A badly sent newsletter doesn't just land in spam: it can drag your regular emails down with it, because providers judge the reputation of the whole domain. This guide tells you where to send from, which settings Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook require and how to keep your subscriber list clean.
What you'll achieve
- send your newsletter from the right place, not from your hosting mailbox;
- meet the requirements of the major email providers;
- have a subscriber list of people who actually want to read you.
Why not from your hosting mailbox
- The limit. Each address hosted with us can send at most 200 emails per hour, and the website, through PHP's mail function, also 200 per hour. A list of 2,000 subscribers would take 10 hours, and messages over the limit are blocked.
- Reputation. If many recipients mark the newsletter as spam, the reputation of the address and the domain drops, and the offers and invoices you then send from the same address end up in spam too.
- Unsubscribes and statistics. A newsletter platform adds the unsubscribe link automatically, removes addresses that no longer exist from the list and shows you who opened the message.
For newsletters, use a dedicated email marketing platform, set up with SPF and DKIM on your domain. Your hosting mailbox stays for person-to-person email.
What Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook require
In short, the major providers' rules for bulk senders (around 5,000 messages a day to the same network, for example to Gmail addresses) are:
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the domain in the “From” field, all three, and DKIM or SPF must be on the same domain as the sender address (see DMARC step by step: from “monitor only” to real protection);
- unsubscribe in one click (one-click unsubscribe), through the header the platform adds, plus a visible link in the message; unsubscribes take effect within two days at most;
- a spam complaint rate below 0.3%, ideally below 0.1%;
- a real sender address that people can reply to.
Even if you send less, these rules are worth following: senders who respect them reach the inbox more often.
The steps
A. Prepare your domain
- Check SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your domain (see Why my emails go to spam: SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
- In your newsletter platform, look for the domain authentication section (usually Domain authentication or Sender authentication). It gives you one or more DNS records: an
include:for SPF and one or more DKIM records, of type TXT or CNAME. - Add them to your domain's DNS zone (see DNS zone editor: A, CNAME, MX and TXT). For SPF, add the
include:to your existing record, before~all; don't create a second SPF record. - Go back to the platform and click the verify button. Send a test to a Gmail address and check under Show original that SPF, DKIM and DMARC show PASS.
A good option if you send a lot: a subdomain just for newsletters, for example news.domeniul-tau.ro. Its reputation stays separate from that of your work addresses.
B. Build your list the right way
- Subscribe only with consent. Visitors type in their own address and tick the box themselves; you don't tick it for them. Customer addresses or addresses from business cards don't count as consent for a newsletter.
- Subscription confirmation (double opt-in): the subscriber gets an email and confirms with one click. You get rid of wrong addresses and those entered by bots, and you have proof of consent.
- Don't buy address lists. They are full of spam trap addresses that providers use to catch spammers.
- When people subscribe, tell them what they will receive and how often.
What to write in the signup form and in the privacy policy is covered in Website forms and personal data.
C. Send
- A clear subject line, without all caps and without “FREE!!!”.
- Real text in the message, not just one big image. Links to your own domain, not shortened links.
- First send a test to yourself, on Gmail and on Outlook, and see where it lands.
- For an old list you haven't written to in a long time, send first to your most active subscribers, then gradually to the rest.
D. Keep your list clean
- Remove addresses that no longer exist (the platform usually does this itself, from bounced messages).
- After a few months with no opens, remove the subscriber or send them a message asking whether they still want to receive your emails.
- Track the complaint rate in the platform and, for Gmail, in Google Postmaster Tools (https://postmaster.google.com), if you send a lot.
If something doesn't work
- The newsletter lands in spam, even though SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass. It's usually down to the content or the list: subscribers who no longer remember you, too many images, links to websites with a bad reputation.
- Your regular emails started landing in spam after a campaign. The domain's reputation dropped. Stop the campaigns, clean the list and move the newsletter to a subdomain. Write to us with an example and we'll also check the server's reputation.
- You sent from your hosting mailbox and the messages stopped. You hit the limit of 200 per hour. Wait an hour for your regular emails and move the newsletter to a dedicated platform.
- A subscriber says they unsubscribed but still receives emails. Check in the platform that the unsubscribe was recorded and that they aren't on two lists.