Are you an email marketer using unconventional methods to get your messages delivered? You might want to reconsider. In a recent blog post, email delivery expert Word to the Wise reminds marketers not to break the email protocol rules outlined in the Request for Comment (RFC) documents. While it may be tempting to bend the rules to achieve better open rates, Word to the Wise warns that emails could be marked as spam or blocked entirely. Two key areas where marketers often violate RFC guidelines include message size and email content. Word to the Wise suggests sticking to RFC recommendations to maintain a good email sender reputation and avoid damaging consequences. Remember, sometimes it’s better to play by the rules.
Excerpt from the main article:
It looks like Microsoft are getting pickier about email address syntax, rejecting mail that uses illegal address formats. That might be what’s causing that “550 5.6.0 CAT.InvalidContent.Exception: DataSourceOperationException, proxyAddress: prefix not supported – ; cannot handle content of message” rejection. Why do we care? It’s good to send syntactically valid email in a warm fuzzies sort of way – it shows we know what we’re doing, and aren’t dodgy spamware – but it’s increasingly important to delivery as mailbox providers are tightening up on their syntax checks. But why are mailbox providers doing that? One reason is that authentication tech like DKIM and DMARC is built around them only being applied to email. Not to messages that kinda look like email. There are ways to bypass DKIM protections by sending invalid messages. As one example, if you send multiple copies of the From: header with different values a DKIM checker
Don’t break the (RFC) rules was originally published on Blog – Word to the Wise
