Microsoft Outlook Bulk Email Changes: What You Need to Know

Microsoft Outlook Bulk Email Changes: What You Need to Know

Dear Marketers,

We want to bring your attention to an important upcoming change announced by Microsoft (Outlook) that will impact users sending bulk emails to Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, and other Microsoft-hosted inboxes. This update focuses on strengthening email authentication to improve inbox security and reduce spam. These measures will help reduce spoofing, phishing, and spam activity, empowering legitimate senders with stronger brand protection and better deliverability.

Microsoft's New Requirements for Bulk Senders:

Microsoft is introducing new requirements for domains sending more than 5,000 emails per day. Starting May 5th, 2025, Outlook will begin enforcing stricter email authentication standards.

Key Changes to Be Aware Of:

  • Mandatory SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Your sending domain must pass SPF authentication. Ensure your domain's DNS record accurately lists all authorized IP addresses and hosts that send emails on your behalf.

  • Mandatory DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Your emails must pass DKIM authentication. This validates the integrity and authenticity of your emails.

  • Mandatory DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): Your domain must have a DMARC record in place, and alignment with either SPF or DKIM (preferably both for optimal deliverability).

Impact on Non-Compliant Senders:

  • Initial Routing to Junk: After May 5th, 2025, emails from high-volume senders that do not comply with these authentication requirements will initially be routed to the Junk folder.

  • Future Rejection: Microsoft has stated that in the future, non-compliant emails will be rejected entirely to further protect their users.

Recommendations for Zoho Marketing Automation Users:

As users of Zoho Marketing Automation, especially if you send bulk email campaigns that might exceed 5,000 emails per day to Microsoft-hosted inboxes, it's crucial to take the following steps now to ensure your email deliverability is not affected:

  • Review Your DNS Records: Audit your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for the domains you use to send emails through Zoho Marketing Automation. Verify that they are correctly configured and accurately reflect your sending infrastructure.

  • Ensure SPF Passes: Confirm that your SPF record includes all necessary sending sources for Zoho Marketing Automation.

  • Ensure DKIM is Implemented: Verify that DKIM signing is properly set up for your sending domains within Zoho Marketing Automation.

  • Implement DMARC: If you haven't already, implement a DMARC record in your DNS. Starting with p=none allows you to monitor your email authentication results before moving to stricter policies.

  • Configure Custom Return Path: This dedicated custom return-path address allows you to receive detailed notifications about email bounces, enabling you to analyze delivery issues and proactively manage your email lists.

  • Follow Email Hygiene Best Practices: While not strictly mandatory yet, adopting the following practices will further enhance your deliverability and sender reputation:

    • Use compliant and valid "From" and "Reply-To" addresses.

    • Include functional and easily accessible unsubscribe links.

    • Maintain clean email lists and manage bounces effectively.

    • Practice transparent mailing practices with clear subject lines and proper consent.

Next Steps for You:

  1. Prepare Now: Review and update your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records immediately.

  2. Help Resources: If you need assistance with setting up SPF, DKIM, or DMARC, refer to Zoho Marketing Automation's help documentation.

This update from Microsoft underscores the increasing importance of proper email authentication for ensuring reliable email delivery. By taking proactive steps now, you can safeguard your email campaigns and maintain strong deliverability to Outlook inboxes.

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide any further updates or guidance relevant to using Zoho Marketing Automation. Keep an eye on our community forums and announcements.

Notes
It's important to note that Zoho Marketing Automation will not impose restrictions on email sending; however, users are strongly encouraged to proactively implement these authentication measures on their end to maximize deliverability

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support@zohomarketingautomation.com or engage in the community forums.

Happy Marketing!
The Zoho Marketing Automation Team

    • Sticky Posts

    • Marketer’s Space - Automating CRM Actions with Journeys – Part 2

      Hello marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer’s Space. In our previous post, we explored how CRM actions in Journeys help marketing and sales teams work together by nurturing CRM leads and pushing only engaged prospects back to sales. If you

    • Introducing automation and utility conversations in WhatsApp marketing

      We’re excited to announce the addition of two new features to our WhatsApp integration: Automation and Utility conversations. These enhancements will allow you to streamline your marketing efforts and engage with your customers more effectively by automating

    • Tip of the week 02 - The art of 'seeing' your leads

      What's the last page that your lead visited before signing up for your brand? What was the page that first convinced your lead to explore more about you? Where are your leads coming in from? Well, these are some perennial questions today's marketers live upon. And, knowing the answers to these questions is crucial, considering the vitality of leads in every business. In the journey of finding lead opportunities, it's important to understand that every detail about a lead is useful. While the channels

    • Zoho Marketing Automation Update: Topics, Contacts, and List Management

      At Zoho Marketing Automation, our highest priority is making it easier for you to use our product to accomplish your business goals. With that in mind, we are updating three of our pivotal features: Topic, Contacts, and List Management.   These existing

    • Important: Zoho MarketingHub is now Zoho Marketing Automation

      Hello Everyone,   We hope you all are doing well. We'd like to notify you that we have rebranded Zoho MarketingHub to Zoho Marketing Automation. We'll discontinue using the term "MarketingHub" from May 26, 2021. However, there will be no changes in the

    • Recent Topics

    • Deleting Salutation Field

      We have updated our lead input screen and 'Salutation' has appeared. This is not visible in the 'Edit Pgae Layout' screen so cannot be moved to 'List of Removed Fields'  Salutation is visible in the list in 'Customization - Fields' however I can only 'Edit' or 'Replace' I cannot delete and I do not need this field on my lead input screen.  Please can you advise how to get rid of this.  Screen shots can be provided if needed.  Thank you Tasha

    • One notebook is on my Android phone app, but not on Web or PC app.

      This problem started in stages. At first my phone was occasionally failing to sync. Then I noticed two things added to my Phone App. One was an existing notebook had a new cover, and the other was a new Note Card with an odd text in it. These were only

    • Creating Email template that attaches file uploaded in specific field.

      If there's a way to do this using Zoho CRM's built-in features, then this has eluded me! I'm looking to create a workflow that automatically sends an email upon execution, and that email includes an attachment uploaded in a specific field. Email templates

    • Zoho Inventory Item History

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, I 've been testing the History feature on Inventory Items in a demo system and I noticed that when I changed the value of a field to a new value, the history just says "updated by - user1", it doesn't say what what field was changed

    • Proposal for Creating a Unique "Address" Entity in Zoho FSM

      The "Address" entity is one of the most critical components for a service-oriented company. While homeowners may change and servicing companies may vary, the address itself remains constant. This constancy is essential for subsequent services, as it provides

    • Latência

      Estou com bastante latência 200ms em São Paulo Brasil para o endereço mail.zoho.com, e email demora para carregar as vezes trava como está por ai ? segue print sabem se é normal ? ping

    • Push error with Zoho Books and Zoho CRM

      I have successfully linked Books and CRM but I have some push errors with the following message: "The customer associated to this record is not linked to module chosen in the current contact sync configuration." I am unable to work this out, could you help please.

    • How to change the module for contact sync from Accounts to Accounts & their Contacts?

      Hi, My ZOHO CRM integration is broken and pushing the errors for sales orders and invoices, the error message is: "The customer associated to this record is not linked to module chosen in the current contact sync configuration." So, Now I'm trying to

    • Zoho CRM Developer Series - Queries

      Hey everyone! We’re excited to invite you to our next Zoho CRM Developer Series focused on Zoho CRM Queries, happening on June 5, 2025 and June 26, 2025. Whether you're working on CRM customizations, integrating with third-party services, or just curious

    • Food Delivery + ZohoCRM

      I've been using the free version of Zoho for a while, and I think it's time to upgrade. I'm sure I might be doing something wrong or I'm lacking some features I deliver frozen food, 2 days a week. For this I create a new task for the contact who orders me with - date he receives as Due Date - what I'm sending and at what time he can receive it in the Description Is there a better way of doing this?? I'd like to track what customers buys (the way I use it I have no record of that), and delete it from

    • VOIP integration

      I emailed this question to rishi but never got a response. I notice when I mouse over phone number it has a link to launch into SKYPE. We dont use SKYPE we use Xlite SIP client. Is it possible to change that link to launch our client API? If so how? If not any plans to make that VOIP integration customizable?

    • File Upload in Creator's Subfrom

      Hello Sir/Madam, Here is a Problem......... Scenario: In CRM One Custom Module (Payments) have one File Upload Field now we have to Upload that File into Creator's Custom Form (Documents) have one Subform (Documents) in Document Upload Field using Deluge

    • Increase size of description editor when creating new ticket

      Please can you consider making the description editor in the create new ticket form a resizeable area as by default, it is very small and there appears to be no way to increase the size of it.

    • CRM For Everyone - Bring Back Settings Tile View

      I've been using CRM for Everyone since it was in early access and I just can't stand the single list settings menu down the left-hand side. It takes so much longer to find the setting I need. Please give users the option to make the old sytle tile view

    • Add "Ask Zia" Functionality for Report Creation in Zoho Desk

      Hi, How are you? We’ve noticed that Zoho CRM offers a very useful feature called "Ask Zia", which allows users to enter natural language prompts to generate reports quickly and easily using Zia's AI capabilities. Currently, Zoho Desk does not support

    • Compensation | Salary Packages - Hourly Wage Needed

      The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says 55.7% of all workers in the US are paid by the hour. I don't know how that compares to the rest of the world, but I would think that this alone would justify the need for having an hourly-based salary package option.

    • Zoho FSM API to search Zoho FSM Assets by Asset_Number?

      How can I search or otherwise retrieve an Asset from the Assets module in Zoho FSM using the Asset_Number? The API docs seem to say that the only field that can be searched is the Asset Name. Is this true? https://www.zoho.com/fsm/developer/help/api/search-records.html

    • I can't use zoho in my personal computer

      Facing error on monitor Oops! An error occurred

    • My Zoho Account Not Working, Suddenly its stoped

      Hello Team, our company email account is not working, we are not receiving email. Website: www.urgentdubaivisaonline.com Email: social@urgentdubaivisaonline.com

    • MX verification

      Dear All I face a difficulties to verify MX records in my domain alfagrouptrading.sk it is since two days. records are correct and I am waiting for 48 hour I send email shown in the error message with no reply.in addition, it supposed to be propagated

    • I'm not receiving emails.

      Hello. I'm having an issue in which I am able to send emails using my zoho mail, but I seem to be unable to receive them. please help.

    • Change zoho email address

      I am displeased with the email address I created. It's too long.

    • Departments Limit

      There is a limit of departments that i can have on zoho desk?

    • CRM for Everyone - More Actions Option to Create Record

      Please consider the option create a new record for the relevant record from the More Actions menu. I know there is an "Add New" icon further down the menu to create a record for any module, but this just seems more intuitive and could reduce the need

    • Unified WhatsApp Number Management in Zoho Desk and SalesIQ

      Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, We are currently utilizing both Zoho Desk and Zoho SalesIQ for our customer support operations. While both platforms offer WhatsApp integration, we are facing challenges due to the requirement of separate WhatsApp numbers

    • Mass Update of Lookup Fields not possible

      Hello List I've created a custom field for Leads and Contacts 'Current Campaign'. This is very Handy as I can filter leads and then related them to a campaign. Everything ready, but then I realized that mass update doesn't work for lookup fields... a

    • Time Limited Coupon or Expiring Link in Workflows

      I would like to see a feature where I can include a time limited link in Workflow Campaigns. For example: I could link to a sales page with a discount and set the link to expire after 24h. The link would be generated by Campaigns for each campaign sent

    • How to create a form using both contact and account fields?

      I am sending a prefilled form from CRM with fields mapped, to update records in CRM. If I link the CRM field to the Contacts module, the Account Name field doesn't come up as an option in CRM. If I added it under Related Fields, my understanding it would

    • Boost your Zoho Desk's performance by archiving tickets!

      The longer your help desk operations are, the more likely it is to accumulate tickets that are no longer relevant. For example, ticket records from a year ago are typically less relevant than currently open tickets. Such old tickets may eventually lead

    • Are Zoho Help Center Email Notifications Customisable?

      Hi, I would like to find out if the Zoho Help Center email notifications can be customised to add our own styling and branding? These are the notifications that get sent when a client adds a new topic, adds a comment, signs up to the help center, etc?

    • Wizard Form

      I would like the option to create a wizard that works when you create a record and contacts that are already in the CRM captured with a web 2 lead form (field data inserted in to the wizard).  Having the option to create up to 3/4 segments per screen

    • Two-Way Sync Zoho CRM Custom Module with Zoho FSM Company Addresses

      Business fact: Many companies don't just have one location. They have multiple locations (some have many), with addresses we need to know for service, deliveries, etc. We have created a custom "Sites" module in Zoho CRM to store an Account/Company's addresses

    • Sharing and Converting Custom Reports Across Departments in Zoho Desk

      Hello, We initially started using Zoho Desk with a single department (Department "A"), which included multiple teams. Nearly a year later, we identified several limitations that led us to create three additional departments ("B", "C", and "D") with replicated

    • Dynamic Dashboard for CRM Flyout/Widget

      Hello, Apologies if this has been answered before—it's possible I'm just not searching the community with the right terms. I'm trying to create a dashboard in Zoho Analytics that pulls together reports from several datasets (e.g., CRM Deals, Books Invoices,

    • Mapping a new Ticket in Zoho Desk to an Account or Deal in Zoho CRM manually

      Is there any way for me to map an existing ticket in Zoho desk to an account or Deal within Zoho CRM? Sometimes people use different email to put in a ticket than the one that we have in the CRM, but it's still the same person. We would like to be able

    • Does Thrive work with Zoho Billing (Subscriptions)?

      I would like to use Thrive with Zoho Billing Subscriptions but don't see a way to do so. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you

    • Zoho Sprints mobile app(Android and iOS) v2.0

      Hello everyone! We’re thrilled to announce that Zoho Sprints Mobile app2.0 is now live. With the newest version of the Zoho Sprints mobile app, we hope to provide a fresh, faster, and intuitive experience for managing your sprints on the go! Whether you're

    • Subform dynamic fields on Edit, Load of Main form.

      Main Form: Time_Entry Sub Form (separate form): Time_Entries Time_Entries.Time_Entry_No is lookup to - Time_Entry.Time_Sheet_ID (auto number). I would like to disable some of the subform fields upon load (when edited) of the Time_Entry main form. What

    • View Answer Bot conversations?

      We are trialing Zia and are experimenting with Answer Bot on our knowledge base. So far so good! Management asks me if it is possible to view Answer Bot conversations, the purpose being to look over its shoulder and confirm that it is working as des

    • Delivery note from order or from offer

      Hello, in our company and in a lot of companies in Italy, the standard workflow is (in order): 1) Offer 2) Customer order 3) Delivery note. We can have also more delivery notes in one month. 4) Invoice at the end of the month from delivery note (so only

    • Next Page