Summary
A red filter result in Microsoft's SNDS indicates that SmartScreen identifies a high percentage of emails from a given IP as spam. While the SNDS color codes reflect SmartScreen's view, they aren't always perfectly accurate and don't guarantee deliverability issues. A red filter suggests potential problems with deliverability, particularly for Outlook.com and Hotmail, and warrants investigation of content, reputation, and sending practices. SmartScreen evaluates various signals, including content, links, and sender reputation. A good IP/domain reputation can mitigate content issues. Proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), list hygiene, engagement rates, and bounce rates are all essential factors. It's recommended to correlate SNDS data with complaint rates and inbox placement testing.
Key findings
- SmartScreen Assessment: SNDS color codes reflect SmartScreen's assessment, where red signifies a high spam likelihood.
- Deliverability Implication: A red filter often, but not always, correlates with deliverability problems, especially for Microsoft services.
- Holistic View: SNDS data should be considered alongside other metrics like complaint rates and inbox placement.
- Content Significance: SmartScreen assesses email content, including links and coding, for suspicious elements.
- Reputation Importance: Sender reputation significantly influences SmartScreen's filtering and overall deliverability.
- Authentication Necessity: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for establishing sender legitimacy.
Key considerations
- Content Review: Thoroughly examine email content, URLs, and code for potential spam triggers.
- Reputation Management: Actively monitor and maintain a positive sender reputation through consistent sending practices.
- List Hygiene: Implement rigorous list hygiene practices to remove inactive and problematic subscribers.
- Engagement Optimization: Improve engagement rates to signal the value of your emails to recipients and filtering systems.
- Authentication Implementation: Ensure that SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are correctly implemented and validated.
- Inbox Placement Testing: Use inbox placement testing tools to evaluate where your emails are landing and identify potential issues.
- Data Correlation: Correlate SNDS data with other relevant metrics, such as complaint rates and blocklist status, for a comprehensive understanding.
- Remediation: Actively address identified issues in content, reputation, or sending practices to improve SNDS results.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
A red filter result in Microsoft's SNDS (Smart Network Data Services) indicates that a significant portion of emails originating from a given IP address are being flagged as spam by Microsoft's SmartScreen filter. While not always perfectly accurate, a red filter often correlates with deliverability problems, suggesting that emails may be landing in the junk folder or being blocked altogether. Factors contributing to a red filter can include problematic email content (spam trigger words, excessive images), poor sender reputation, low engagement rates, high bounce rates, and inadequate list hygiene. Experts recommend verifying SNDS data with inbox placement testing and addressing potential issues in content, sending practices, and list management.
Key opinions
- Deliverability Impact: A red filter often signals potential deliverability issues, with emails potentially landing in the junk folder.
- SmartScreen Connection: The red filter indicates that Microsoft's SmartScreen filter identifies a significant portion of the email as spam.
- Accuracy Variability: SNDS data is not always perfectly accurate, so it should be correlated with other data points.
- Multiple Contributing Factors: Problematic content, poor reputation, low engagement, and bad list hygiene can all contribute to a red filter.
Key considerations
- Content Review: Examine email content for spam trigger words, excessive images, and other elements that may trigger SmartScreen.
- Sender Reputation: Focus on building and maintaining a positive sender reputation through consistent sending practices and proper authentication.
- Engagement Monitoring: Track and improve engagement rates (opens, clicks) to signal to SmartScreen that recipients find the emails valuable.
- List Hygiene: Implement robust list hygiene practices to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers and reduce bounce rates.
- Inbox Placement Testing: Regularly test inbox placement using tools to assess where emails are landing and identify potential issues.
- Verification: Verify results with sending tests to seed email accounts.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends sending a test email to an Outlook inbox to verify, as a `red` score will very much line up with high spam foldering.
14 Feb 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum mentions that a red filter in SNDS may be caused by problematic content, such as spam trigger words or excessive use of images, that the SmartScreen filter identifies as suspicious.
29 Jan 2022 - Email Marketing Forum
What the experts say
6 expert opinions
A red filter in Microsoft's SNDS signifies that SmartScreen views a significant portion of your mail as spam, potentially causing deliverability issues, particularly with Outlook.com and Hotmail. SmartScreen's color codes (Green, Yellow, Red) reflect its assessment, although content quality alone doesn't guarantee inbox placement. A good IP/domain reputation can mitigate SmartScreen content issues. While concerning, a red filter needs context from complaint rates and inbox placement tests for accurate interpretation, and warrants investigation of content, URLs, and code for suspicious elements.
Key opinions
- SmartScreen Assessment: SNDS color codes reflect SmartScreen's view of your mail (Red = likely spam).
- Deliverability Impact: Red filter potentially leads to deliverability problems, especially with Outlook.com and Hotmail.
- Reputation Matters: A good IP/domain reputation can lessen the impact of SmartScreen content issues.
- Context is Key: Correlate red filter with complaint rates and inbox placement data.
- Content Focus: Review your content, URLs, and code for suspicious elements.
- SmartScreen is MS Content Filter: SmartScreen is the Microsoft content filter.
Key considerations
- Content Review: Inspect content, URLs, and code for potential spam triggers or suspicious elements.
- Reputation Building: Prioritize building and maintaining a strong IP/domain reputation.
- Data Correlation: Don't rely solely on the red filter; analyze complaint rates and inbox placement results.
- Investigation: Use the red filter as a trigger to investigate potential issues with your sending practices.
- Outlook Focus: Pay close attention to Outlook.com and Hotmail deliverability when a red filter is present.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the colour codes are based on how SmartScreen views your mail. Green is good, Yellow is suspicious, Red is likely spam. It's not tied to domain or IP filtering. Also a low FBL could be because mail is going to the spam folder already so you can't report them as spam.
2 Oct 2021 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that SNDS data provides insight into how Microsoft views your mail stream. A red filter result indicates that Microsoft's SmartScreen filter is categorizing a significant portion of your mail as spam, potentially leading to deliverability problems specifically with Outlook.com and Hotmail.
11 Mar 2024 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
According to Microsoft's documentation, a red filter in SNDS indicates a high percentage of messages from an IP address have been classified as spam. SmartScreen, Microsoft's filter, evaluates various signals, including content, links, and sender reputation, impacting inbox deliverability. Maintaining a clean IP reputation and proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is essential, as SmartScreen considers blacklists like Spamhaus. Reviewing sending practices and monitoring complaint rates are advised to improve SNDS results.
Key findings
- High Spam Classification: A red filter signifies a high percentage of messages flagged as spam by Microsoft's filters.
- SmartScreen Evaluation: SmartScreen assesses content, links, and sender reputation to determine if email is malicious or unwanted.
- Deliverability Impact: SmartScreen results directly affect inbox deliverability.
- Reputation Importance: Maintaining a clean IP reputation is crucial for avoiding blacklists and improving deliverability.
- Authentication Essential: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC standards for email authentication is important.
Key considerations
- Review Sending Practices: Examine sending practices for potential issues contributing to spam classification.
- Ensure Proper Authentication: Implement and maintain SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication protocols.
- Monitor Complaint Rates: Track complaint rates to identify and address potential issues with email content or targeting.
- Clean IP Reputation: Take steps to maintain a clean IP reputation and avoid blacklisting.
- Content and Links: Ensure content and links within emails are not considered malicious.
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus Documentation explains that maintaining a clean IP reputation is essential for deliverability. Blacklists like Spamhaus are considered by SmartScreen, and listing can severely impact inbox placement.
19 May 2023 - Spamhaus Documentation
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft SNDS Documentation explains that the filter results in SNDS show the aggregate results of spam filtering applied to messages sent by the IP address during a given period. A red filter indicates a higher percentage of messages from that IP were classified as spam by Microsoft's filters.
10 Oct 2024 - Microsoft SNDS Documentation
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