Targeting by Sending Domain

Many e-mail providers create addresses using several different domains. For example, both outlook.com and hotmail.com are actually owned by Microsoft.

Therefore, Actito has regrouped these different domains under their parent company to allow you to target on e-mail domain groups.

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This is very useful if you identify a deliverability issue on a specific domain.

Indeed, all addresses from the same domain group will follow the same mechanics for filtering messages.

Therefore, if you need to avoid targeting some domains for a moment, or if you want to send different customized messages to another domain, the "e-mail domain group" will allow you to quickly select all the domains belonging to a specific webmail.

Using the "e-mail domain group" criteria

Selecting the "equal" or "is in" operator with the "e-mail domain group" criteria allows you to target all the addresses belonging to one or several e-mail providers.

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On the other hand, selecting the "is not equal to" or "is not in" will allow you to exclude a specific e-mail provider from your targeting, and there not send your e-mails to addresses with whom you may have a deliverability issue.

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E-mail domain group list update

The world of e-mail providers is not fixed. Some new domains may appear, while some providers may disappear... or get acquired by another provider.

Actito has therefore updated the list of "e-mail domain groups" available for targeting.

This update has three main goals :

  • open up the list of domain groups to a wider range of international domains

  • add new domains to existing domain groups

  • update the domain attribution for some domains which changed parent companies or ceased to exist

The list of all recognized domain groups, and the domains which belong to them, is available for download :

Update highlights

  • 26 new domain groups (mainly national providers) have been added to the list of e-mail domain groups, namely : bigpond.com, videotron.ca, sympatico.ca, cogeco.ca, Bluewin.ch, seznam.cz, GMX, web.de, t-online.de, freenet.de, BouyguesTelecom, laposte, Apple, Tiscali.it, Alice.it, tin.it, libero.it, ziggo.nl, Onet.pl, wp.pl, sapo.pt, portugalmail.pt, mail.ru, yandex.ru, btinternet.com, Comcast

  • 126 new domains have been added to existing e-mail domain groups (for example, googlemail.com, which is used only in specific countries, is now grouped under the "gmail" banner)

  • The "AOL" domain group has been merged with the "Yahoo" group, since they now belong to the same parent company and use the same algorithms.

  • The "att" and "brutele" domain groups have been removed.

Impact on existing targetings

What will happen if I have existing targetings that use the "e-mail domain group" criteria ?

Existing domain groups

Functionally, nothing will change. Some new domains will be added to the group, which may impact the result of the targetings, but this will provide a more detailed and accurate results.

The only consequence is a better consistency with the rules that you have set up to improve your deliverability.

You do not need to update your targetings and editing an existing targeting (from a scenarized campaign or a saved targeting, for example) will not be impacted.

Merged domain groups

All domains branded under the "aol" group are now part of the "yahoo" group. The "aol" value has therefore been deleted from the list.

This allows you to better represent the states of webmails when you set up rules to improve your delivrability.

If your targetings have criteria on "aol" + "yahoo"

As the merge between these two domain groups is already in place, both already use the same filters, which means that if you have a deliverability criteria on "aol", you most likely already have one on "yahoo".

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If this is the case, you do not need to update your targetings : any criteria using the "aol" value will still refer to the same addresses that used to belong to AOL domains, because they are now branded under the "yahoo" e-mail group.

However, if you edit an existing targeting, you will see that the "aol" value has been voided in the interface. To validate your update, you must now select "yahoo" in the list.

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Tip

If you have targetings based on deleted group values, it is a good idea to screenshot them before the implementation of this update in order to keep their definition.

If your targetings only have criteria on "aol"

This should not be the case, as both groups already use the same filter, a deliverability issue on "aol" should also mean an issue on "yahoo".

However, if you still have targetings with the only criteria being "e-mail domain group = aol", they must be updated.

Indeed, as the "aol" value will be voided, this criteria will apply no filter on the result of the targeting, as if there was no criteria at all.

It is therefore necessary to update your targetings by selecting "yahoo" in the list.

Deleted domain groups

The "att" and "brutele" domain groups have been removed (as well as "aol", see above).

If you have targetings with criteria on "att" or "brutele", they must be updated.

Indeed, as the "att" or "brutele" value will be voided, this criteria will apply no filter on the result of the targeting, as if there was no criteria at all.

Tip

If you have targetings based on deleted group values, it is a good idea to screenshot them before the implementation of this update in order to keep their definition.