Have you just created your Mailrelay account or sent a mailing, only to be told your account is paused or blocked? Don’t worry: in this post we explain the reasons and how to solve them.
As you know, email marketing, or rather how effective it is, depends on many factors that need to be taken into account.
Otherwise, our emails can end up in the spam folder.
The main problem is that users don’t necessarily know all these details, which is why email marketing tools must make sure they are met properly.
Very often this happens in a way that is completely transparent to the user, as with the Smartdelivery feature.
But at other times, the user needs to take some action and therefore has to be told.
In this post we explain the reasons why your Mailrelay account may get blocked.
My Mailrelay account is blocked or paused: what can I do?
Above all, don’t worry: the email marketing service responds quickly.
The first thing you should do is contact support so they can review your account (if they haven’t already).
They will tell you the specific reason why the account was blocked, and what you need to do to fix it.
Even so, there are some very common causes I’d like you to know about, so you can see it’s not such a serious matter.
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► Recently registered domain
This is one of the most common causes of an account being blocked, usually right after it has been created.
The problem is that using recently registered domains can be penalized in email marketing.
As we said before, the user doesn’t necessarily know this.
But to prevent bigger problems that would damage the domain’s sending reputation and penalize it in future mailings, the system simply pauses or blocks the account, so that no sends can be made that would harm the domain.
That way the user can contact our support team, who can give them the right guidance to avoid this problem.
So it’s a safety mechanism that keeps users from running into problems later simply because they didn’t know.
► A website with contact details
This is an important requirement:
Every account must be linked to a website where the contact details of the person responsible are clearly visible.
This is very important because it lets subscribers know where to turn if they have a complaint or claim.
For any business it’s a basic transparency rule, whether or not the law in its country requires it.
It’s also very easy to meet; in fact, it’s hardly a real requirement at all, since we all have contact details on our websites.
However, it does help the tool detect potential spammers, since they don’t usually have a website.
This way, the anti-spam system can protect itself from potential spammers and ensure maximum deliverability for the email campaigns of every user on the system.
Something every user wants 🙂
In your case, it may simply be that you haven’t finished your website yet, it’s incomplete or something is missing. No problem: once again, just contact our support team and they will give you the guidance you need.
► Multiple accounts
This is another common reason for accounts being blocked or paused.
A user can only have one free account with Mailrelay, not several.
Regardless of whether they have more than one business or any other scenario.
A user can only have one free account; if they need more than one account, all of them must be paid accounts.
But of course, people often don’t know this. After all, how many people read the terms of use?
The system does detect it, and so it triggers the block or warning.
In this case, the user just has to contact support and say which account they want to keep. The rest will naturally be deleted, after giving the user a reasonable amount of time to make copies or recover any data they need.
► Identical sends from several accounts
This is often related to the previous point, though not always.
Sometimes a user may want to help another business by sending the same promotional message to their own list.
That shouldn’t be done.
Those subscribers haven’t subscribed to receive the other business’s advertising, they haven’t given their consent, so they may mark the sends as spam, and what started out as a favor can end up becoming a problem.
The other side of the coin would be spammers who create multiple accounts and try to send the same thing from all of them.
The system is ready to detect these situations and stop them before they affect other users.
In any case, don’t send mailings on behalf of other domains.
► Subject lines likely to be considered spam
This is another point that is taken into account, with subject lines such as:
- Testing
- Test
- Newsletter
- Etc.
Combined with other factors we’ve discussed before, they can affect email deliverability.
Since it’s best not to take risks where reputation is concerned, the system may pause the account as a precaution until the support team can review it.
Always try to use subject lines that are as original as possible!
► Your sends or databases don’t comply with the law
The account may be blocked if senders, sends or databases don’t comply with the law. For example, if the database isn’t double opt-in or contains spam traps, if the sender is on blacklists, if there are signs of phishing or fraud, etc.
To sum up
The system for blocking or pausing accounts is simply one more tool to ensure the system works effectively and to detect spammers early.
This actually benefits all users, who thanks to it can count on excellent deliverability for all their newsletter sends.
It can occasionally produce false positives, but this happens very rarely, and in those cases the user just has to contact the support team, who can solve it and tell the user what to do.
After that, they can keep using their Mailrelay account completely as normal.
If you haven’t signed up for Mailrelay yet, you can do it now and take advantage of the Free Account with up to 80,000 emails a month and up to 20,000 contacts. Sign up now and start selling by email TODAY!
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This kind of block is often related to your Sender Score, and in many cases to not being clear on what spam is and how to avoid it.
Jose Argudo
CMO at Mailrelay. Writes about email marketing, copywriting, and conversion for small businesses and entrepreneurs.