the email marketer's guide to outlook.com

1

A Brief History of Outlook.com"

Launched July 4, 1996"

PS: I love you. Get your free e-mail at Hotmail!

2012

Launched July 31, 2012!

400 Million Active Accounts!

125 Million on Mobile!

What does Outlook.com

use for their spam filtering?"

9 Source: Microsoft

10

Reputation"List Hygiene Infrastructure

Content Engagement

IP Permanence

Complaints

What are the infrastructure

requirements at Outlook.com?"

12

Sender ID – Retired, but Outlook.com checking SPF

13

List-Unsubscribe

14

List-Unsubscribe Present List-Unsubscribe Not Present

How do I warm up my IP

addresses at Outlook.com?"

16

Warming Up IP Addresses at Outlook.com""New IP addresses don’t have a built up reputation and will experience deliverability issues for a period of time.!!1.  Authenticate using SPF!2.  Start with low volumes and gradually

ramp up!3.  Keep spam traps and complaints to a

minimum!4.  New IP addresses can be ramped up

within 2 weeks!""

IP Permanence

What kind of spam traps does Outlook.com use

and do they matter?"

18

List Hygiene

Spam Traps""Microsoft recycles abandoned, expired email addresses as spam traps. An email address becomes a spam trap if:!!1.  The user hasn’t logged in for 12 months!2.  6 months or longer have passed after

returning a hard bounce code!"

Can I see which spam traps I am sending to?"

20

List Hygiene Smart Network Data Services (SNDS)"https://postmaster.live.com/snds/""Junk mail data "• Filter result "• Complaint reports "• Trap hits "• Sample messages""""

What content keywords

should I avoid at Outlook.com?"

22

Content

1.  Avoid URL Shorteners 2.  Check other types of domain blacklists 3.  Be cautious of third party domains 4.  Images are now on by default

Are complaints

important at Outlook.com? How are

they calculated?"

24

Complaints Junk""Outlook.com users can mark unwanted email as:!1.  Junk!2.  Phishing Scam!3.  Hacked Account!

25

Complaints Junk Mail Reporting Program (JMRP)""Microsoft’s Feedback Loop!Helps maintain low complaints!Complaint rates should be less than .2%!Complaints calculated by campaign!!Signup here: http://tinyurl.com/msjmrp!!

What is SRD? How does

it work and how are members selected to

participate?"

27

Complaints Sender Reputation Data (SRD)"“Microsoft Spam Fighter’s Club”!!SRD is used in:!SmartScreen Filtering!Return Path Certification!!SRD is made of people!"The SRD “Spam Fighters” are selected randomly and on a volunteer basis!Outlook.com subscribers provide continuous feedback to ensure that SmartScreen is continuously trained and improved!!

28

Complaints SRD / Spam Fighter’s Club – Example Feedback Email"

29

Complaints

Return Path Certification SRD Compliance"

Does Outlook.com use engagement filtering

like Gmail and Yahoo!?"

31

Engagement

Microsoft filters email based on the following engagement metrics:!!•  Messages read, then deleted!•  Messages deleted without being

read!•  Messages replied to!•  Frequency of receiving and

reading a message from a source!

32

Engagement

Codename: CLUTTER"

Does Outlook.com offer inbox organization tools

like Gmail?"

34

Sweep: Moving and Deleting Email"

35

Message Archiving"

36

Categories"

Tom  Sather  Sr.  Director,  Research  Return  Path  Tom.Sather@returnpath.com  

 Melinda  Plemel  Email  Intelligence  Group    Return  Path  Melinda.Plemel@returnpath.com  

Ques4ons?