Alert: Hotmail flags unauthenticated email
UPDATED 1/23/09, 3/20/09, 11/6/09
There’s been talk for some time now that ISPs would eventually take into consideration whether an email was authenticated when deciding whether to block email from a particular sender. So I was intrigued when Hotmail blocked all the content of an email from Office Depot last week and flagged it as potentially “dangerous.”
When I clicked on the “Learn more” link, I was shown a message about Sender ID and phishing that appeared to indicate that the Office Depot email was flagged because it failed Sender ID and phishing tests.
Even after I clicked “Open message,” all the images in the email were blocked.
And even after I clicked “Show content,” the email still carried the warning that it “may be dangerous.”
Considering that this was indeed a legit email from Office Depot (who was on my safe sender list), all email marketers should be alarmed—although thus far this is the only retail email that I’ve seen flagged by Hotmail in this manner. Regardless, this is a sign of things to come.
UPDATES: I've since seen a second email from Office Depot blocked as well as three TigerDirect emails.
For those email marketers who have not authenticated their email with both Sender ID and DKIM, consider this your wake-up call. Getting your emails authenticated should be your top New Year’s resolution.
_____________________
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There’s been talk for some time now that ISPs would eventually take into consideration whether an email was authenticated when deciding whether to block email from a particular sender. So I was intrigued when Hotmail blocked all the content of an email from Office Depot last week and flagged it as potentially “dangerous.”
When I clicked on the “Learn more” link, I was shown a message about Sender ID and phishing that appeared to indicate that the Office Depot email was flagged because it failed Sender ID and phishing tests.
Even after I clicked “Open message,” all the images in the email were blocked.
And even after I clicked “Show content,” the email still carried the warning that it “may be dangerous.”
Considering that this was indeed a legit email from Office Depot (who was on my safe sender list), all email marketers should be alarmed—although thus far this is the only retail email that I’ve seen flagged by Hotmail in this manner. Regardless, this is a sign of things to come.
UPDATES: I've since seen a second email from Office Depot blocked as well as three TigerDirect emails.
For those email marketers who have not authenticated their email with both Sender ID and DKIM, consider this your wake-up call. Getting your emails authenticated should be your top New Year’s resolution.
_____________________
SEARCH... By Post Category / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive
Labels: Alerts, Deliverability, Email Authentication, Office Depot, Rendering
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posted at 9:42 AM by Chad White
I love Smith-Harmon's enthusiasm. It's so great to have a connection with people who really "get" and get excited by email marketing. (Truly, there are not that many of us out there!) I count myself very lucky to have found such accomplished enthusiasts to collaborate with on the REI program. They are helping to bring amazing opportunities to fruition with panache.
3 Comments:
And the same thing happened to me when I replied to my next door neighbor's email regarding my son's college graduation. I sent her a link to the online photos and was blocked -- for all the same reasons! There's such a thing as overkill!
As an end user, is there any way around this?
I've tried adding newegg.com to my safe senders list and it still does the same thing. email.newegg.com, promo@email.newegg.com, same problem. It's always blocked.
The problem isn't on the user side of things. It's the sender not authenticating their emails or not doing it properly. There's nothing users can do to fix this problem.
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