Summary
Apple Relay's direct impact on sender reputation is minimal due to message transformation, although it can indirectly skew open rates. Investigate temporary failures (temp fails) by checking logs and analyzing bounce codes; potential causes include greylisting, recipient server issues, spam filtering, network problems, and high email volume. While DKIM, SPF, and DMARC are important for authentication, they don't guarantee avoidance of spam filters. Focus on engagement metrics beyond open rates (CTR, conversions), maintain a clean email list, ensure relevant content, and actively monitor sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and SendGrid. Properly configure email infrastructure and adhere to email best practices. Be aware of potential deliverability issues specific to Apple domains and the IP reputation of Apple's servers. If the temp fail happens after the DATA command in the SMTP transaction, it may be content-related.
Key findings
- Apple Relay Impact: Apple Relay itself has minimal direct impact on reputation due to message transformation but it can indirectly impact open rates.
- Temp Fail Causes: Temp fails arise from greylisting, server issues, spam filters, network problems, and high volume.
- Authentication Limitations: DKIM, SPF, DMARC don't prevent spam classification; they are authentication methods.
- Metrics Shift: Focus on CTR and conversions due to skewed open rates.
- SMTP Timing: Content can cause a temp fail only if it happens after the DATA command.
Key considerations
- Log Analysis: Check logs for deferred messages and reasons for temp fails.
- Engagement Monitoring: Track CTR and conversions to understand campaign performance.
- Reputation Tools: Actively use tools like Google Postmaster Tools and SendGrid's dashboard to monitor sender reputation.
- Infrastructure Review: Ensure proper configuration of email infrastructure.
- Content Scrutiny: If failures are content related - then review your email content and formatting.
- Apple Specifics: Monitor deliverability to Apple domains and understand Apple IP reputation may play a factor
What email marketers say
9 marketer opinions
Apple Relay (Hide My Email) indirectly affects sender reputation by skewing open rates, making engagement assessment difficult. Temporary failures (temp fails) are caused by several factors: recipient server overloads, IP blacklisting, content triggering spam filters, and greylisting. Monitoring sender reputation via tools like Google Postmaster Tools and SendGrid is crucial. Focus on engagement metrics beyond open rates, like click-through rates and conversions, to accurately measure campaign performance. Ensuring a clean email list, relevant content, and proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are critical.
Key opinions
- Apple Relay Impact: Apple Relay skews open rates, making engagement assessment difficult.
- Temp Fail Causes: Temp fails result from server overloads, IP blacklisting, spam filters, and greylisting.
- Monitoring Importance: Monitoring sender reputation is essential via tools like Google Postmaster Tools and SendGrid.
- Alternative Metrics: Focus on click-through rates and conversions for accurate campaign performance insights.
- Apple IP Effects: Problems with Apple's IP infrastructure could lead to deliverability challenges.
Key considerations
- Data Skew Mitigation: Use engagement metrics beyond open rates to compensate for skewed data.
- Infrastructure Monitoring: Continuously monitor server logs and SMTP error codes for bounce causes.
- Reputation Health: Maintain a clean email list and relevant content for positive reputation.
- Authentication: Utilize authentication methods like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to help deliverability.
- Apple Domain Issues: Monitor your campaigns for deliverability issues specific to Apple domains.
Marketer view
Email marketer from GlockApps notes that with Apple Relay, the IP reputation of Apple's servers can affect deliverability and suggests monitoring your campaigns for deliverability issues specific to Apple domains. Even if your own IP reputation is good, problems with Apple's infrastructure could lead to deliverability challenges.
24 Nov 2024 - GlockApps
Marketer view
Email marketer from Litmus suggests using a variety of engagement metrics beyond open rates to gauge campaign performance in light of Apple's MPP. They advise tracking click-through rates, website visits, and conversions to understand how recipients are truly interacting with your emails.
20 Aug 2024 - Litmus
What the experts say
5 expert opinions
Apple Relay generally doesn't impact sender reputation directly because Apple transforms and re-signs the messages. DKIM, SPF, and DMARC don't directly prevent spam classification. Temporary failures (temp fails) can stem from greylisting (temporary rejection), recipient server issues (overload, network problems), or suspicion of spam. The timing of the temp fail in the SMTP transaction (before or after DATA) indicates whether it's content-related.
Key opinions
- Apple Relay Impact: Apple Relay has minimal direct impact on sender reputation due to message transformation.
- Authentication vs. Spam: DKIM, SPF, and DMARC don't prevent messages from being marked as spam.
- Temp Fail Causes: Temp fails are caused by greylisting, recipient server issues, or spam suspicion.
- SMTP Timing: The timing of the temp fail within the SMTP transaction indicates whether the issue is content-related (after DATA).
Key considerations
- Greylisting Awareness: Be aware that greylisting can cause temporary delivery delays and ensure your servers retry delivery.
- Server Issue Diagnosis: Investigate recipient server issues (overload, network) when encountering temp fails.
- Content Review: If temp fails occur after DATA, review email content and formatting for potential spam triggers.
- Error Code Analysis: Analyze specific SMTP error codes to identify root causes of temporary bounces and delivery failures.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks answers that Apple Relay has almost no impact on sender reputation as Apple transforms the message, re-signs it, and changes the from address.
5 Jul 2023 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource explains that temporary failures or temp fails can occur due to greylisting, a technique used by some mail servers to mitigate spam. Greylisting temporarily rejects emails from unknown senders, requiring the sending server to retry delivery. If the sending server is legitimate, it will retry, and the email will eventually be delivered. Illegitimate servers may not retry, thus reducing spam.
7 Jun 2023 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Temporary failures (temp fails) are caused by greylisting, recipient server issues, suspected spam, network problems, and high email volume. High spam complaint rates negatively impact sender reputation, requiring explicit opt-ins and relevant content. SMTP servers use 4xx codes for transient delivery issues. Proper email infrastructure configuration and adherence to best practices are crucial to avoid spam flagging.
Key findings
- Temp Fail Origins: Temp fails stem from greylisting, server issues, suspected spam, network problems, and high volume.
- Spam Complaint Impact: High spam complaint rates significantly harm sender reputation.
- SMTP Codes: SMTP servers use 4xx codes for temporary delivery failures.
- Infrastructure & Best Practices: Proper configuration and adherence to best practices are essential to avoid spam flagging.
Key considerations
- Monitor Failures: Actively monitor temp fails to identify patterns and address issues.
- Opt-in Enforcement: Ensure explicit opt-ins and relevant content to minimize spam complaints.
- Troubleshoot Network Issues: Investigate and resolve network and server-related delivery problems.
- Review Infrastructure: Regularly review email infrastructure configuration and adherence to email best practices.
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost explains that temporary failures (temp fails) can occur for various reasons, including greylisting (temporary rejection to combat spam), temporary server issues at the recipient's end, or suspected spam content. It is important to monitor these failures to identify patterns and address potential issues.
14 Apr 2024 - SparkPost
Technical article
Documentation from RFC 5321 explains that SMTP servers use temporary failure codes (4xx) to indicate that a message could not be delivered at the time but might be deliverable in the future. These failures can be due to temporary network issues, server overload, or other transient problems.
9 Jul 2021 - RFC Editor
Can I email users who have Apple's private relay email addresses?
How can I resolve blocks affecting iCloud 2FA notifications and what is the typical response time from Apple support?
How can I resolve email delivery errors due to tempfail and suspected spam?
How does Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) affect the tracking of email opens and clicks, and how are machine opens categorized?
How does Apple Private Relay encode email addresses and how does domain whitelisting affect deliverability?
What causes Gmail TempFail errors and how to troubleshoot them?
