Important: Changes to Microsoft (Outlook) Bulk Email Sending

Important: Changes to Microsoft (Outlook) Bulk Email Sending

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

    • accounts payable and receivable subaccounts

      How to create accounts payable and receivable subaccounts? Being that I have several clients and in my balance sheet have to specify the accounts of each client and not only appear "accounts receivable or accounts payable" ??

    • DUPLICATING WORKFLOWS IN CREATOR

      Hi all, I want to duplicate and slightly amend 3 workflows in Creator so that I don't have to keep typing in all the rules and properties each time. I can see lots of videos on CRM with the 3 dots at the top of the workflow, but nothing like that in Creator.

    • Add SKU to query options in `items` API endpoint

      It would be very useful to be able to pull items by SKU in the API as this is a commonly used unique ID that tends to be consistent across systems.

    • Estimates and invoices being sent from company-wide address, rather than individual

      In our organization, team members send estimates and invoices through Zoho Books by using the "Send Email" function. However, for certain users, the system defaults to sending estimates and invoices from a shared organizational email address (e.g., company@example.com)

    • Need profit margins for books in estimates & invoice

      https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/show-my-cost-or-profit-while-creating-estimate

    • Decimal places settings for exchange rates

      Hello, We are facing issues while matching vendor payments with banking feeds. As we often import products/services exchange rate comes into play. Currently, ZOHO allows only six digits for decimal places. We feel that conversions like JPY to INR require

    • Item Level Notifications

      I need to create a custom workflow based on the creation of an estimate that has a SKU/Item name that matches certain criteria. I can have it generated based on a total amount, but not at the item level. Is this possible?

    • Cannot categorize a bank deposit to an income sub-account

      When I go to categorize a bank deposit, I am not able to see any income sub-accounts. If I set up an income account without a parent, then I am able to categorize a transaction into that account, but as soon as I make it a child account, it disappears

    • ZV Extension passkey changes in v5.7.0

      Has there any changes to the how passkeys are managed in ZV - Chrome extensions v5.7.0? Namely, if the passkeys were already implemented/enforced as 2FA on a certain webpage, but ZV does not track them yet. Would that be the issue for my use case?

    • What's New in Zoho Billing - August 2025

      Hello everyone, We are excited to share the latest updates and enhancements made to Zoho Billing in August 2025 to improve your overall billing management experience. Keep reading to learn more. Notify Customers About Subscriptions via WhatsApp Business

    • How do I get my account id?

      Hello, I followed the instructions to get a list of accounts of the currently authenticated user (which is me, and I am logged in). But when I follow the below instructions I get the following error: ERROR: {"data":{"errorCode":"INVALID_TICKET","moreInfo":"Invalid ticket"},"status":{"code":400,"description":"Invalid Input"}} Instructions that I am following: GET - User account details Purpose The API retrieves the list of accounts of the currently authenticated user.  Request URL  http://mail.zoho.com/api/accounts

    • Why are tasks not showing in Zoho Calendar?

      Hi there, I updated the Zoho calendar preferences for Task records to show on the calendar together with Meetings and Calls - see attached screenshot. Despite of that, Task records still won't show on the calendar. Is there a specific reason why this

    • Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - July 2025

      Over the past month, we've focused on making Zoho Payroll more flexible, compliant, and easier to use—whether you're processing complex payouts, ensuring accurate calculations, or meeting local tax regulations. Here's what's new: One-Time Payments and

    • Discussion for “sub product”, “sub item” or “child products”

      Hello everyone, In some CRM systems, there is the ability to associate products in a hierarchical manner within a quote. For example: Product A: Gold Plan Product B: Setup Product C: Connector Product D: Silver Plan Product B: Setup Product C: Connector

    • Retrieve Accidental Deleted User

      Is there a way to undelete a user who accidentally deleted themselves?

    • Request for Support - CRM Integration Issues

      I’m reaching out to request assistance with the following items: 1. Zoho Forms Integration with Zoho CRM We are currently using Zoho Forms to send the Global Credit Application form to our customers. The intended workflow is for the form submissions to

    • Knowledge Base Module

      How to enable the knowledge base module in zoho crm account. I saw this module in one crm account but unable to find it other zoho crm account. can anyone know about this?

    • Zoho sign changed Indexing of signing_order

      Because I missed this Announcement (is there even one?): when you work with the indexes of actions > signing_order. Previous those started with 0 now starts with 1. Changed somewhere between 15.07 and 23.07

    • How to Invoice Based on Timesheet Hours Logged on a Zoho FSM Work Order

      Hi everyone, We’re working on optimizing our invoicing process in Zoho FSM, and we’ve run into a bit of a roadblock. Here’s our goal: We want to invoice based on the actual number of hours logged by our technicians on a job, specifically using the timesheets

    • Zoho CRM Community Digest - June 2025 | Part 2

      Welcome back to the Zoho CRM Community Digest! We’re wrapping up June with more fresh updates, smart discussions, and clever workarounds shared by the community. Product Updates: Struggling to keep track of scattered customer interactions? Zoho CRM's

    • Allow Variable Insertion in Prebuilt "Update Record" Action in Schedules

      Hi Zoho Creator Team, Hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request based on our experience using Zoho Creator schedules to manage workflows integrated with Zoho Desk. We currently have an app where Zoho Desk tickets create records in

    • Rich Text Field Editor in Form Builder is Too Small and Not Resizable

      Hello, I am experiencing a significant usability issue with the rich text field in the Zoho Forms builder. The editor window for this field is fixed-size and extremely small. It does not adapt to the screen size, which makes it very difficult to manage

    • Publicar Formulário

      Obs. Não consigo publicar meus formulários, pesquisei alguns artigos, mas me deixou perdido, fala de campo sensível, não consigo entender o que significa. Segue Imagem do problema. Todo formulário que faço sempre termina assim sem o botão de publicar..

    • Anyone else unable to login to ZMA this weekend?

      Hey Is anyone else unable to log into Zoho Marketing Automation at all this weekend? I've been trying on multiple devices - despot and mobile - and multiple browser. I've reset browsing data, gone incognito. Nothing - since Friday I've been unable to

    • Custom Action for Subform row

      Dears, As for now, we only have 2 actions for each subform row: Edit and Delete. I would suggest to have custom action here, instead of create a button with Fx field within the subform. For example, I would create Duplicate button, which duplicates the

    • Urgent: Unable to Receive OTP Email for Portal User Registration in Zoho Creator

      I paid to enable the Portal User feature on 2/25, and followed the official instructions (Youtube video: Customer Portals | Zoho Creator) to set up the Portal User using my Gmail account. However, I am not receiving the OTP email and am unable to successfully

    • Sole Trader - Financial Advisor (Appointed Representative) - Paid via Capital Account but no Invoicing...

      Hi. I'm about to venture into a new business after 12 months of intensive learning/exams. A little chuffed if I may say so especially at 52! I really like the look of ZoHo Books for my modest enterprise but I'm in need of some guidance, please. My services

    • Display multiple fields in lookup dropdown

      I have a module called Technicians and a related module called submissions that registers technicians for different assignments. The lookup in Submissions to Technicians is the Technician ID (auto generated unique number). How do I display in the dropdown

    • Integrate with Power BI

      Hi, How to connect Zoho CRM dashboards & reports with POWER BI ?

    • No "Import Users" option in Zoho FSM

      I recently noticed that there is no option to import Users into Zoho FSM, and this has become a serious challenge for us. When migrating data, especially technicians or other user profiles, we often have hundreds of users to bring into the system. Currently,

    • Finding "like" projects

      Hi Everyone! My team is running into several duplicating deals. I've been trying to get them all to name things the same way ex. State is 2 letters not spelled out. Things like that. What I am wondering if there is anything I can do as the superadmin

    • Não consigo localizar o Botão de Publicar Formulário no meu app

      Depois que finalizar meus formulários, não consigo localizar o botão de publicar para concluir meu aplicativo

    • DATEV-Export Erfahrungen?

      Wir würden gern den DATEV-Export in Books nutzen, jedoch ist dieser nicht wirklich nutzbar. Gibt es positive Erfahrungen von Alternativ-Lösungen?

    • Kaizen #191: Implementing "Login with Zoho" using Python SDK

      Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!! This week, we are diving into how to implement secure user authentication using Login with Zoho and integrate it with Zoho CRM through our Python SDK. To ground this in a real-world scenario, we will look at how

    • WhatsApp Business Calling API

      Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, I would like to request a feature that allows users to call WhatsApp numbers directly via Zoho SalesIQ. This integration would enable sending and receiving calls to and from WhatsApp numbers over the internet, without the need

    • Custom modules not showing in developer console

      I'm trying to create a custom summing function for a custom module I made in my CRM. When I go to create the function, my module isnt showing up. Do I need to share the custom moldule with my developer console or something of the like?

    • Following retainer invoice for partial payment of a sales order

      HI, We issue sales orders when a client buy a product from us. We also issue multiple retainer invoices for partial payment (2 to 4 depending of the client). Team wants to follow payment of these retainer invoices for this Sales Order. If they are paid

    • Zoho CommunitySpacesとzoho CRM連携について

      お世話になっております。 いつもご質問に丁寧に回答いただき大変助かっております。 今、当団体ではZoho CommunitySpacesを利用しており、利用ユーザ一覧をzoho CRMに自動登録（連携）したいと考えております。 そもそも可能なのか、もしあれば具体的な手順や方法はあるのかをご教授いただきたいです。 上記がないのなら、ユーザ一覧のエクスポート方法（メールアドレスと姓を含む）でもよいです。 お手数となりますが、お願いいたします。

    • Zoho Wiki or new Zoho Learn

      We are currently evaluating if we should move off confluence. At present in Confluence we have multiple levels within our documentation but with learn it looks like you can only have Space       - Manual             - Chapter Is it possible to have levels below Chapter? Also the same question for the existing wiki, can I have more sub-levels?

    • New user After moving over from QBO

      New user observations/suggestions. QBO took away a lot of features I was used to with the desktop version. Chaos ensued. Zoho Books has a lot of what I was used to and a bit more. Good deal Some things I have run into and suggest some upgrades. 1: The

    • Next Page