Summary
Maintaining email deliverability for multiple clients requires a multifaceted approach that extends beyond basic blacklist monitoring. Tools like 250ok, GlockApps, Litmus, and ZeroBounce provide comprehensive blacklist and deliverability insights, while services such as Spamhaus SBL, MXToolbox, Talos Intelligence, SenderScore, Barracuda BRBL, and MultiRBL offer more focused blacklist checking and reputation tracking. Experts recommend complementing these with homegrown solutions involving SMTP log analysis, queue monitoring, and custom alerting based on complaints, FBLs, opens, and unsubscribes. Proactive measures, such as careful management of affiliate programs and ensuring recipient consent, are also essential for preventing blacklisting in the first place. Continuous monitoring, real-time alerts, and clear remediation processes are vital for quickly addressing issues and minimizing the impact on client campaigns.
Key findings
- Comprehensive Tools: Tools like 250ok, GlockApps, Litmus, and ZeroBounce offer broad deliverability monitoring and insights.
- Specialized Services: Services like Spamhaus SBL, MXToolbox, Talos Intelligence, SenderScore, Barracuda BRBL, and MultiRBL provide focused blacklist checking and reputation tracking.
- Homegrown Solutions: Custom SMTP log analysis and alerting are valuable complements to commercial tools.
- Proactive Prevention: Managing affiliate programs and obtaining explicit recipient consent are key for avoiding blacklists.
- Continuous Monitoring: Real-time alerts and prompt remediation are crucial for minimizing deliverability impact.
Key considerations
- Tool Selection: Choose tools that align with specific needs and offer a balance of comprehensive and specialized monitoring.
- Alert Customization: Customize alerts based on relevant metrics to effectively identify and address potential deliverability issues.
- Holistic Strategy: Adopt a holistic strategy that combines blacklist monitoring with proactive prevention and internal monitoring.
- Incident Response: Establish a clear incident response plan for addressing blacklisting events promptly.
- Reputation Management: Prioritize maintaining a positive sender reputation to ensure optimal email deliverability.
What email marketers say
10 marketer opinions
Managing email deliverability for multiple clients necessitates proactive blacklist monitoring. Tools like 250ok, GlockApps, Litmus, and ZeroBounce offer comprehensive monitoring and alerts, while services like SenderScore and MXToolbox provide reputation scores and blacklist checks. Homegrown solutions based on MultiRBL are also viable. Implementing automated monitoring and real-time alerts are essential for quickly identifying and resolving issues before they impact client campaigns. Continuous reputation checks and proactive measures are vital to maintaining a clean sending reputation and ensuring optimal inbox placement.
Key opinions
- Tool Variety: A variety of tools are available for blacklist monitoring, ranging from comprehensive platforms like GlockApps and Litmus to specialized services like MXToolbox and SenderScore.
- Real-time Alerts: Real-time alerts are crucial for quickly identifying and addressing blacklisting issues before they impact email campaigns.
- Proactive Monitoring: Proactive monitoring and reputation checks are essential for maintaining a clean sending reputation and ensuring optimal deliverability.
- Homegrown Solutions: Homegrown blacklist monitoring solutions based on services like MultiRBL can be effective alternatives to commercial tools.
- Importance of Reputation: Maintaining a high Sender Score is crucial for deliverability, reflecting a positive sender reputation.
Key considerations
- Alert Customization: Consider tools that allow customization of alerts and monitoring profiles to suit the specific needs of each client.
- Comprehensive Reporting: Choose tools that provide comprehensive reporting to identify trends and patterns affecting deliverability across multiple clients.
- Integration Capabilities: Evaluate the integration capabilities of monitoring tools with existing email marketing platforms and systems.
- Reputation Management: Implement strategies for managing sender reputation, including addressing spam complaints and ensuring proper email authentication.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Assess the cost-effectiveness of various tools and solutions, considering the scale and complexity of managing multiple clients.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit's r/emailmarketing forum suggests that senders managing multiple clients should implement automated blacklist monitoring tools with alerting capabilities. He recommends checking blacklists regularly and setting up alerts for when IP addresses or domains get listed.
9 Jun 2022 - Reddit
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks notes that dotdigital uses 250ok for blacklist monitoring, and in a previous role, they used a homegrown solution based on multirbl.valli.org.
8 Jun 2024 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
5 expert opinions
Experts emphasize that while blacklist monitoring is crucial, focusing solely on it is insufficient. A holistic approach is recommended, involving monitoring delivery logs, queue monitoring, and creating alerts based on SMTP logs. Homegrown solutions are often preferred. Staying off blacklists requires careful management of affiliate programs, setting realistic marketing expectations, and ensuring emails are welcomed by recipients. Continuous monitoring and alerting systems are vital for maintaining email deliverability for senders managing multiple clients, allowing for prompt response to issues before client campaigns are impacted.
Key opinions
- Holistic Approach: Effective deliverability management extends beyond just blacklist monitoring; a holistic approach involving multiple data points is recommended.
- Homegrown Solutions: Experts often recommend homegrown solutions tailored to specific needs, particularly for delivery problem detection and resolution.
- Early Alerting: Fastest alerts can be achieved by monitoring SMTP logs and directly querying blacklists.
- Proactive Prevention: Preventing blacklisting involves careful management of email marketing practices and ensuring recipient consent.
- Continuous Monitoring: Continuous monitoring and alerting systems are essential for maintaining deliverability.
Key considerations
- SMTP Log Analysis: Implement systems for analyzing SMTP logs to identify and address potential blacklisting issues.
- Custom Alerting: Create custom alerts based on relevant metrics, such as complaints, FBLs, opens, and unsubscribes.
- Affiliate Program Management: Exercise caution with affiliate programs and ensure compliance with best practices.
- Recipient Consent: Prioritize obtaining explicit consent from recipients to minimize spam complaints.
- Comprehensive Monitoring Setup: Develop a comprehensive monitoring setup that incorporates both blacklist checks and internal metrics.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks highlights that focusing solely on blacklist monitoring can cause you to miss a large amount of problems. Recommends monitoring all the signals before it gets to a place where blacklisting is even an issue.
26 Nov 2021 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that the fastest alerts can be created by using alerts based on SMTP logs mentioning relevant blacklists or querying them directly.
24 Jan 2025 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Various documentation sources emphasize the importance of using real-time databases and monitoring services to track IP address and domain reputation for senders managing multiple clients. Spamhaus's SBL, Barracuda's BRBL, and MXToolbox's blacklist check tool offer methods to identify blacklisting issues. Talos Intelligence provides reputation monitoring services, and MultiRBL offers a service to check against multiple RBLs simultaneously. Regular checks against these resources are crucial for maintaining a clean sending reputation and ensuring email deliverability.
Key findings
- Real-time Blacklists: Real-time Blackhole Lists (RBLs) like Spamhaus SBL and Barracuda BRBL are critical for identifying IP addresses involved in spam activity.
- MXToolbox Checks: MXToolbox offers a tool to quickly check if an IP address or domain is listed on multiple DNS-based blacklists.
- Reputation Monitoring: Services like Talos Intelligence track IP address and domain reputation to help identify potential blacklisting issues.
- Multi-RBL Checks: MultiRBL allows simultaneous checks against multiple RBLs for efficient monitoring.
- Regular Checks: Regularly checking IP addresses and domains against these resources is vital for maintaining a clean sending reputation.
Key considerations
- Frequency of Checks: Determine an appropriate frequency for checking IP addresses and domains against blacklists based on sending volume and risk tolerance.
- Automated Monitoring: Implement automated monitoring systems to receive alerts when IP addresses or domains are listed on blacklists.
- Remediation Process: Establish a clear remediation process for addressing blacklisting issues promptly.
- Multiple Resources: Utilize a combination of RBLs, monitoring services, and tools for comprehensive coverage.
- False Positives: Be prepared to handle false positives and provide evidence of legitimate sending practices to request delisting.
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that the Spamhaus Block List (SBL) is a real-time database of IP addresses involved in spam activity. They advises senders to regularly check their IP addresses against the SBL to promptly identify and resolve any issues that could affect deliverability for multiple clients.
5 Mar 2025 - Spamhaus
Technical article
Documentation from MultiRBL shares MultiRBL provides a service to check if an IP address or hostname is listed on multiple RBLs (Realtime Blackhole Lists) simultaneously. Senders can use it to monitor their IP reputation quickly.
2 Nov 2023 - MultiRBL
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