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Email Blacklists: What are They and How to Avoid Them?

Strong communication with your email leads should be one of your main goals. But, being on the email blacklists won’t help reaching this goal.

Keep in mind that 14.3% of all emails have been caught by spam filters. You don’t want this to happen with your messages.

It can be one of the obstacles you should overcome to boost deliverability and ensure a winning email marketing strategy.

Luckily, our article will provide actionable tips on avoiding email blacklists and maintaining a solid email system.

Before exploring strategies for getting off blacklists, it’s essential to understand what email blacklists are and how they impact your email campaigns.

What are Email Blacklists?

Email blacklists (also called DNS-based Blackhole lists) include IP addresses or domains associated with spam or suspicious content. Email service providers have live running blacklists trying to block spam and protect email recipients from receiving harmful messages.

Basically, those lists ensure only the most trustworthy senders’ emails reach people’s inboxes.

There are over 300 spam blacklists out there. It’s quite a significant number, isn’t it?

Below, we’ve put together the most common ones:

Barracuda reputation block list
Spamhaus block list (SBL)
SpamCop
URIBL
SenderScore

Now that we’ve defined email blacklists and explored some common examples, let’s break down the different types of blacklists you might encounter.

Main Types of Email Blacklists You Should Know

To find a solution for every problem, you need to find its core. Understanding blacklisted email reasons and the types of email blacklists can help you build tactics to avoid ending up on them.

So, let’s discuss the most common types of email blacklists.

IP-based blacklists

These lists target specific IP addresses known for sending spam. Your email address can be blacklisted if you send too many unwanted messages. Once an IP is blacklisted, emails from that address might be blocked or marked as spam.

Domain-based blacklists

Domain-based blacklists include a list of domains marked for sending spam or harmful emails. Email providers use these lists to keep people’s inboxes safe from unwanted messages.

Public blacklists

Public lists are available to everyone, so anyone can view them from anywhere. Email providers use them to filter out spam messages. Your email address can get blacklisted if it is marked spam, gets a few complaints, or sends to spam traps.

Private blacklists

On the contrary to public blacklists, private blacklists aren’t available for the public, and only companies and businesses can manage them internally to protect their own systems and users getting blacklist emails. For example, a private blacklist can include email addresses that have violated a company’s terms of service or have been flagged by internal security protocols. Getting a private blacklist is extremely bad, as it may result in a complete loss of communication with a key partner or client.

Spam Blacklists

Spam blacklists are lists of IP addresses or domains associated with sending spam or harmful emails. Email service providers use spam blacklists to filter out and block potentially dangerous emails.

Now that you know the different types of blacklists, it’s essential to learn how they can impact your business.

Let’s find out together.

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How Do Email Blacklists Affect Your Business?

Email blacklists can negatively affect your business operations. Here are a few examples:

Negative impact on email campaigns

You dedicate a lot of time and effort to creating outstanding email campaigns. Imagine how frustrating it can be if your email campaigns and promotions don’t reach your target audience’s inboxes because of being blacklisted. Basically, having a blacklist email address hurts the engagement rate, deliverability, and overall effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

Damaged sender reputation

Being on the email blacklists also damages your sender reputation, which can lead to being marked as spam and having lower open rates.

Note: Fixing a damaged sender reputation takes time and effort. It not only affects the overall effectiveness of your current email campaigns but also harms your brand’s credibility in the long run.

Missed business opportunities

Emails are probably one of the main communication channels for connecting with your target audience. Imagine how many opportunities and money you lose if you have a blacklisted email address and your messages don’t reach them.

Considering the potential damage, it’s becoming essential to regularly check email blacklists.

Here’s how you can quickly learn about your blacklist status.

How to Check If Your Email is Blacklisted

If you are concerned that your email might be blacklisted, several methods are available to check email blacklists.

You might get notifications from email service providers warning that your email has been blacklisted. But as it isn’t always the case, you should do regular audits to ensure the health of your email system.

Firstly, check the reputation of your email server’s IP address by using blacklist checkers. Use the most popular ones like MXToolbox’s Blacklist Check, Barracuda IP Blacklist Checker, or GradeMyEmail Blacklist Checker to ensure your IP address isn’t blacklisted. What is great about those tools is that they not only allow you to check email blacklists but also provide detailed blacklist information and suggest recommendations on how to solve issues.

Also, you can monitor the deliverability rate of your emails because a low rate can be a sign that your address is on email blacklists. To do this, send test emails to multiple email accounts to see where those messages go- the inbox, spam folder, or they get blocked. If your emails are blocked, it could mean you’re on a blacklist. So, again use blacklist check solutions to find out if your email address is listed.

If you find that your email has been blacklisted, you’ll need to remove yourself from the blacklist immediately.

Here’s how.

How to Remove Yourself From Email Blacklists?

If you ever find out that you have a blacklist email address, remember that panicking isn’t the best solution. So you should start the delisting process, which involves removing an email IP address or domain from an email blacklist. You should do that by taking the following steps:

First, use blacklist checker tools to find out if your email address is blacklisted. Contact your email service provider if you don’t know which blacklist you’re on.
Reach out to the blacklist provider and request the removal of your IP address or domain from the blacklist.
Complete tasks the blacklist provider may require, like building a double opt-in subscription process or explaining how you fixed the issues, such as spam complaints or poor email practices. Each email blacklist has its own removal process, so follow their specific instructions. Some require you to ask for removal, while others automatically take your domain off the list after a set time.

After you get removed from the blacklist, you need to carefully clean your email list. This is something we will cover next.

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Stay Off Email Blacklists with 6 Tips

While removing yourself from a blacklist is crucial, it’s even better to avoid being blacklisted in the first place.

Here are six tips to help you stay off email blacklists.

Keep Your Email List Healthy

Proper list management and a healthy email list are essential to avoid getting placed on email blacklists.

Below, you can find some valuable tips to keep your email list strong.

Regularly clean your list

You need to remove inactive email addresses to maintain email list hygiene and ensure better deliverability of your messages. Don’t forget to remove email addresses that keep bouncing, too, to keep your list healthy.

Plus, verify your email addresses and remove invalid or incorrect ones. Luckily, mailfloss email verifier can help you by automatically removing invalid addresses and keeping your list clean.

Lastly, you should send a verification link to email recipients so they can confirm that an email address actually exists and that they can receive emails.

Send relevant and targeted content

People can mark your email address as spam, which may result in email blacklists if your messages are irrelevant. To prevent this, engage your audience with targeted and relevant content that meets their needs and interests.

Analyze your audience by collecting data. Then, segment your email list based on your subscribers’ preferences and behavior to create messages that resonate with them.

Avoid spammy practices

You should stay away from spammy techniques as much as possible. It includes staying away from spammy words or phrases like “free,” “guaranteed,” and “limited time offer,” or having misleading subject lines.

By following these helpful tips, you can prevent blacklisted email addresses.

Stop Manually Adding Email Addresses to Your Database

Remember, you should always have permission from email recipients before adding them to your contact list. If people don’t let you send messages, they probably mark your emails as spam, increasing the chances of ending up on email blacklists.

Another reason you shouldn’t manually add email addresses is preventing typos. This way, you make sure you don’t send emails to non-existent addresses that bounce and can make you blacklisted.

Use Double Opt-ins

Using double opt-in forms is one of the most important steps to prevent fake emails, ensuring your subscribers are real and only valid email addresses are on your list. This step ensures your subscribers want to receive your emails, whether you’re building a newsletter, sending promotional offers, or alerting them to new offerings.

In this process, users sign up and then confirm their subscription via email. Double opt-in forms ensure you only contact interested subscribers, which minimizes the chances of getting flagged as spam and getting on email blacklists.

Never Purchase Email Lists

Buying an email list can seem a quick and easy solution to improve your lead generation efforts. But those lists often contain fake emails or spam traps – something you should stay away from so you do not end up on the email blacklists.

It’s true that building an email list from scratch takes time and effort, but all your hard work will pay off.

So, instead of purchasing lists, create newsletter signup forms with valuable incentives and unique landing pages that encourage people to subscribe to your inbox.

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Protect Your Server from Malicious Software and Bots

You must have security measures in place to protect your email server and domain. There are bots and malware out there that can try to hijack your domain.

These programs send fake emails that can get you blacklisted, even if you follow only ethical email practices.

To avoid this, you should update your email server’s security to protect against these harmful bots and software. This way, you shouldn’t have blacklist emails impacting your email marketing efforts.

Use Email Testing Tools

Finally, you can use email testing tools to keep your email list healthy and avoid email blacklists:

Email deliverability checkers

Email deliverability checkers test SPF and DKIM records to identify and fix errors. They help authenticate your emails, which improves your chances of reaching the recipients’ inboxes and avoiding spam filters and blacklists.

Email validation tools

Email validation tools check if email addresses are correct and active. They also spot addresses that might cause delivery problems.

Email subject line testers

Email subject line testers help you create compelling and engaging subject lines. They also check for potential issues that can trigger spam filters.

Email preview and email copy tests

Those tests help to optimize your email content before sending your messages. This, in turn, ensures your emails look professional and effective, reducing the chances of them being marked as spam and ending up on the blacklist.

All these steps may be time-consuming, but your hard work will pay off because, in the end, you will have solid and healthy email communication.

To sum up

Whether you accidentally end up on the blacklist or didn’t follow proper email practices, there are steps you should take to avoid email blacklists.

Our article can be your guide during this journey. By following our tips, you can ensure the health of your email system and the success of your email campaigns.

Good luck with boosting your email marketing strategies, and stay tuned for more articles!