Why to avoid sendings from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL domains

Are you surprised that we discourage you from sending your Email Marketing Campaigns from these big free email provirders? If so, you might not still be familiar with the DMARC policies and how these can affect the correct distribution of your Emails.

In this post we will tell you why your sendings are at risk of being bounced by using these domains and we will also suggest you the best way to continue developing your Doppler Campaigns with the best results.

DMARC policies and free Email providers

All Email services have certain security policies that indicate whether incoming messages are accurate or not to be received. This is done in order to prevent fraud, spam and other malicious actions that could be detrimental to users.

Among these policies are the SPF and DKIM. While their use has markedly improved in the last time the identification of fraudulent Emails, it has not completely solved the problem.

That is why, about 4 years ago, a system whereby the sending and the receiver server work together to improve the authentication of Email addresses has been developed.

This system is called DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) and allows domains providers to instruct Email servers to reject messages that use their domains in the ‘From address’, and haven’t been originated at that domain’s own Email servers. Shortly, it allows recipients to reject Emails that have not been properly authenticated.

For example, Gmail, one of the largest free Email providers that will instrument these policies, tell everyone not to accept Email messages with @gmail.com addresses if they don’t come from Google’s own servers. Some of other providers that have joined this initiative are Yahoo and AOL.

Why you should avoid using them

While these policies tend to benefit the entire community of Email users by protecting it from phishing (theft of personal data), spoofing (identity theft), and the sending of fraudulent Emails, sometimes they can also infringe upon legitimate users who use third servers for trade issues.

This could be your case, since you use our servers because you want to send Email Marketing Campaigns, without any misconduct. Well, unfortunately, if you use a domain such as @ yahoo.com or @ gmail.com, the DMARC policies might mistakenly identify your Emails as fraudulent and reject them.

Which is the solution for these cases

The best idea is to create your own domain. This will prevent your Campaigns from being rejected by your clients servers because of DMARC policies.

And why not switch to another free Email provider, such as Hotmail? Because it may not be a long time until all servers incorporate these policies to take care of users. Therefore, you would see yourself in the same situation in a short period of time.

So the best solution is to generate your own domain and thus be exempt from any harm you could face due to the possible decisions that these free Email providers might make. It’s important to point out that if you are using the Gmail corp service associated to your own domain, it will work perfectly.

At Doppler we always take care of your interests and help you enhance your results. Therefore, due to the risk of having your Campaigns rejected and not reach the inbox of your Subscribers, we prefer to encourage you to create your own domain and thus guarantee greater success in your sendings.

If you don’t have your Doppler account yet, create one now and start optimizing and measuring your shipments simply and effectively. Make sure you reach all your Subscribers with your next Email Marketing actions!