What You Should Know About Blacklists

What you should know about blacklists

A blacklist is a list of IP addresses and domains that are suspected of sending spam. Blacklist services such as Spamhaus, Sorbs, Barracuda, Spamcop, and others maintain their own blacklists. Based on the blacklists, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and ESPs (Email Service Providers) block emails from suspected domains/IPs from entering the mailbox.

What to do if your domain is blacklisted

If your IP/sender address is on a blacklist, take the following steps immediately:
Perform the actions:
  1. Use blacklist look-up tools to know in detail about the services which have blacklisted your domain.
  2. Delist your domain from the service that has blacklisted it.
  3. Submit a delist request form provided by the service.
  4. Analyze the reason for blacklist and take prompt actions to avoid it.

Avoid sending emails until you're delisted; it can be even more detrimental and cause your domain to be blacklisted by other blacklist services. 

You can check your blacklist details at blacklist lookup services such as MXToolbox, DNSBL, MultiRBL, BLACKLISTALERT.org, Spamhaus, Sorbs, Barracuda, and others.

How a blacklisted domain affects your messages

  1. Poor email delivery (email rejection and landing in spam or junk)
  2. Poor domain reputation with other blacklist and anti-spam services
  3. High bounce rate from the recipient system 
Some of the primary things that cause blacklisting of a sender domain/IP are as follows:
  1. Poor list management
  2. Poor email sending practices

Poor List management

A mailing list without proper maintenance is the root cause for a domain to get blacklisted.

Abuse complaints

A major cause for domain blacklisting is complaints. When email recipients mark an email as spam, spam filters at various levels consider the sender suspicious. If your emails have high mark as spam complaints, it can get blacklisted.

Email recipients may also report a sender domain directly to anti-spam services, or to Zoho Marketing Automation (as your emails were sent through Zoho Marketing Automation). Direct abuse complaints cause more trouble and can speed up blacklisting of a domain.

To learn how to tackle complaints, click here.

Spam traps

Blacklist services employ spam trap addresses to determine which senders should be blacklisted. Spam traps resemble normal email addresses, but don't respond to emails or sign up for mailing lists. Spam traps can't be identified as easily as bounces and complaints. 

Remove non-opt-in and unresponsive email addresses that have been unresponsive for a long time (more than six months). There's a high chance that these idle email addresses could have become expired and got converted to spam trap addresses.

To learn how to avoid spam traps, click here.

High unsubscribes

Though unsubscribes are common in email marketing, when the rate is high, anti-spam services consider it as a negative response and degrade the sender's domain reputation. This can lead to blacklisting of the domain depending on the severity of the unsubscribe rate.
Note: When you switch from another email marketing software to Zoho Marketing Automation, you should leave behind any unsubscribed and bounced email addresses. Remember to only import hygienic mailing lists. 

Poor Email sending practices

The following email practices can lead to a bad sender domain reputation/score:

Sender recognition failure

Your contacts tend to open an email only when they're sure about its sender. If not, they ignore, delete, or mark it as spam right away. Anti-spam services consider contacts' negative response and degrade your sender domain reputation. This leads to domain blacklisting. To learn more about sender recognition,  click here.

Improper contact engagement

It's human nature to forget. When you send emails to contacts after a long gap (more than 6 months), it can be hard for them to recollect who you are. This can lead to abuse complaints. We recommend you to maintain a balance in your emails.

Send regular emails to those who've shown their interest. Segment contacts who are idle for more than 6 months. Retarget them with re-engagement emails and remove unresponsive and uninterested contacts from your mailing lists. To learn more about list segmentation,  click here
Including URLs with blacklisted domains is detrimental to your emails and sender domain. Shortening URLs from public services is not advisable since it is vulnerable to spamming attacks. When you include URLs, make sure they're not under any blacklists.

Emails with irrelevant content

If an email has a subject line that is completely different from the email content, the contacts may feel deceived. This makes them mark it as spam, thereby leading to domain blacklisting. 
Make sure your subject line, your email message, and the webpage content redirected from the URLs given in the email have related content. 

Emails from a new domain

If you're using a new domain to send emails, consider the following,
  1. If this new domain is different from the domain that your contacts signed up on, then inform them that both are the same. Include a line in the footer saying, "You're receiving this email because you subscribed to yourdomain.com".
  2. If you are sending emails to many customers from a new domain, anti-spam services will feel skeptic because you don't have any footprints with the recipient system. Until you build a good reputation with the recipient system, it may defer your emails. The best solution to this is to segment your mailing list and to gradually increase the number of email recipients. 

How to avoid getting blacklisted

  1. Regularly check your domain reputation with reputable anti-spam services such as Spamhaus, Sorbs, Spamcop, and others.
  2. Check your bounce rate and the error message in it. If your bounce reason states that the bounce is due to blacklisted domain, then you need to make a delist request to the respective blacklist service.

    Access your files securely from anywhere

      Zoho CRM Training Programs

      Learn how to use the best tools for sales force automation and better customer engagement from Zoho's implementation specialists.

      Zoho CRM Training
        Redefine the way you work
        with Zoho Workplace

          Zoho DataPrep Personalized Demo

          If you'd like a personalized walk-through of our data preparation tool, please request a demo and we'll be happy to show you how to get the best out of Zoho DataPrep.

          Zoho CRM Training

            Create, share, and deliver

            beautiful slides from anywhere.

            Get Started Now


              Zoho Sign now offers specialized one-on-one training for both administrators and developers.

              BOOK A SESSION









                                            You are currently viewing the help pages of Qntrl’s earlier version. Click here to view our latest version—Qntrl 3.0's help articles.




                                                Manage your brands on social media

                                                  Zoho Desk Resources

                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                    Zoho Marketing Automation

                                                      Zoho Sheet Resources

                                                       

                                                          Zoho Forms Resources


                                                            Secure your business
                                                            communication with Zoho Mail


                                                            Mail on the move with
                                                            Zoho Mail mobile application

                                                              Stay on top of your schedule
                                                              at all times


                                                              Carry your calendar with you
                                                              Anytime, anywhere




                                                                    Zoho Sign Resources

                                                                      Sign, Paperless!

                                                                      Sign and send business documents on the go!

                                                                      Get Started Now




                                                                              Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                                      Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                                                        Zoho DataPrep Demo

                                                                                        Get a personalized demo or POC

                                                                                        REGISTER NOW


                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now









                                                                                                              • Related Articles

                                                                                                              • Managing a sender domain or IP address that has been blacklisted

                                                                                                                Blacklists are lists of email senders who are known to send spam. These lists are maintained by internet service providers, anti-spam services, and mailbox providers. When it comes to offering inbox placement, mailbox providers give preference to ...
                                                                                                              • Getting started with email deliverability

                                                                                                                Identifying the needs and interests of contacts and conceptualizing email campaigns around those are part and parcel of a marketer's daily routine. Sometimes marketers may assume that crafting a compelling campaign alone will help them hit their ...
                                                                                                              • Eight frequent activities that affect email deliverability

                                                                                                                Email deliverability is the ability to land emails in the inbox of your recipients. If your campaign's deliverability takes a hit, it might be due to certain email marketing practices you follow. Let's dive deep and learn about practices that affect ...
                                                                                                              • Boost your email deliverability with the Google Postmaster tool

                                                                                                                Mailbox providers consider the reputation of your sender domain when making inbox decisions. If your sender domain has a negative reputation, your emails may land in the spam folder. If your sender domain has a positive reputation, the chances of ...
                                                                                                              • Warming up a sender domain

                                                                                                                We know that as marketers, you want to send large volumes of emails and achieve inbox placement. When mailbox providers receive emails, they consider the reputation of a sender domain to make inbox decisions. So, how is the reputation of a sender ...
                                                                                                                Wherever you are is as good as
                                                                                                                your workplace

                                                                                                                  Resources

                                                                                                                  Videos

                                                                                                                  Watch comprehensive videos on features and other important topics that will help you master Zoho CRM.



                                                                                                                  eBooks

                                                                                                                  Download free eBooks and access a range of topics to get deeper insight on successfully using Zoho CRM.



                                                                                                                  Webinars

                                                                                                                  Sign up for our webinars and learn the Zoho CRM basics, from customization to sales force automation and more.



                                                                                                                  CRM Tips

                                                                                                                  Make the most of Zoho CRM with these useful tips.



                                                                                                                    Zoho Show Resources