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What's happening?

Organizations using Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys may encounter an error stating their email service has been suspended due to recent activity, preventing them from sending emails through the platform.

Reason:

The suspension of the email service can occur due to violations of the platform's terms of use, specifically related to email sending practices. Common reasons include:

  • Sending emails to invalid addresses or domains, resulting in hard bounces.
  • Repeated soft bounces due to temporary issues like full inboxes or server errors.
  • Recipients marking emails as spam, leading to inclusion on suppression lists.
  • Extensive sending to spamtrap addresses, typically resulting from using purchased or third-party acquired contact lists.

Resolution:

To resolve the suspension and reactivate the email service, follow these steps:

1. Confirm adherence to Microsoft's email sending standards, specifically:

  1. Do not use purchased or third-party acquired contact lists (e.g., ZoomInfo or similar services).
  2. Validate email addresses before sending campaigns using email validation tools to reduce invalid addresses.
  3. Refine recipient segmentation to engage only relevant and active recipients.
  4. Actively monitor spam complaints and unsubscribes to improve targeting and reduce future issues.

2. Understand and adhere to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys bounce and spam handling policies:

  • Hard Bounces: Email sending to addresses that hard bounce (invalid email address or domain) is automatically stopped for six months, after which the system may attempt sending again.
  • Soft Bounces: Emails continue to be sent after soft bounces (temporary issues). After five consecutive soft bounces, the address is treated as a hard bounce, and sending is paused for six months.
  • Spam Reports: Addresses marked as spam are added to suppression lists, preventing future emails from being sent. Suppression lists are automatically applied to future campaigns.

3. Consider implementing the Opt-in feature provided by Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys to ensure contacts subscribe properly to mailing lists.

4. After confirming compliance with these guidelines, request Microsoft support team to review and unsuspend the organization's email sending capabilities.

For additional information, review the Best practices for email marketing | Microsoft Learn.