In this article we will review the specific recommendations for bulk shipments that Microsoft facilitates to improve delivery in Hotmail, Live, MSN, Outlook.com, etc. They are directly extracted from the white paper of the Microsoft support service specific to e-mail service providers.
Logically we start from the base that we use an email marketing provider of guarantees. At this point I am not impartial and I recommend using the Mailrelay platform, but objectively always have to opt for providers that guarantee, at least, the following …
The second step is to comply with the basic rules for not being considered SPAM, taking into account that in addition, Hotmail has some specific recommendations, some of them not well known, that can help and improve the entry of our emails to the recipient’s Inbox. Let’s see the most important …
AVOID COMPLAINTS AND CLICKS IN UNWANTED MAIL
When our subscribers click on the spam button in the Hotmail interface, instead of unsubscribing with our link, it affects very negatively the reputation of our shipments in this operator.
To avoid this, Hotmail recommends inserting a well-visible text at the beginning of the newsletter design that indicates to the recipient unequivocally that clicking on it will be canceled.
It must also be direct with a single click and without any additional procedure to prevent it from being lazy to resort to the spam button.
INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS THAT MARK US AS A SAFE SENDER
Same as the previous point but the other way around. Just like spammers lower our reputation, those who add us to contacts as safe senders upload it.
For this reason it is advisable to send newsletters that really interest the subscribers interspersed with the commercial shipments.
In addition Hotmail recommends also inserting a text at the beginning of the bulletin encouraging the subscriber to do so if you want to continue receiving our emails. It should go just below the direct low link.
CLEARLY IDENTIFY THE SENDER
The text of the foot of the bulletin must indicate all the data of who makes the shipment without ambiguities and indicating clearly everything necessary to locate our company.
INCLUDE AN INQUIRE LEGAL TEXT OF OUR POLICY AGAINST SPAM
It must contain an explanation of how the emails have been obtained, link to our data protection policy page, statement of our unequivocal willingness to respect the rules of sending commercial emails and a means to request feedback to subscribers who wish to communicate any complaint or suggestion, even from third parties such as the ESP or communications operator.
CLEAN THE ADDRESS OF ANTIQUE AND NON-VALID POSTS BEFORE SUBMITTING
Hotmail is very important that the BBDD is updated. Should not be sent to old BBDD at once as the high percentage of bounces and accounts that are no longer active will drop the reputation of our domain.
The supplier we use, such as Mailrelay, must automatically clean the uploaded lists before they are sent, comparing them with one of the most complete BBDD of old failed mails in the world.
MAINTAINING CONSTANT AND COHERENT SHIPPING AND VOLUME
The number of mails sent from our domain must be constant and with small variations. That is to say, if we initiate mass mailings we must first send small blocks each day and gradually increase in size gradually until we complete the total volume we need to cover our shipments.
This also applies to cadence, to the number of times we send. If 2 bulletins are sent per month we can not go on to send 10 without a period of previous and intermediate adaptation between both situations. In short, the volume and the cadence of shipments should never be varied at once.
Likewise, if we change the emailing provider, a period of adaptation is necessary so that Hotmail identifies that the shipments are legitimate so it is advisable to send them gradually by both providers (previously changing the SPF) so that there is a heating effect of IPs necessary to send more and more volume.
SEPARATE INFRASTRUCTURE MAILS OF COMMERCIAL NEWSLETTERS
It is to send from different IPs the corporate mails of the day to day of the company of the commercial bulletins. Even in the latter it is also convenient to separate the infrastructures of shipments based on a segmentation based on whether they are pure and hard mail, loyalty, after-sales service, etc.
This actually has its positive and negative point, since the sending of transactional emails (as personalized invoices) results in a reputation improvement that would be welcome for commercial shipments, but of course, it can happen in reverse, that our customers do not the bills arrive because Hotmail has cut the tap because its filters of mass shipments so decide. This will be discussed in depth in a future article.
THE SPF REGISTER SHOULD INCLUDE SEPARATED RANGES AND RESTRICT FROM ALL OTHER
All infrastructures discussed in the previous point should be included in the SPF record separately as ranges of authorized IPs and should indicate at the end the parameter -all to actively block all the shipments that may come from any other IP with our domain as sender.
Conclusion
Although ISP operators such as Hormail have the fence by the handle and can block any shipment unilaterally regardless of reputation, legitimacy, etc. all these recommendations are not only useful for successfully entering Microsoft mail services, such as Hotmail, Live, MSN, Outlook.com, etc., they will also help us to improve the reputation in any operator of both mail and Internet improving the deliver ability of all our bulletins regardless of the recipient.
Therefore we recommend to follow them all to maximize the results and returns of the mailing campaigns.
Rashed Ahmed regularly contributes to free online magazines and living ideas to various blogs around the web. When he’s not busy working with the work, you will find him undertaking many of her own lifestyle-related topics and living ideas! He has a lot of dreams. He works hard to fulfill his dreams. He loves to share his ideas, tricks, tips, and information by blogging. He also works at unique business ideas, a business marketing company that committed to helping businesses with online marketing.