Overview

There are many options to control what email addresses and domains can and cannot be sent to using a batch campaign. Domain whitelisting and blacklisting is a powerful tool that can be used to either restrict or allow specific domains or email addresses. 

Note: Previous version referred to a simplified version of an Email Blacklist as the DNE (Do Not Email) list. That terminology has been phased out because of the more advanced features now allowed by the blacklisting and whitelisting features. DNE will now be referred to as the Email Address Blacklist to be more consistent with the additional features.

The Email Restrictions can be found under the main Email/Letters tab of the program. 

Types of Whitelisting & Blacklisting

Domain Level Whitelisting - when you create one or more whitelisted domains, emails to those domains will be allowed to be sent and all other domains will be blocked. Be careful when using this feature as creating the first whitelisted domain enables the whitelisting process which means any non-listed domains will be blocked. When there are no whitelisted domains, whitelisting is not used.

Example Usage: Your agency has determined that you only want to send emails to non-work email addresses. You have decided to whitelist the major personal email providers (yahoo.com, gmail.com, aol.com, icloud.com, etc.) and prevent other domains from being sent. Whitelisting all of those domains will allow sending. If a consumer has an email address that is at another domain, mass emailing will be blocked to that email.

Domain Level Blacklisting - Blacklisting a domain means that the system will block any mass email sent to that specific domain. All other domains will be allowed to be sent to.

Example Usage: You agency has determined that you do not want emails sent to the domain XYZ.com. You add XYZ.com and all mass emails to that domain will be blocked.

Email Address Whitelisting: allows you to whitelist an email address even when its domain does not permit sending. Whitelisting will override the domain (block) settings.

Example Usage: you have blacklisted the domain ABC.com because it may not be a personal domain. However you have a consumer that only has one email address john@abc.com and they have explicitly stated that they want to receive emails there and that it is their own personal domain. By whitelisting john@abc.com you will now be allowed to send emails to the consumer. 

Email Address Blacklisting: allows you to block individual email addresses without making any changes at the domain level. The following actions will cause email addresses to automatically be added to the Email Address Blacklist (formerly called the DNE list):

• A consumer clicks the Unsubscribe link in an email
• An email to that addresses bounces
• A complaint is received from that email address

Example Usage: you have received notice that an email address you are sending to is not the correct email address. You want to ensure no other emails go out to that email address, add it to the email blacklist.

Understanding Multiple Types of Restrictions

Blacklisting and Whitelisting are generally not used together, but they can be. Managing Whitelists and Blacklists should be done only by administrators who understand the impact it will have on email campaigns. Email white and black lists are examined prior to domain white and black lists. The following flow diagram shows how multiple types of whitelisting and blacklisting are computed to determine if each email address can be sent to: