How to Avoid Email Blocklists? 10 Best Practices to Multiply Your Delivery Rates

Have you ever emailed only to find out it was never delivered to your recipient's inbox? This could be because your email is being blocked by an email blocklist. So, what is an email blacklist? An email blocklist or blacklist or denylist is a database of IP addresses and domains marked as spam.

How an Email Blacklist Impacts Email Delivery

As a B2B company, email is a crucial part of your communication strategy. Whether you're sending newsletters, promotional offers, or follow-up messages, you want to ensure that your emails are reaching the right people. 

Unfortunately, if your emails are constantly ending up in the spam folder, your reputation will suffer, and your email deliverability rate will decrease.

According to a recent study, only 86% of emails sent from business domains reach the inbox. That's a 14% failure rate! 

You can't afford to have your emails blocked and end up in the spam folder. Your emails need to reach the inbox, so your recipient can see them, engage with them, and take action.

10 Tips to Avoid Hitting the Email Blocklist of Your Prospects

Avoiding email blacklists will improve your email deliverability rate, enhance your reputation, and ensure that your emails reach the right people. So let's dive in and explore the tips that will help you achieve this.

1. Verify Email Addresses

When sending emails, it's essential to have accurate and up-to-date information about your recipients. Invalid or outdated email addresses can lead to a bounce, which can harm your sender's reputation. 

To avoid this, it's crucial to verify the email addresses of your recipients before sending them an email. Here are a few techniques you can use to verify email addresses:

• Use an email verification tool: 
  Tools like ZeroBounce, Hunter.io, QuickEmailVerification, MailboxValidator, and TheChecker check the validity of email addresses in real time, helping you to avoid sending emails to invalid or outdated addresses.
• Send a confirmation email: 
  This is a simple way to verify that the email addresses you have on file are accurate. Send a confirmation email to your recipients, asking them to click a link or reply to confirm their email address.
• Check the syntax of the email address: 
  Ensure that the email addresses you have on file follow the correct syntax, including the correct use of symbols, such as @ and .com.

2. Use Double Opt-in

Double opt-in is a method of confirming that a recipient wants to receive emails from you. It involves sending a confirmation email to the recipient, asking them to confirm their email address and their desire to receive emails from you.

By using the double opt-in method, you ensure that only individuals who are interested in receiving emails from you are added to your email list. This reduces the chances of sending emails to inactive or uninterested recipients, which can lead to high bounce and complaint rates.

High bounce and complaint rates are red flags for email providers, and they can lead to your IP address being added to an email blacklist. By using double opt-in, you can avoid sending emails to uninterested recipients, reducing your bounce and complaint rates, and avoiding email blocklists.

Additionally, by using double opt-in, you demonstrate to your recipients that you value their privacy and are committed to providing them with relevant and valuable content. This helps build trust with your recipients, which can lead to more email engagement.

3. Limit Email Sending Frequency

Sending too many emails in a short period can lead to high complaint rates, and eventually, your IP address could be added to an email blocklist. Therefore, limiting your email-sending frequency is important to avoid overwhelming your recipients and maintain a healthy sender reputation.

Here are a few techniques you can use to limit your email-sending frequency:

• Establish a schedule: 
  Decide on a schedule for sending your emails and stick to it. This helps to establish a consistent pattern, making it easier for your recipients to expect when they will receive emails from you.
• Segment your email list: 
  Divide your email list into smaller segments based on factors such as subscriber activity and preferences. This allows you to send targeted and relevant emails to each segment, reducing the frequency of emails sent to your entire list.
• Provide an opt-out option: 
  Give your recipients the option to opt out of receiving emails from you or to receive fewer emails. This helps to reduce the number of unsubscribes and complaints, maintaining a healthy sender reputation.

4. Monitor Email Bounce Rates

Bounce rates refer to the percentage of undeliverable emails returned to the sender. There are two types of bounces: soft bounces and hard bounces. 

Soft bounces occur when an email cannot be delivered because of a temporary issue, such as a full inbox. 

Hard bounces occur when an email cannot be delivered due to a permanent issue, such as an invalid email address.

Monitoring your bounce rates can help you identify issues with your email addresses, allowing you to take action to resolve them. On the other hand, high bounce rates can harm your sender's reputation and lead to your IP address being added to an email blocklist. 

By monitoring your bounce rates, you can identify and resolve any issues with your email addresses, reducing your bounce rate and avoiding email blocklists.

Additionally, monitoring your bounce rates can help you identify trends and patterns, allowing you to make changes to your email campaigns to improve their deliverability. 

For example, suppose you notice a high bounce rate for emails sent to a specific segment of your email list. In that case, you can take action to resolve the issue and improve deliverability for that segment.

5. Monitor Complaint Rates

Complaint rates refer to the number of recipients who mark your emails as spam. This is a direct measure of how well your emails are received by your audience and can significantly impact your sender's reputation.

By monitoring your complaint rates, you can take proactive measures to ensure that your emails are well-received by your audience. On the other hand, high complaint rates can harm your sender's reputation and even lead to your IP address being added to an email blocklist, making it crucial to monitor these rates.

Additionally, monitoring complaint rates can help you identify patterns and make improvements to your email campaigns, increasing their effectiveness and deliverability. 

This can be done by analyzing the segments of your email list with the highest complaint rates and making changes to better target and engage those subscribers.

6. Use a Reputable Email Delivery Service Provider

Using a reputable email service provider is a key factor in avoiding email blocklists. These service providers have the technical expertise and resources to ensure that your emails are delivered to your subscribers' inboxes while also adhering to best practices to avoid email blocklists.

When choosing an email delivery service provider, several factors must be considered to ensure that you are using a reputable and effective service. These factors include:

• Deliverability: 
  The provider should have a strong track record of delivering emails to subscribers' inboxes. Look for providers with high deliverability rates and low complaint rates.
• Reputation: 
  Check the provider's reputation and history to ensure that they are trusted by other businesses and have a good track record of avoiding email blocklists.
• Features: 
  Look for a provider that offers features that meet your specific needs, such as automation, personalization, and analytics.
• Support: 
  Make sure the provider offers a high level of support, including live chat and email support, to help you resolve any issues that may arise.
• Pricing: 
  Consider the cost of the service and ensure that it fits within your budget while still offering the features and support you need.

7. Follow Anti-spam Laws

Anti-spam laws are laws designed to regulate unsolicited commercial emails. These laws typically require that businesses get consent from recipients before sending them emails and provide recipients with the option to unsubscribe from future emails. 

Some of the most well-known anti-spam laws include the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union.

By following anti-spam laws, you can demonstrate to ISPs and email providers that you are a responsible sender and that your emails are valuable to your subscribers. This can help to maintain a positive sender reputation and avoid being added to email blocklists.

Additionally, by obtaining consent from your subscribers and providing them with the option to unsubscribe, you can help to reduce complaint rates and further improve your sender reputation. This can lead to higher deliverability rates and better engagement with your audience.

8. Use Tools for Email Denylist Checker

There are several tools available for checking if an email address or domain has been deny-listed, including:

• MxToolbox: 
  A comprehensive email denylist checker also offers tools for diagnosing email delivery issues.
• Mail-Tester: 
  An online tool that allows you to check if an email address is on a denylist and provides recommendations for improving email deliverability.
• Barracuda Reputation System: 
  A real-time denylist checker that provides reputation scores for email domains and IP addresses.

These tools are critical because they help your business to monitor its email reputation and ensure that your emails are delivered to subscribers' inboxes. 

By checking the status of email blocklists, you can take steps to improve your sender reputation and avoid being added to more blocklists.

In addition, these tools can help you to diagnose email delivery issues and provide recommendations for improvement. 

For example, a tool like Mail-Tester can check for issues such as poor email content, a lack of authentication, or a high complaint rate and provide recommendations for fixing these issues.

By using these tools, you can maintain a positive sender reputation and ensure that your emails are delivered to subscribers' inboxes, leading to higher engagement and better results for your email campaigns.

9. Use a Reputable IP Address

The IP address of your email server can have a significant impact on your email deliverability. For example, when an email is sent from an IP address that is associated with spam or other malicious activity, it is more likely to be blocked or filtered as unwanted by email providers.

To ensure that your IP address is reputable and does not harm your email deliverability, you can follow these techniques:

• Monitor your IP reputation regularly: 
  Use tools like SenderScore to monitor the reputation of your IP address and ensure that it remains in good standing.
• Keep your email lists clean: 
  Maintain a clean and up-to-date email list to reduce the risk of bouncebacks and complaint rates, which can negatively impact your IP reputation.
• Authenticate your email: 
  Use email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify that your email is coming from a legitimate source and to protect your IP reputation.
• Limit email sending volume: 
  Avoid sending large volumes of email in a short period of time, as this can cause your IP address to be flagged as a spammer.
• Follow anti-spam laws: 
  Make sure that your email campaigns comply with anti-spam laws, such as CAN-SPAM in the United States, to avoid harming your IP reputation.

10. Optimize Your Email Content

Personalizing your emails as much as possible is a key strategy for reducing spam complaints and improving engagement with your audience. By using email marketing software, you can craft highly customized emails tailored to each recipient.

When you optimize your emails, you make a connection with your subscribers and show them that you value their interests and preferences. This can increase engagement and build a stronger relationship with your audience over time.

In addition to personalization, it is also vital to offer your subscribers valuable content that they are interested in. When you provide your subscribers with relevant and helpful information, they are less likely to flag your email as spam.

Personalizing your emails and offering valuable content are both important strategies for avoiding email spam complaints and improving the success of your email marketing campaigns. 

By taking the time to craft highly customized and valuable emails, you can ensure that your subscribers remain engaged and interested in your content, leading to better results for your business.

Final Word

Avoiding email blocklists is crucial for the success of your email marketing campaigns. 

By verifying email addresses, using double opt-in, limiting email sending frequency, and monitoring bounce, and complaint rates, you can ensure that your emails are delivered to subscribers' inboxes and not filtered as unwanted. 

By partnering with Revnew, you can ensure the success of your email marketing efforts and build strong relationships with your subscribers. 

We do all the hard work for you! How? By sticking to each of the above tips and more. For more information, you can speak to us now.