Blacklists are the worst fate for an email sender. Spammers end up there, but it is a myth that it is only for spammers: you can be blacklisted without sending unwanted emails. Previously, you can be suspicious and be on a grey list, but it is clear that the best thing that can happen is for your IP to be on a white list, so that email managers do not block access to your subscribers' inbox.
Who gets on a blacklist
This is the name given to lists of domains or IP addresses that send messages considered as spam. There are different blacklists, such as Spamhaus or Barracuda, and the providers' filters consult them, in addition to their own, to assess whether the sender is trustworthy or not and thus decide whether to let it through or not.
Entering this type of database is dangerous because messages will have their deliverability reduced and will be blocked or go to the spam folder. In the first case, they will never reach the recipient, with the consequent frustration of the user if they are expecting it; while in the second case, they may lose confidence in the sender and decide never to open their communications again.
Spam has a very bad reputation because it often involves a fraudulent message that can even be dangerous for the security of the recipients. It is therefore often believed that getting blacklisted is difficult for those who send ‘normal’ mailings, such as promotional or informational campaigns that are not intended to mislead anyone. However, this is a myth because it is also possible to get on a blacklist by accident, even through no fault of your own.
When you are unintentionally blacklisted
There are several reasons why our IP may be blacklisted. Some of them depend on how we manage our contacts and others on the type of content we send, but there are also those that do not depend directly on us.
- Someone hacks your account: this is perhaps the worst-case scenario because it is likely to affect other services in your company. Depending on the scope, it may be an action that can be reported to the authorities.
- You share an IP with a spammer: this situation is quite unfair because you may not have done anything wrong, but your messages will still be considered spam because you use the same IP.
- You buy lists: this may be a shortcut to get more subscribers, but most of them will not have given their consent, so the result is usually negative and has consequences in the medium term.
- You fall into spam traps: related to databases of dubious origin, you may find inside some addresses that are used to check that the sender has permission to send.
- You get a lot of complaints: if too many users mark you as spam, you may end up in the spam folder and eventually on blacklists.
- You send like a spammer: they will think you are a spammer if you mimic their behaviour with a very high volume of messages per hour, using a single image, shortening links or using misleading wording.
Accidents happen in email marketing, but some good practices can keep us away from blacklists.
What to do to avoid being blacklisted
The sender's reputation is a determining factor for good deliverability, although there are also other factors to take into account so that neither internet providers, nor mail managers, nor the users themselves consider us to be spam without us being spammers.
- Comply with the GDPR: do not buy lists, always ask for users' consent and include the option to unsubscribe in every message. If, in addition, we ask them about their interests during the registration process, we ensure that we send messages of value and there will be less chance that they will mark us as spam.
- Clean up the list: maintenance, beyond the unsubscribes that are automatically deleted, serves to maintain a high percentage of interactions and get rid of inactive subscribers.
- Ask to be added as a contact: using a real account, and not a noreply@, is a very simple way to verify that we are trusted recipients. This can be in the footer of each mailing or in the automatic welcome email.
- Take care of the layout: email marketing is not sending a web page by email. You should avoid malicious code, links to addresses that give errors or are potentially fraudulent and never add attachments.
- Avoid certain words: both in the subject line and within the message, ‘free’ is not a good option. Neither are the typical errors of an automatic translation or overdoing it with capital letters or punctuation marks, especially exclamation marks. Acrelia's editor has an automatic test to avoid this problem.
- Having a dedicated IP: this is an option to consider and, although it is not the solution to all problems, it can be helpful if you send a lot of emails because you can better control your reputation as a sender.
Even if you comply with all these recommendations, there is still a chance of being blacklisted. The good news is that you can get off them.
How to get off a blacklist
If you suspect that your deliverability is very low, you can check if your IP or domain is blacklisted. From sites such as MultiRBL you can check various blacklist providers and find out their own procedures for requesting to be removed from their database. You can also try contacting the various email providers to make the request, for example Gmail has a form for this, although it is not always easy to get a quick response.
Remember that there is a possibility that you may be on a grey list and, if you solve the problems that have caused you to be considered spam, you can get off it without requesting to be removed and not be moved to a black list.
