If you have a question in mind “Why is my Email blocked?” then we have solved your problem.
You might have experienced your legitimate emails getting blocked by mailbox providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. Of course, that is probably the reason you have landed here: to know the reason why your email got blocked.
We have solved this common mystery by taking advice from our email experts and are here to help you make the most of your email marketing campaign.
While you scroll down this article, we will make sure that you can understand what exactly you mean by blocked emails and why your email is blocked. This article talks about the reason and the steps you can implement to make things work for you. So, let’s discover some common reasons and avoid your emails from getting blocked.
Let’s first understand what you mean by the term Blocked Email.
What is Blocked Email?
A blocked email is one that is being temporarily rejected by the receiving server not because of any issue with the recipient’s email address but because of the content that is contained in the message. In other words, it is the rejection of the message sent by you rather than any issues at the receiver’s end.
You might have heard about soft bounces in emails. Blocked emails are similar situations where the rejection is non-permanent for that email address.
As you would not want your beautiful email marketing campaigns to go for a toss, you really need to understand the basics of why your emails are getting blocked, so that you can avoid the mistakes that you are doing and improve your email deliverability rates of your email campaign.
So now we will list some common reasons that you can avoid while sending emails to your subscribers!
Why is my Email Blocked?
Your emails will be blocked if you are :
1. Sending content that looks spammy
Do you receive emails that you find not worth opening at all?
Those weird subject lines, written in all caps, often bold, the appearance itself gives you an idea that it is not coming from a legitimate source. The purely promotional and sales content make those emails a deal-breaker at the very first sight.
Even if one does open them, the content inside might contain many grammatical errors, excessive punctuation marks, poor spellings, variations in text and color, etc. These apparently are the signs of emails coming from a spammer, and therefore, mailbox providers have special filters that will help them realize even quickly the place that these emails belong to. Yes, you guessed it right. They are either marked as spam or blocked.
Hence, we need to ensure that your emails provide value to customers and do not look like the ones mentioned above.
Now, this takes us to the second reason why your email is blocked…
2. Getting a lot of spam complaints
If your emails look like spammy ones, then obviously, your recipients will complain about them. However, adding lead forms and other suspicious links to collect personal data can also annoy your recipients and encourage them to mark you as spam or delete your emails.
However, if you send them unsolicited links to your website that might look suspicious, then your domain or subdomain reputation will be adversely affected. Since every mailbox provider wants its customers to have a perfect and non-intrusive experience, they always take user complaints very seriously and it would take no-time for your emails to get blocked by them.
Again Remember! This can terribly affect your email-sending reputation, so avoid that happening!
3. Repeatedly sending to invalid email addresses
The very first questions that we want to ask you here is:
Is your subscriber list purchased?
If not, is it clean with the latest updated data?
If you do not know what we are talking about then understand it like this…
If you repeatedly send your emails to invalid addresses, no one can prevent your emails from getting blocked. So, you need to make sure that you create and build your own email list using a single opt-in with the email validation process (combined with it) or double opt-in so that you have the email consent of the subscribers.
Hence, this is a great way to avoid sending emails to invalid addresses. Also, if you are sending emails in bulk in Bcc or Cc, then that will also trigger a red alert, blocking your emails, as this strictly indicates you are a spammer. If you’re sending bulk emails that are 5000 or more, then you need to authenticate your emails, which most email marketers don’t do, and witness getting their emails blocked as a consequence.
Essentially, try the warm-up process to send your emails slowly and gradually increase your email volume. If you want to maintain email list hygiene, try implementing the sunset policy.
4. Your emails are not authenticated
Unauthenticated emails are like uninvited guests crashing a wedding. They don’t have a clear domain from where they were sent, and the email address is suspicious. Such emails damage your reputation and also harm your subscribers.
As a solution to this, Google and Yahoo have implemented guidelines mandating email service providers to implement three major protocols
- Sender Policy Framework (SPF): helps prevent domain spoofing by allowing senders to define which email servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of their domain.
- DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM): enhances email security by attaching a digital signature to outgoing emails. This signature confirms that the email was sent by an authorized domain and has not been modified during transit.
- Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC): provides domain owners with the ability to dictate the actions to be taken if an email fails authentication checks. It also supports the reporting of outcomes related to email authentication, aiding in better email security management.
Following these protocols ensures your emails are legit and safe, preventing any form of spam or impersonation.
Pro tip: Regularly monitor your authentication records to maintain your email marketing effectiveness.
5. Experiencing technical issues
There can be some technical issues that might affect your email-sending process. For example, mistakenly formatted message headers, absence of reverse DNS, PTR records set-up, or error in authentication, which can lead to email delivery challenges and, eventually, your email getting blocked.
So, if you want an email delivery service that is available for you 24/7 to troubleshoot your queries and take the burden of all your technical issues, then you can reach out to our email delivery experts by booking a demo.
Final Notes
There are a few ways that would help you to surpass all the challenges of your email getting blocked:
- Have a clean email list, and check the recipient’s email address to avoid sending emails to invalid addresses.
- Do not send emails in bulk, let your IP and email sending reputation improve over a period of time.
- Authenticate your emails as this has become mandatory as per the Google and Yahoo updates.
- Always remember that Google algorithms can easily identify spammers.
- Lastly, follow all the above-mentioned points to ensure your IP and domain reputation are healthy and avoid getting your emails blocked.
These tips will always prove to be a go-to for people who want their emails to hit the customer’s inbox every time.
Till then, hustle harder and grow better!
Happy Emailing!
