Summary
Excluding Microsoft domains from email segmentation can enhance deliverability and campaign accuracy, particularly for targeted demographics or business professionals. This involves excluding freemail services (Hotmail, Live, MSN, Outlook.com), their regional variations, and legacy servers. Careful configuration is needed to avoid excluding legitimate Office 365 business users. Employ segmentation tools (Gmass, Mailchimp) and suppression lists (SparkPost) to manage exclusions. Prioritize list hygiene and user engagement, and analyze traffic originating from `protection.outlook.com`, filtering by recipient domain rather than infrastructure domain. Consider that domains like dbmail.com now use Hotmail's MX records. Excluding Microsoft freemail can be a strategic move to improve deliverability scores by focusing on more engaged and relevant users.
Key findings
- Core Freemail Domains: Include outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, and msn.com in the exclusion list.
- Regional Variations: Account for regional variations and subdomains (e.g., hotmail.co.uk, outlook.fr).
- Office 365: Avoid excluding legitimate business users on Office 365 domains by careful configuration.
- Segmentation Tools: Utilize segmentation tools (Gmass, Mailchimp) and suppression lists (SparkPost) to implement domain exclusions.
- List Hygiene: Prioritize list hygiene and user engagement to improve deliverability.
- Traffic Analysis: Analyze traffic from `protection.outlook.com` and filter by recipient domain to identify freemail users.
- MX Records: Domains like dbmail.com now use Hotmail's MX records.
- Microsoft Infrastructure: Be aware of old Hotmail servers, new MS freemail servers (*.olc.protection.outlook.com), old Office 365 servers (*pamx1.hotmail.com), and new Office 365 servers (*.mail.protection.outlook.com).
Key considerations
- Targeted Campaigns: Excluding Microsoft domains is most effective for campaigns targeting specific demographics outside of typical freemail users or aimed at professional audiences.
- Campaign Goals: Align domain exclusions with the specific goals of the email campaign (e.g., higher engagement, business contacts).
- Infrastructural Changes: Stay informed about changes in Microsoft's domain infrastructure and adapt the exclusion list accordingly.
- Comprehensive Approach: Adopt a comprehensive approach that includes domain exclusions, list hygiene, and engagement-based segmentation.
- Regional Variations: Be aware of country-specific variations to ensure comprehensive exclusion.
- Mail flow rules: Use mail flow rules within the Exchange admin center for efficient domain exclusions.
- Freemail Exclusion Strategy: Excluding Microsoft freemail can be a strategic move to improve deliverability scores by focusing on more engaged and relevant users.
What email marketers say
15 marketer opinions
Excluding Microsoft domains from email segmentation can improve deliverability and campaign accuracy, particularly when targeting specific demographics or business professionals. This involves excluding freemail services like Hotmail, Live, MSN, and Outlook.com, as well as considering regional variations and subdomains. Accurate segmentation requires careful configuration to avoid excluding legitimate business users on the Office 365 platform. Tools like Gmass and Mailchimp provide segmentation options to exclude specific domains. It is important to recognize older, less engaged freemail users and prioritize list hygiene. Additionally, identify domains replying with `prod.protection.outlook.com`, which might indicate Microsoft infrastructure users, but still require further filtering to exclude freemail addresses effectively.
Key opinions
- Freemail Exclusion: Excluding freemail domains like Hotmail, Live, MSN, and Outlook.com improves deliverability for targeted demographics.
- Domain Variations: Consider regional variations and subdomains (e.g., hotmail.co.uk, outlook.fr) for accurate segmentation.
- O365 Caution: Exclude freemail domains carefully to avoid excluding legitimate business users on Office 365.
- Tool Segmentation: Tools like Gmass and Mailchimp offer features to exclude specific domains from email lists.
- MX Records: Domains like dbmail.com, dartybox.com, and netcabo.pt now use Hotmail's MX records and may warrant exclusion.
- Traffic Analysis: Traffic from `*.olc.protection.outlook.com` delivers a small percentage to `windowslive.com`, indicating a need for analysis.
- Proctection Outlook: Domains that reply with `prod.protection.outlook.com` may be MS domains, but also O365 business domains.
Key considerations
- Demographic Focus: Excluding Microsoft domains is beneficial when targeting specific demographics outside typical freemail users.
- List Hygiene: Prioritize list hygiene and segment based on engagement to improve deliverability.
- Professional Targeting: Exclude Microsoft domains when targeting business emails or professional demographics to avoid diluting results.
- Domain Identification: Regularly identify new or less common Microsoft-owned domains to maintain accurate segmentation.
- Regional Awareness: Be aware of country-specific domains and variations to ensure comprehensive exclusion.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares how to use Mailchimp segmentation to exclude domains like `hotmail.com` by creating a segment with conditions 'Email Address Does Not Contain hotmail.com'.
5 May 2022 - Mailchimp
Marketer view
Email marketer from Gmass shares how to use Gmass segmentation to exclude domains like `hotmail.com` by creating a segment with 'does not contain hotmail.com' in the email address.
17 May 2024 - Gmass
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
When excluding Microsoft domains from email segmentation, comprehensive strategies and careful consideration are crucial for optimal deliverability. It's essential to identify both current and legacy Microsoft freemail servers, including those used by Hotmail, Outlook.com, and MSN. In addition to the primary domains, incorporate regional and country-specific variations to capture a wider range of freemail users. List hygiene and segmentation based on user engagement can also significantly enhance deliverability by focusing on more responsive contacts. Analyzing the originating IP addresses associated with `protection.outlook.com` can further refine segmentation to identify freemail users.
Key opinions
- Comprehensive Coverage: Cover a wide range of Microsoft domains, including Hotmail, Outlook.com, MSN, and their regional variations.
- Freemail Servers: Identify both current (`*.olc.protection.outlook.com`) and legacy (`*pamx1.hotmail.com`, `*.mail.protection.outlook.com`) Microsoft freemail servers.
- IP Analysis: Analyze IP addresses associated with `protection.outlook.com` to pinpoint freemail users.
- Engagement Matters: Segment users based on engagement to focus on more responsive contacts.
Key considerations
- Regional Adaptations: Adapt your exclusion list to include country-specific domains (e.g., hotmail.co.uk).
- List Hygiene: Maintain list hygiene to improve deliverability and focus on engaged contacts.
- Strategic Exclusion: Excluding Microsoft freemail can be a strategic move to target business-oriented contacts more effectively.
- Domain Monitoring: Regularly monitor and update your list of excluded domains to reflect changes in Microsoft's infrastructure.
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource explains that when filtering freemail domains, be comprehensive, including variations and country-specific domains (e.g., hotmail.co.uk). Also, look at the originating IP addresses associated with `protection.outlook.com` to identify freemail users behind those IPs.
28 Oct 2022 - Spam Resource
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares notes on Microsoft domains including old hotmail servers, new MS freemail servers (`*.olc.protection.outlook.com`), old Office 365 servers (`*pamx1.hotmail.com`), and new Office 365 servers (`*.mail.protection.outlook.com`).
22 Jul 2021 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
To effectively exclude Microsoft domains from email segmentation, it's crucial to consider the official Microsoft-owned domains: outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, and msn.com, including their regional variations. If traffic originates from `protection.outlook.com`, filter by the recipient domain (e.g., hotmail.com) rather than the infrastructure domain. Microsoft provides tools within the Exchange admin center to set up mail flow rules for excluding domains based on recipient address. Suppression lists can also be used to prevent sending to specified domains, mitigating deliverability problems.
Key findings
- Official Domains: Exclusion should include outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, and msn.com.
- Regional Variations: Consider regional variations of Microsoft domains.
- Recipient Filtering: Filter by recipient domain (e.g., hotmail.com) when traffic comes from `protection.outlook.com`.
- Mail Flow Rules: Microsoft provides mail flow rules within the Exchange admin center for excluding domains.
- Suppression Lists: Suppression lists can be used to prevent sending to specific domains.
Key considerations
- Accurate Segmentation: Ensure accurate segmentation by including all relevant Microsoft-owned domains and variations.
- Deliverability Impact: Excluding domains can help mitigate deliverability problems.
- Configuration Tools: Utilize Microsoft's mail flow rules to efficiently manage domain exclusions.
- List Management: Implement suppression lists to prevent sending to undesirable domains proactively.
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft explains that to accurately segment and exclude Microsoft domains, one must consider the official Microsoft-owned domains: outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, and msn.com. In addition, consider regional variations, such as those used in specific countries.
20 Jun 2021 - Microsoft
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft details that `protection.outlook.com` is used for mail routing and filtering. If you are seeing traffic from this domain, but wish to exclude freemail users, you need to filter by the end recipient domain (e.g., hotmail.com) not the sending infrastructure domain.
24 Apr 2023 - Microsoft
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