammy. To fix this, ensure your IP is not blacklisted, follow best practices for sending email, and use Microsoft's SNDS program to monitor your IP reputation.

Email marketer from Litmus explains that failing authentication checks (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is a primary reason for Hotmail blocking emails. Ensure your authentication records are correctly configured and validated.

Email marketer from EmailGeeks shares that manual emails without unsubscribe options are likely a huge culprit for Hotmail blocking issues, as filters are starting to block them and any other email from the same company.

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that Hotmail may block emails if recipients are not engaging with them. Ensure your lists are clean, send relevant content, and encourage recipients to add you to their safe sender list to improve engagement.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that Hotmail is more sensitive to 'network effects', which include resources shared by multiple folks such as ASNs, SWIPs, domains, CDNs, and other services.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that Microsoft does a lot of digging into the network space around a sender and brand-level filtering, and that mail filtering can even be affected by where images are hosted.

Expert from Email Geeks confirms that Microsoft can know when a brand uses subdomains and different blocks of IPs, even when sending from old and new ESPs.

Expert from Wordtothewise.com shares that reputation issues, stemming from poor list hygiene and low engagement, often lead to blocking by Hotmail. Improving sender reputation by focusing on opt-in practices and sending relevant content is crucial.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that manual emails without unsubscribe options are likely a huge culprit for Hotmail blocking issues, as filters are starting to block them and any other email from the same company.

Expert from Spamresource.com explains that Microsoft filtering is very complex, but highlights the importance of maintaining a clean list, avoiding spam traps, and proper authentication. They also emphasize that Microsoft uses a combination of content, reputation, and user engagement metrics to determine deliverability.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that when having problems at Hotmail, it is important to check any 3rd party providers the client is using, including where they are getting and hosting their images, cloud services, AWS in headers, all links, and 3rd party tracking systems.

Documentation from SparkPost explains that to improve deliverability to Microsoft, ensure proper list hygiene, implement feedback loops, and monitor your sending reputation through SNDS. Maintain a good IP and domain reputation by sending consistent volume and avoiding spam complaints.

Documentation from Google Workspace explains how to prevent email to Gmail users from being blocked. They state that you should authenticate your email using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Ensure that sending IPs have valid reverse DNS records, keep complaint rates low and format messages according to Internet standards

Documentation from RFC-Editor shares that it is important to have a good SPF record to prevent spam. Sender Policy Framework (SPF) for Authorizing Use of Domains in Email, Version 1 details what a good SPF record looks like and how to setup an authentication framework.

Documentation from Outlook.com Postmaster explains that to improve deliverability, ensure your sending domain is authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Monitor your sender reputation using the Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) and Junk Email Reporting Program (JMRP). Avoid sudden spikes in email volume and maintain consistent sending patterns.