Tis the season...to bookmark mailbox provider help pages


Back in the day, these used to be called Postmaster Pages (or Postmaster Sites) and they are where email senders would go to look for help when having deliverability issues. Wondering what to do about mail bouncing at a mailbox provider or internet service provider? Need to submit a ticket to request that the mailbox provider reconsider mailbox placement? Those Postmaster Pages are where you'd find info and links.

Do keep in mind that these contacts are not a "get out of jail free" card. Deliverability is generally reflective of sender practices and mailbox providers are loathe to grant free rein in the inbox to those who send unwanted mail. In other words, bad senders asking to get unblocked will often be told no, or will find themselves blocked again if they continue to send the same mail to the same lists that caused the initial blocking. If you're getting blocked repeatedly, your send practices likely have to change if you wish to see fewer blocks.

And further keep in mind that this is the holiday season, and it's the crazy season for the mailbox providers, just like it is for the email marketers. They're overwhelmed and lots of people are asking for help and short staffed because of people taking vacation, so don't expect a quick turnaround every time you ask for assistance. Smart marketers will want to limit new variables in their email marketing programs to minimize deliverability risk during this important time, knowing that recovering from issues can take longer during this time of year.

With all of that being said, it still comes in handy to be able to know where to go looking for sender info and sender help at the top mailbox providers, so here's a quick list of sender info pages and help info for the top five US mailbox providers.

Gmail: Find Gmail Sender Guidelines hereGmail has a contact form hereHere's my guide explaining that contact form. And here's my Gmail Deliverability Guide.

AOL/Yahoo: Note that AOL and Yahoo are the same company (Yahoo) nowadays. Yahoo has a whole senders' site here. Click on Deliverability to find their useful best practices guide and more. Need help? Click on "Problems Delivering Mails" here and fill out the form. Find my Yahoo Deliverability Guide here.

Microsoft: Microsoft's got a Postmaster Site here. If you're blocked at Outlook.com/Hotmail/OLC, go here to request unblocking. Here's my Microsoft OLC Deliverability Guide.

Apple: Apple has a Postmaster information page for iCloud mail here. If you need to contact Apple to request assistance, you can find their deliverability contact email address on that page. Scroll down to the bottom. Find my Apple Deliverability Guide here.

Comcast: Comcast has an Xfinity Postmaster website here, chock full of good info for senders. If Comcast is blocking your IP address with a BL000000 reject message, they've explain how to request unblocking here.

Post a Comment

Comments