How do I get my emails whitelisted by a recipient's email admin?

Key findings

• Admin responsibility: Whitelisting is typically handled by the recipient organization's email administrator, who makes decisions based on their security policies.
• Authentication preferred: Admins are more likely to whitelist based on email authentication (like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) rather than just an IP address, especially for shared IPs, as this provides a stronger trust signal. Ensure your authentication records are correctly set up, as discussed in our guide on DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
• System variations: The exact steps for whitelisting vary significantly between different email systems, such as Google Workspace (formerly G-Suite) and Microsoft 365. Organizations often refer to official documentation for these procedures.
• Security implications: Whitelisting an unauthenticated sender or a broad IP range can introduce security risks, making admins cautious.

Key considerations

• Clarify the request: Instead of asking to whitelist an IP address, ask the admin to whitelist mail from your specific sending domain or email address, ensuring it's properly authenticated. This reduces potential security flaws and makes the request more acceptable.
• Provide relevant information: Be prepared to provide your domain, sending email addresses, and ideally, evidence of proper email authentication configuration (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Learn how to improve your sender reputation for better results.
• Understand their system: Recognize that the admin's process will depend on their specific email infrastructure (e.g., Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or other solutions). Generic instructions may not always apply directly.
• Focus on business relevance: Frame your request around the business-critical nature of your emails to the recipient. If the emails are important for their operations, admins are more inclined to assist.

Key opinions

• Simplicity first: Marketers initially hope that whitelisting a shared IP address is as simple as asking the recipient's IT department to add it to their system's allowlist.
• Admin involvement: The consensus is that whitelisting decisions ultimately rest with the recipient's email system administrator.
• Domain-based whitelisting: Many prefer asking to whitelist a specific sender email address or domain, rather than an IP, as it's often more feasible and less risky for the recipient.
• Providing instructions: Marketers feel it is helpful to provide step-by-step instructions for popular email suites like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, especially when dealing with small to medium businesses (SMBs) that might not have dedicated IT staff.

Key considerations

• Shared IP challenges: Using shared IPs can complicate whitelisting, as recipient admins might be wary of the potential for coupling an IP with an unknown domain, requiring more stringent authentication checks.
• Security implications for admins: Marketers need to understand that simply whitelisting an email address (e.g., hello@benefits.com) without proper authentication could introduce a security flaw, as anyone spoofing that address could bypass filters. This is why email deliverability is complex.
• End-user impact: For hosted SMBs, if mail is blocked, it often goes to the junk folder. Marketers should advise recipients that moving the email to the inbox often has a similar whitelisting effect as it would in a consumer email client.
• Focus on authentication: The most effective approach is to ensure emails are properly authenticated via SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, as this builds trust and makes whitelisting requests more legitimate. This aligns with advice on improving deliverability with Microsoft.

Key opinions

• Authentication first: Experts strongly advise that whitelisting should be based on email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) rather than just IP addresses, especially when using shared IPs, to prevent security vulnerabilities. This is crucial for fixing common DMARC issues.
• Admin autonomy: The details of whitelisting are primarily the email admin's business; senders only need to know how to phrase a request for their email to be delivered.
• Risk assessment: Whitelisting an untrusted shared IP can introduce a security flaw, as anyone using that IP could bypass filters. Admins must weigh the risk against the necessity of receiving specific emails.
• Beyond whitelisting: If emails are consistently blocked, examine underlying deliverability issues like sender reputation before solely relying on whitelisting. Refer to our guide on why marketing emails get blocked.

Key considerations

• Communicate value: Focus on the business relevance of your emails when approaching an admin. This provides a strong justification for their consideration.
• Educate recipients: For smaller organizations or individual recipients, guide them on simple actions like moving emails from junk to inbox, which can teach their email client to trust your sender.
• System-specific guidance: While generic advice helps, providing links to official documentation for common systems like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is more valuable than trying to give universal instructions.
• Avoid broad IP whitelisting: It is not advisable to ask an admin to whitelist a broad or untrusted shared IP, as it poses significant security risks. Instead, focus on specific sender domains backed by strong authentication.

Key findings

• Admin console access: Whitelisting settings are accessed through the administrative console of the email suite (e.g., Google Workspace Admin console, Microsoft 365 Exchange Admin Center).
• Specific paths: Documentation often provides a precise navigation path to the allowlist settings, such as Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Spam, Phishing, and Malware.
• IP address types: Only public IP addresses are supported for whitelisting; private IP addresses are not. IP ranges can be entered using CIDR notation.
• Change propagation: Changes to whitelisting settings may take up to 24 hours to take effect and can often be tracked in an admin audit log.

Key considerations

• Top-level organization: When configuring allowlists, documentation specifies selecting the top-level organization or domain to ensure the rule applies broadly.
• Search functionality: Many admin consoles offer a search field to quickly find the email whitelist setting.
• Multiple entries: Instructions typically guide admins on how to enter multiple IP addresses, either by ranges or by separating individual addresses with commas. This can be important when your IPs are on a blocklist (or blacklist), as described in what happens when your IP gets blocklisted.
• Security best practices: Documentation implicitly encourages administrators to follow security best practices by being cautious with what they whitelist, particularly broadly defined IP ranges. For broader deliverability insights, see email deliverability issues.