Bulk Email Sender Guidelines

If you are a mail listing provider and send bulk emails every day, of course you don't want your emails are blocked or moved to Junk folder of the recipient mailbox.

To increase the inbox delivery rate of your messages, make sure that all recipients on your distribution lists actually want to receive the mail. Have a look the following sections for some tips on how to make sure your messages are welcomed by most email providers.

Common Rules

• Send email only to those that want it.
  
• Never hide your IP and real email address.
  
• Never use dynamic IP address to send email directly.
  
• Never use a public proxy server to send email.
  

Authentication and Identification

DKIM/DomainKeys - signning your email with DKIM/DomainKeys.

Sign DKIM, DomainKeys in Exchange Server 2007/2010/2013
Sign DKIM, DomainKeys in Exchange Server 2003/2000
Sign DKIM, DomainKeys in IIS SMTP Service


SPF Record - publishing an SPF record.
SPF Record Project
Sender ID Framework SPF Record Wizard

PTR Record

Keep valid reverse DNS records for the IP address(es).
PTR record, or pointer record, enables someone to perform a reverse DNS lookup. This allows them to determine your domain name based on your IP address. Because generic domain names without a PTR are often associated with spammers, incoming mail servers identify email from hosts without PTR records as spam.

You should ask your IP address(es) provider (not domain provider) to set a PTR record for your IP address(es) and we suggest that you use your domain name as the record value.

SPF,DomainKeys and DKIM Test Tool

Subscription and Unsubscribing

Each user on your distribution list should opt to receive messages from you through an email asking to subscribe to your list or manually checking a box on a web form, or within a piece of software.
A user must be able to unsubscribe from your mailing list through a link or replying to your email with an unsubscribe request
Body Format

• Link to domains, not IP addresses in email html body.
  
• Do not include JavaScript in email html body.
  
• Do not include embedded Object (ActiveX/Flash) in email html body.
  
• Don't include HTML forms in email html body.

Realtime Black List

Check if your IP address(es) or linked domain(s) in email body is in realtime black list by the following online tools:

http://www.anti-abuse.org/multi-rbl-check/
http://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL Bulk Email Sender Guidelines

Gmail Email Sender Guidelines
Yahoo Email Sender Guidelines
Hotmail/Outlook/Live Bulk Email Sender Guidelines
AOL Bulk Email Sender Guidelines

If you are sending mail in accordance with above guidelines and still have problems to deliver email to those email providers, you can contact the support by the following URL:

Gmail Bulk Sender Contact Form
Yahoo Bulk Sender Contact Form
Hotmail Deliverability Issue Submission
Gaining Whitelisted from AOL