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All other ISPs (Google, AOL, Hotmail) are fantastic, hitting 98-100% in the inbox. Yahoo is very random, and lately our deliverability has dropped drastically. All IPs are senders certified by Return Path and supposedly that automatically whitelists our IPs and allows us to send as many emails as we want (from what my boss says).

Do I bother with applying to Yahoo's bulk sender form?

I run every email campaign through:

  1. SpamAssassin (Excellent Scores)
  2. Test Accounts (for test deliverability)
  3. Old school HTML format

I'm running out of ideas and I'm starting to be in the hot seat and I am very fearful for my job position.

If you can offer any wise words i will be very grateful. Thank you in advance.

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  • I should add that I am extremely new to email marketing (1 month). I just received a promotion from a website intern to Email Marketing. So i am learning as much as i can to become a great asset to the company.
    – xarejay28x
    Jun 14, 2012 at 17:41
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    Make sure your SPF records are configured correctly too. You want to make sure to have a hard -all at the end of it (no softfail).
    – Bigbio2002
    Jun 14, 2012 at 18:40
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    Do i bother with applying to Yahoo's bulk sender form . Yes, you should. At some point you might be doing everything right technically, but email recipients will still tag your email as Spam. Sign up with Yahoo, and pay attention to the email feedback. Jun 14, 2012 at 18:46
  • Thanks for the suggestions; i really do appreciate you guys taking the time to answer. It gives me a great direction on where to look/start!
    – xarejay28x
    Jun 15, 2012 at 18:25

7 Answers 7

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First, I'd confirm that "supposedly". ;)

Also, I would try sending a small email list from your local computer via SendGrid or Amazon SES. Just to double-confirm it is not your content causing the problem.

Review, in detail, Yahoo's postmaster FAQ.

And, definitely fill out the Yahoo Bulk Sender form.

Just a final thought too - if the lists you're sending to have your email and/or domain blocked in their personal preferences - there is nothing you can do about that.

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  • I contacted yahoo and they directed me to the exact link you provided. With further information regarding my list management. I think that's what we need to focus on more. We have to scrub our list and boot out all complaints (i have to learn quick on how to figure that out too). Thanks!!!!!!
    – xarejay28x
    Jun 15, 2012 at 18:27
  • Glad to help out!
    – af-at-work
    Jun 24, 2012 at 23:30
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Here's what I'd do:

  • Check if the SPF records are configured as they should.
  • Enable DKIM/DomainKeys for the domains.
  • Check if the server is in any blacklist
  • Send an email from the server to this address: [email protected] (they will reply with an extensive nice report)

If you have all of this properly configured, try the Yahoo bulk email form.

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  • We have all that configure "properly" from what people say. Ill take your advice and give the yahoo bulk a go! thanks for your time!
    – xarejay28x
    Jun 15, 2012 at 18:29
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Also, check whether the IP address of your outgoing mail (smtp) server resolves back (reverse dns lookup) correctly.

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In addition to the bulk email form (do it), there's a Yahoo! customer care concierge service (no kidding) which may be able to assist. Try the bulk email form first.

In the past, I've resorted to contacting Yahoo execs directly ([email protected] usually), but really reserve that for particularly egregious issues. Last time I tried that (a couple of CEOs ago) I got hooked up with the concierge.

Getting mail into Yahoo can be a real pain, even if you're fully legitimate.

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If these IPs are certified by Return Path, ask them what you can do. They are very helpful in this sort of situation.

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The latest 2016 guidelines for Yahoo

  • Use tools like litmus.com and emailonacid.com to validate your email.
  • Yahoo Bulk Sender form is recommended for the cold IPs.
  • Ensure you have Author Domain Signature.
  • Domain reputation is important.
-4
  1. Add an SPF record in DNS

  2. Add a PTR record in DNS

Adding PTR record is not recommended for modern email delivery - it exposes domain for IP, increasing possible intrusion for web domain.

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    Adding a PTR record is most definitely recommended! Some MTAs will completely block you if you have no PTR. What you're suggesting is security-through-obscurity hokum.
    – MikeyB
    Sep 26, 2012 at 13:55
  • Yeap some MTA's, but Yahoo will pass.
    – GioMac
    Sep 27, 2012 at 13:09

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