Why is it difficult to get useful support from mailbox providers?

Email marketer from Quora explains that mailbox providers (MBPs) have to deal with a lot of noise and abuse, making it difficult to provide personalized support. Their support is often limited to automated responses and generic advice due to the sheer volume of requests and the need to protect their systems from malicious actors.

Email marketer from Stack Overflow responds that MBPs rely heavily on internal data and algorithms to determine deliverability. They are often hesitant to share this information with senders for competitive reasons and to prevent spammers from gaming the system.

Email marketer from Marketing Land shares that maintaining a good sender reputation is crucial for deliverability, but it can be difficult to understand how MBPs assess reputation. This lack of transparency makes it challenging for senders to identify and address the root causes of deliverability problems.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares an experience where after weeks of trying to get support from a mail/hosting service, they had to contact the CTO/Tech director to resolve an issue with MTAs.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that the level of support from MBB and blocklist support varies based on the MBB/blocklist and the amount of detail provided in the support request.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that a potential issue is 'shadow banning' or silently filtering emails without notifying the sender, which can be incredibly frustrating because there's no clear indication of why emails are not reaching their intended recipients.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that mailbox providers have limited resources and a huge user base. They can't offer personalized support to every sender. Instead, they rely on documentation, FAQs, and automated systems to address common issues.

Email marketer from Reddit responds that mailbox providers prioritize protecting their users from spam and abuse over individual sender issues. This means that their support is geared towards maintaining the overall health of their ecosystem rather than troubleshooting specific deliverability problems.

Email marketer from WebHostingTalk Forums mentions that they have experienced instances where MBPs provide generic advice or point to FAQs, which don't address the specific complexities of their deliverability issues. The support often feels impersonal and unhelpful.

Email marketer from Email Deliverability Blog shares that the rules and algorithms used by mailbox providers are constantly changing, making it difficult for senders to keep up. This can lead to deliverability issues and frustration with the lack of clear guidance from MBPs.

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that senders must have the self-discipline to do their homework before contacting MBPs, which is rare.

Email marketer from EmailGeeks Forum states that understanding and resolving deliverability issues is an iterative process that requires continuous monitoring, testing, and adapting to the ever-changing landscape of email protocols and spam filters. This requires more than just a single fix.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that some senders abused free support, leading to MBPs removing postmaster pages and support channels.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that it’s often difficult to tell the difference between senders trying to fix issues and those trying to social engineer past filters.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that when MBPs stop providing useful data, it could mean: there is something bad they can’t disclose, the sender is trying to social engineer data, or the client isn’t being truthful.

Expert from Word to the Wise shares the MBPs perspective - which is they get a lot of requests that do not make sense because senders do not have a good understanding of mail delivery. It can be difficult to tell the difference between legitimate senders and someone who is trying to social engineer their way past filters.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that from a sender's perspective, it's frustrating because it seems like MBPs are intentionally obfuscating information or being unhelpful. However, there are often valid reasons for this, such as protecting user data or preventing spammers from gaming the system.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that Spamcop used to provide a lot of help to senders, but they stopped because the same senders continually bothered them with poor practices, with a few ESPs ruining it for the rest.

Expert from Email Geeks points out that there are people who will take money from spammers to put them on their system, move them to new IPs/domains, and get them unblocked.

Documentation from Gmail Help explains that Gmail provides extensive sender guidelines to help senders troubleshoot deliverability issues. They focus on educating senders about best practices and providing tools to monitor their reputation and deliverability, rather than offering direct support for individual problems.

Documentation from Yahoo Help explains that Yahoo provides guidance on improving email deliverability by following authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining a good sender reputation, and avoiding spam triggers. They offer limited direct support but encourage senders to use their postmaster tools and documentation to resolve issues.

Documentation from AWS explains that it's important to understand the various reasons for bounces and complaints and to implement feedback loops. However, these actions require technical expertise and proactive management, which can be challenging for those without specialized knowledge.

Documentation from Microsoft Docs responds that Microsoft provides resources for troubleshooting deliverability issues, including guidance on authentication, list management, and content creation. They emphasize that senders are responsible for following best practices to ensure their emails reach the inbox.

Documentation from SparkPost explains that MBPs use sender reputation as a key factor in determining deliverability, based on factors such as spam complaints, bounce rates, and engagement metrics. Monitoring and managing your sender reputation is crucial, but MBPs often do not offer detailed feedback on how to improve it.