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.

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

• Topic Participants

• Moncy Samuel

• 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

• Queries on Project-Based Inventory Consumption and Proforma Invoice in Zoho ERP

  We would appreciate your clarification on how Zoho ERP plans to handle the following: Project-based inventory consumption without itemized sales orders Accurate project cost tracking along with inventory reduction Proforma Invoice usage We look forward

• Applying Excess Payments & Conflict Invoices Due to Cancelled Items

  I’m running into several issues that appear to stem from deeper-than-expected overlap between Zoho Finance (Books/Inventory) and Zoho POS. The level of coupling between these systems seems greater than what was originally communicated, and it’s leading

• Zoho Sprint Backlog View, filter by item status

  Hello, In Zoho Sprints, it would be great to be able filter out specific items in the Backlog based on their status. We would like to track items that were Removed from our backlog without seeing them constantly in the Backlog view, as this view should

• WATERFALL CHART IN ZOHO ANALYTICS

  Hi Team, I would like to know whether Zoho Analytics currently supports a Waterfall Chart as a built-in visualization type. If yes, could you please share the steps to create one? If not, is there any workaround or recommended method to build a Waterfall

• Export contacts from Bigin's mobile app to your Android device

  Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that you can now export customer contacts from the Bigin mobile app to your device. Scenario A small-scale business owner has two pipelines in Bigin—one for procuring raw materials and the other for selling his

• Passing Info from Function to Client Script

  Hello, I have recently started making use of client script for buttons, allowing me to give the user information or warnings before they proceed. This is great. However, I have never quite managed to pass back any extra information from the function to

• ASAP iOS SDK – Xcode Compatibility Update

  Hello everyone, We have been delivering the ASAP iOS SDK developed using Xcode 16.1 to provide Help Center support within mobile applications. Thus, ASAP iOS SDK versions upto 4.5.8 are compatible with development environments running in Xcode 16.1 and

• Sub form auto field population based on parent form

  I have a parent form called "Sites" with a text field called "Site". I have a subform called "Design Comments" (actual form name "Review Comments") with a lookup field name "Sites1" that looks up from the Sites form. I want the Sites1 lookup field to

• A note-taking app right inside your project management space

  How do you feel when you check off the last task from your to-do list after a long day at work? Euphoric, blissful, satisfied? Now, imagine completing the same checklist from your PM platform, without juggling tools. Sounds simple and handy? That’s exactly

• Email Forwarding: Maintain business continuity

  As an administrator, ensuring uninterrupted email communication is critical when a role-based employee is unavailable due to extended leave or a temporary role change. Emails from customers, partners, and internal teams must continue to be received and

• Tip #61- Collaborate live with Invite Technician- 'Insider Insights'

  We’ve all been there: you’re deep into a complex remote session, and you realize you need a second pair of eyes. Instead of ending the call or rescheduling, why not just bring the expert to you? With Zoho Assist, you can invite internal colleagues or

• How to integrate Zoho CRM, Zoho Forms and a WIX Web Site

  Attached video demonstrates how to use Zoho Forms included in Zoho One, to design a Contact Us form to be embedded into a WIX web site and integrated into Zoho CRM.

• Bug Causing Major Sync & SO Access Failures in Zoho POS

  We are experiencing critical and recurring issues in Zoho POS that all trace back to role-permission handling defects in the latest POS app version. These issues directly affect syncing, login ability, and Sales Order access for role-restricted users

• Change Last Name to not required in Leads

  I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for

• OAuth2 Scope Error - Incorrectly defaulting to CRM instead of Analytics.

  Hello Zoho Team, I am trying to connect n8n to Zoho Analytics API V2 for a simple automation project. Despite using the correct Analytics-specific scopes, my OAuth handshake is failing with a CRM-related error. The Problem: The authorization screen shows:

• Add Custom Reports To Dashboard or Home Tab

  Hi there, I think it would be great to be able to add our custom reports to the Home Tab or Dashboards. Thanks! Chad Announcement: The feature is being rolled out across DC's and Edition in phases. To know more refer to the announcement post here.

• Hiding Pre-defined Views

  You can enhance Zoho with custom views - but you cannot hide the pre-defined views. Most users focus on 4 or 5 views. Right now for EVERY user EVERY time they want to move to one of their 4 or 5 views - they have to scroll down past a long list of pre-defined

• why can't agent see accounts & contacts

  My new user, with 'Agent' privileges, cannot see records that don't belong to them. How can I give them access? Why isn't this the default configuration in Zoho?

• Sender Email Configuration Error.

  Hello Team, Hope you are all doing well. We are in the process of creating the Zoho FSM environment in the UAE. When we try to add the sender email address “techsupportuae@stryker.com”, we receive the error message: “Error occurred while sending mail

• 【Zoho CRM】フィルター機能のアップデート：ルックアップ項目を使ったデータフィルタリング

  ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中からフィルター機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 ルックアップ項目を使ったデータフィルタリングがより詳細に行えるようになりました。 この機能は詳細フィルターとカスタムビューで利用でき、必要な情報を正確に取得できます。 これにより、タブ間を移動することなく、より深く正確な方法でデータを絞り込むことが可能になります。 ◉できること 詳細フィルターとカスタムビューで、ルックアップ先タブの項目が選択可能

• This will be long, Please bear with me - Next Gen Layout - Search

  In general, I think that Zoho are going in the right direction with the Next Gen UI. The latest update brings some nice improvements and all-in-all from a user's perspective I think the improvements are generally very good. However, there are some areas

• Zoho Books | Product updates | July 2025

  Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From plan-based trials to the option to mark PDF templates as inactive, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Plan Based Trials in Zoho

• Zoho Books | Product updates | August 2025

  Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From the right sidebar where you can manage all your widgets, to integrating Zoho Payments feeds in Zoho Books, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience.

• Quotes Approval

  Hey all, Could you please help in the following: When creating quotes, how to configure it in a way, that its approval would work according to the quoted items description, not according to quote information. In my case, the quote should be sent to approval

• Important Update: Facebook Pages API Deprecation

  Dear Zoho Analytics users, As of January 26, 2026, Facebook has officially deprecated Facebook Pages API version 18. This update involves the removal of several metrics that were previously supported by the API. As a result, these changes will affect

• Adding a Deal to and Existing Contact

  I want to easily add a Deal to an existing Contact. If I click on New Deal on the Contact page this currently this is what happens: All of the mandatory field (and other field) information exists within the Contact. Is there a simple way for it to automatically

• Custom SMTP is now available in Zoho Sign

  Hi there! Want to send Zoho Sign emails from your organization's or personal email server? Look no further! Zoho Sign has introduced custom Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for Enterprise users across all data centers. By enabling custom SMTP, you

• Email was sent out without our permission

  Hi there, One customer just reached out to us about this email that we were not aware was being sent to our customers. Can you please check on your end?

• Flexible Partial-Use Coupons (Stored Value Credits)

  Subject: Feature Request: Ability for users to apply partial coupon balances per transaction Problem Statement Currently, our coupons are "one-and-done." If a user has a $50 coupon but only spends $30, they either lose the remaining $20 or are forced

• Prevent accidental duplicate entry of Customer Ordersome

  Zoho Support has confirmed that Zoho currently does not have any method (using Deluge, flow or any other method) to alert a user when a sales order has been entered twice using the same customer reference number (i.e. a duplicate). Most ERP platforms

• Migrating Brevo Automation Logic to Zoho Campaigns

  Hello Zoho Campaigns Support Team, I am in the process of migrating my email marketing from Brevo to Zoho Campaigns. I have around 10,000 contacts, which I have already successfully exported from Brevo and imported into Zoho Campaigns. I now need guidance

• Is there a way to delete workspaces?

  I want to remove one of the workspaces in my Campaigns account. I don't see any obvious way to do this. Am I missing something?

• Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs

  hello Would you ever implement Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs in zoho writer ? Best regards

• New Custom View -Sorting the Custom fields

  While creating a New Custom View in invoice , Customers, Bills ,expense etc , the sorting of custom fields are not available , a query function "order by / sort by  " may also be included in  Define new criteria module  which will be more beneficial to

• Make CAMPAIGNS email look as simple as possible

  Hi there I'm trying to make my Campaigns email look as much like a normal email as possible. I'm a bit stuck with the "justification" of the email email block. Can I LEFT JUSTIFY the "whole email" to make it look "normal"? (Please see screenshot attached)

• [Webinar] Top 10 Most Used Zoho Analytics Features in 2025

  Zoho Analytics has evolved significantly over the past year. Discover the most widely adopted features in Zoho Analytics in 2025, based on real customer usage patterns, best practices, and high-impact use cases. Learn how leading teams are turning data

• Sorry! we encountered some problems while sending your campaign. It will be sent automatically once we are ready. We apologize for the delay caused.

  Hello. Lately we are having problems with some campaigns, which show us this error message. Sorry! we encountered some problems while sending your campaign. It will be sent automatically once we are ready. We apologize for the delay caused. We can't find

• Can I remove or divert certain contacts from an active Campaigns workflow?

  I have created a workflow in Zoho Campaigns, which sends different emails, once contacts have been added to a mailing list. To choose which email to send to the contacts, there are conditions, which divert contacts based on their company type and their company size. There was a subsection of this workflow, where company size wasn't selected correctly, and some contacts have been sent down the wrong path and received the wrong email. The workflow contains a reminder loop and a further series of emails.

• How to map fields from Zoho Recruit to Zoho People

  I've got these fields from my Job Offer that I'm trying to map to the Work information fields in Zoho People, but they arent showing up. For example, how do I get the department name field (in the job post) to map to the work information field in Zoho

• UTM in zoho campaigns

  Helloo everybody!!! Someone know how IF ZOHO CAMPAIGNS has UTM for tracking the url of any campaigns. thank u

• Next Page