What are the best email sending providers for European and South American markets to ensure high deliverability?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 25 Jun 2025
Updated 15 Aug 2025
6 min read
When expanding email campaigns into new regions, particularly Europe and South America, a common question arises: do you need a local email sending provider for optimal deliverability? The answer is nuanced. While major global Email Service Providers (ESPs) generally handle international delivery well, there are specific regional quirks that can impact your inbox placement.
Understanding the unique characteristics of each market, from regulatory requirements to local mailbox provider behaviors, is crucial for achieving high email deliverability. This involves more than just selecting a provider, it means adopting a strategic approach tailored to regional demands.
Understanding European email markets
The European email landscape, while diverse, shares some commonalities, particularly concerning data privacy regulations like GDPR. However, certain countries present unique challenges. In nations like Poland, for instance, large senders using international ESPs, such as Mailchimp, might encounter deliverability issues with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), leading to domain or IP-based blocking at certain volumes. This often necessitates a more localized sending approach.
While this specific behavior isn't widespread across all of Europe, some regional providers, especially in countries like Italy and France, can have their own throttling mechanisms, unusual filters, or even pay-to-play policies for bulk senders. Most major international ESPs are equipped to handle common European ISP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) errors, but deeper local knowledge can be beneficial if persistent issues arise. For more details on EU-specific providers, you might find our guide on EU-based email service providers helpful.
For countries like Slovakia and the Czech Republic, regional expertise can sometimes offer an edge. Providers familiar with the local infrastructure and recipient behavior can help navigate specific challenges. However, for many European markets, focusing on general best practices for avoiding spam filters and maintaining a strong sender reputation often proves sufficient.
Understanding European email markets
Navigating South American email landscapes
South American email markets, including Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, often present a different set of dynamics. A significant number of ISPs in Latin America leverage Google's backend infrastructure for their email services. This means that email deliverability strategies that perform well for Gmail tend to be highly effective across much of the continent. For example, in Spain, which has a similar landscape to some South American countries, Microsoft and Gmail dominate the B2C sector.
Despite the prevalence of global providers like Google and Microsoft, some regional factors can still influence performance. While not as prone to unique throttling or filtering as some European counterparts, understanding local subscriber behavior and engagement patterns is key. For more insights on this, you can refer to resources on email marketing in Latin America.
The main takeaway for South American markets is to prioritize email sending practices that lead to strong performance with major global mailbox providers. This includes rigorous list hygiene, sending relevant content, and ensuring robust email authentication, which are universal best practices that particularly resonate in these regions.
Navigating South American email landscapes
Core principles for global deliverability
Regardless of the specific region, certain foundational elements are paramount for achieving and maintaining high email deliverability. These are universal principles that apply to both European and South American markets, as well as any other part of the world.
A fundamental aspect is sending relevant messages to recipients who have explicitly opted in to receive them. This greatly reduces spam complaints and improves sender reputation. Additionally, robust email authentication protocols are non-negotiable.
The importance of email authentication
SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This record specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing recipient servers to verify that the message hasn't been altered in transit.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM, telling recipient servers what to do with emails that fail authentication and providing valuable reports. You can learn more about these in our simple guide to DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
Properly configuring these records is fundamental for improving your sender reputation and ensuring your emails are delivered to the inbox, reducing the likelihood of them being marked as spam or getting caught in a blocklist (or blacklist).
Ongoing monitoring of your email delivery, bounce rates, and complaint rates is also essential. This allows you to identify and address issues promptly, whether they stem from content, list quality, or specific regional filtering rules. Tools that provide comprehensive deliverability analytics can be incredibly valuable here, helping you track performance and diagnose potential email deliverability issues.
Core principles for global deliverability
Choosing the right provider and local expertise
When it comes to selecting an email sending provider, you generally don't need a unique ESP for every country. Most major international ESPs have sophisticated infrastructure and experience in handling deliverability across various regions, including those in Europe and South America. They often have established relationships and practices to manage rate limits and connection limits imposed by local ISPs.
However, there are scenarios where local expertise or a specific regional provider might be advantageous. If you consistently observe isolated deliverability problems in a particular country that seem unrelated to general sending hygiene, then consulting a local deliverability expert can be helpful. They may have insights into very niche local filtering rules or unlisted blacklists (or blocklists) that an international provider might not immediately address.
Some ESPs that have shown strong performance or have specific regional focus include Splio (for Brazil, France, Spain, Italy) and Mailkit (for Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania). For Mexico and Colombia, where Gmail and Microsoft are dominant, a robust general deliverability strategy with a global ESP is often sufficient. Remember that choosing an email marketing platform with strong deliverability is critical.
Ultimately, while local partners can offer valuable insights, especially for highly localized markets, a high-quality global email service provider, coupled with diligent adherence to email best practices, often provides the necessary foundation for high deliverability across Europe and South America. The crucial aspect is consistent monitoring and adaptation based on your specific campaign performance in each region.
Choosing the right provider and local expertise
Key takeaways
Navigating the complexities of email deliverability in diverse markets like Europe and South America requires a balanced approach. While some regional specificities exist, particularly in parts of Europe with unique ISP behaviors, universal best practices remain the cornerstone of successful email campaigns.
Focusing on strong sender reputation, proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and sending highly relevant content to engaged subscribers will yield the best results. Utilize comprehensive email marketing platforms with robust deliverability features to monitor your performance and adapt your strategies as needed for each market.
Key takeaways
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Always prioritize sending relevant messages to subscribers who have explicitly opted in, as this is the fundamental key to high deliverability in any market.
Implement strong email authentication (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) for all your sending domains, as this builds trust with mailbox providers globally.
Regularly monitor your email deliverability metrics, including bounce rates, complaint rates, and inbox placement, to identify and address issues proactively.
Leverage the capabilities of major international ESPs, as they often have extensive experience and infrastructure to handle global sending complexities effectively.
Consider segmenting your email lists based on geographic regions to tailor content and sending practices, potentially improving engagement and deliverability.
Common pitfalls
Assuming that a single deliverability strategy will work identically across all European and South American countries, neglecting regional nuances and ISP behaviors.
Overlooking the importance of local mailbox providers in certain countries, which may have different filtering rules than global giants like Gmail or Outlook.
Ignoring DMARC reports, which provide crucial insights into authentication failures and potential deliverability issues in different regions.
Failing to maintain a clean email list, leading to high bounce rates and spam trap hits, which can severely damage your sender reputation regardless of your ESP.
Not adapting content or sending frequency to local market preferences, resulting in lower engagement and increased spam complaints.
Expert tips
For European markets, be aware that some local ISPs may implement unique throttling or connection limits, which major ESPs usually manage but can occasionally require specific attention.
In many South American countries, deliverability strategies effective for Gmail are often successful due to the prevalence of Google-backed ISPs in the region.
While not strictly necessary for Europe and South America, a local deliverability consultant can provide valuable insights for persistent, country-specific problems that broader strategies don't resolve.
If you're a high-volume sender in a country like Poland, using a local SMTP or newsletter solution might circumvent specific ISP blocks that target large international senders.
For markets like China and Japan, unique local partnerships or specialized ESPs are often more critical due to distinct internet regulations and email ecosystems.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says Europe and South America are very different markets, emphasizing that the absolute key to deliverability in any market is sending relevant messages to people who explicitly asked for them.
2021-02-24 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says monitoring delivery and reaching out to local experts only for countries with non-standard delivery problems can be a practical approach.
Mailchimp, might encounter deliverability issues with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), leading to domain or IP-based blocking at certain volumes. This often necessitates a more localized sending approach.
Gmail tend to be highly effective across much of the continent. For example, in Spain, which has a similar landscape to some South American countries, 
Microsoft and Gmail dominate the B2C sector.
