Blacklist
What it means and why it's useful for your mailing campaigns
What is blacklisting?
The term “blacklist” sounds much more dramatic than it actually is – it simply means a list of addresses which are excluded from your mailings. Find out:
- Who and why someone should be excluded
- What you get from excluding certain contacts
- How to use a blacklist
Blacklisting recipients
Why there are blacklists and how to successfully use them
1. Exclude recipients - why?
There are several reasons for blacklisting recipients:
- It’s the subscriber’s request: The main reason is that the subscriber no longer wants to receive your mailings – they want to make sure they are not accidentally contacted. Another reason could be that no one should login into a company account that is used by various people.
- Feedback-loops: Recipients can also be blacklisted automatically through so-called feedback loops. This happens when a subscriber marks your newsletter as spam in certain programs or web portals (like Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL). In this case, our system receives direct feedback and the subscriber is blacklisted.
At first sight, it might seem a little odd that your newsletters could be marked as spam because with CleverReach® you can be sure that only subscribers that have actively decided they want to get your newsletters are added to your lists of recipients (DOI). Sometimes, however, subscribers forget that they have subscribed to your newsletter or changed their mind and no longer want to receive your mailings. Instead of simply hitting the unsubscribe button in one of your emails, they mark your newsletters as spam because to them it seems to be the easier way. If your newsletters are erroneously marked as spam too often, this can badly influence your reputation. To avoid this, the recipient is put on the blacklist.
- Excluding domains: You can list certain URLs on your blacklist, e.g. to exclude competitors from your newsletters. Save an entry with a placeholder and the domain name so that addresses with that name can’t get your mailings.
2. Exclude recipients - who?
- Recipients or domains can be excluded permanently from your mailings. Unlike with regular subscriptions, blacklisted contacts can’t subscribe to your mailings again. This makes sure that only those people get your newsletters who really want to receive them.
3. What's the difference? Blacklisting and deleting recipients
Why is it not enough to simply delete a recipient from your distribution list?
Blacklisting is safer and more reliable – it makes sure that subscribers can’t subscribe against their will, for example after the repeated import of contact data.
You can blacklist subscribers either for only one particular group or for all your groups (global blacklist):
- Global blacklist: You’ll find the global blacklist in the groups menu. Entries on this list are squared with each of your groups before every mailing/import. Add contacts to your blacklist by clicking on [add entry] in the upper right corner.
- Group-specific blacklist: You can also add blacklist entries for a single group. Go to the particular group and add your entries.
4. Use of blacklists
- Blacklists ensure that only those who really want to read your newsletters receive them. We guarantee legal certainty for your newsletter delivery and protect you from spam complaints and warnings.
5. Good to know
Not only recipients but also senders can be blacklisted. The result: Their emails are considered as spam and either end up in the spam folder or aren’t delivered at all. By sending your newsletters with CleverReach® you can be sure that your emails reach their recipients because of the following reasons:
- CSA membership
- SPF procedure
- DKIM procedure
- Security and spam check before sending your mailing
This will make your domain most likely pass the blacklist check. Add the IP addresses or domain of our delivery servers to the whitelist of your receiving servers, or rather that of your customers, to make sure your emails get through. Need more details? Please contact our support team.
Not sure if your IP address or domain is blacklisted? Check it, for example on blacklistalert.org.
Blacklisting - for successful email campaigns
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