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Braze Learning courseDeliverability pitfalls and spam traps

This article covers common email deliverability pitfalls, spam traps, and how to avoid them.

Your email deliverability can be affected by any of the following spam traps:

Trap Type Description
Pristine Traps Email addresses and domains that have never been used.
Recycled Traps Email addresses that were originally real users, but are now dormant.
Typo Traps Email addresses containing common typos.
Spam Complaints When your email is marked as spam by a consumer.
High Bounce Rate When your email consistently fails to deliver because the recipient’s address is invalid.

How to avoid spam traps

These traps can be avoided if you set up a confirmed opt-in process. By sending an initial opt-in email and asking subscribers to verify that they want your messages, you’re ensuring your recipients want to hear from you, and that you’re sending to real, valid addresses. Here are additional ways to avoid spam traps:

  1. Send a double opt-in email. This is an email that requires users to confirm their subscription choices by clicking a link.
  2. As a best practice, implement a sunset policy.
  3. Never purchase email lists.

How to resolve a free email domain block for Microsoft

Microsoft rarely unblocks senders who have trouble delivering to free email domains (Hotmail, Live, MSN, and Outlook). Instead, reduce your volume to those domains aggressively and send only to recently engaged contacts. If you can’t identify a core group of engaged recipients, stop sending to those domains altogether.

An example free email domain block message is:

550 5.7.1 Unfortunately, messages from [xx.xx.xx.xx] weren't sent. Please contact your Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list (S3150). You can also refer your provider to: http://mail.live.com/mail/troubleshooting.aspx#errors.

You can slowly increase volume similar to IP warming, paying close attention to metrics. There’s often a root cause of the deliverability issues to identify and resolve. In general, this is a lack of proper permission, a lack of ongoing list hygiene, or a combination of those factors.

Remove an email address from your bounce or spam list

You can remove bounced emails and emails on your Braze spam list with the following endpoints:

Improve email deliverability

For more information, see Improve email deliverability.
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