Low open rates on microsoft, outlook domains?

[#1]

Hi all,

Recently, we've been noticing a low open rate for customers on the hotmail, outlook domains.  It could be that our emails are landing in the ‘Other’ tab within the Outlook app and hence not being seen by customers. If this is the case there will be people who are just not seeing our comms and therefore missing to open them.

It could well be that opens appear lower than other domains due to emails not rendering properly on open, but it would be good to have your opinion to see if there's some important aspect of it that can be looked into.

Any thoughts please?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hello @wALF ,

My suggestion would be work with adobe deliver-ability team to get an idea of how the emails are performing with Microsoft in terms of deliver-ability and where your IP/Domain reputation stands now.

On the basis of all this, Adobe team recommend you to increase/decrease the number of emails you are sending out to Microsoft Email addresses.

Also, you will have to consider that most of Microsoft users will be using outlook client and if you emails are not rendering properly there, then they are landing in the Junk/spam folder hence the open rate is very low.

Thanks

[#3]

Hi @wALF - you can look into using some essential tools, like Litmus and Validity (ReturnPath) to track your structure and deliverability. Litmus will help you check different client renderings plus give you lots of advice on the structure of your emails and make suggestions on how to improve these.

ReturnPath allows you to send your emails to their seed lists to monitor how your emails are delivered and for some ESPs which folder your emails end up in. It will also tell you the % of emails that end up in Spam for each ESP. They also give you insights into your sending IPs and their general reputation and whether you are on any spam lists. They also have a few products that "validate" your sending reputation but I am unsure how much this really helps if you already have a good reputation.

Also check out registering with all the Feedback Loops to help you see when people are reporting your emails as spam: https://www.validity.com/what-is-a-feedback-loop/

You can register your sending IPs directly with Microsoft Smart Network Data Services to monitor your sends and reputation with your Microsoft (outlook.com & hotmail.com) targets. https://sendersupport.olc.protection.outlook.com/snds/

Cheers Darren