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Even with a meticulously optimized email marketing strategy, failing to monitor performance can hinder progress. This is especially true when dealing with Microsoft, where diagnosing deliverability issues across its domains can be a complex challenge.
Fortunately, Microsoft’s Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) provides email marketers with valuable insights, enabling them to assess key metrics of their email campaigns. Understanding how this tool works can help you enhance deliverability and optimize your email strategy effectively.
What is Microsoft SNDS?
Microsoft’s Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) is a complimentary postmaster tool designed to furnish in-depth analytics on an IP’s email deliverability and sender reputation. It offers comprehensive visibility into how emails are received and processed by Microsoft’s consumer mail services, including Outlook and Hotmail.
What can you measure?
- Email Volume
- Spam Complaints
- Spam Traps
- Message Filter Results
- Bounce Rates
What makes SNDS essential for your email strategy?
SNDS equips you with valuable insights to monitor your email volume directed at Microsoft users. If a significant portion of your audience consists of Outlook and Hotmail subscribers, there’s no better tool to analyze and optimize your email sends.
SNDS plays a crucial role in maintaining a strong sender reputation. A poor reputation significantly increases the likelihood of your emails landing in the spam folder. If your sender score remains below a critical threshold for an extended period, you risk being blocklisted—a serious setback that can severely impact your future email campaigns.
The insights provided by SNDS make it an invaluable resource. It allows you to assess the effectiveness of your current email marketing strategy and implement necessary adjustments to maintain or even enhance performance.
How to check SNDS?
While anyone can create a Microsoft account to request access to SNDS, the reality is that without a dedicated IP, access is unlikely.
SNDS provides data on overall IP activity without distinguishing between individual senders or domains. If you’re using a shared IP, accessing this data means viewing all activity associated with that IP, including complaints about other senders. Because of this, most email service providers (ESPs) restrict access for users on shared IPs.
If you’re using a dedicated IP, you’re in a favorable position. To get started, create a Microsoft account at outlook.com. This is a standard consumer email account that allows you to send and receive emails. Once set up, visit the Microsoft Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) page and log in using your credentials.
Before requesting access to your IP data, reach out to your provider to confirm the correct process and the designated email address for submitting your request. If you’re managing this internally, consult your IT or abuse team to determine who will receive the request email and can approve it on your behalf.
Once you have everything in place, click on “Request Access“ and enter your IP address. While there is an option to input a CIDR, most senders don’t have an entire CIDR block to submit. If you have consecutive IPs, you can enter a range; otherwise, you’ll need to submit separate requests for each IP.
Next, you’ll see a list of confirmation email options. Choose the one provided by your service provider and notify them so they can verify the request on their end. Once approved, SNDS will start displaying your data.
SNDS Functionality and Uses
Activity Period
This refers to the timeframe in which the IP’s email activity took place.
Traffic Period
RCPT Commands
This represents the number of commands in which the sender indicates their intent to deliver an email and requests Microsoft’s acceptance for the recipient. Essentially, it reflects the total number of messages the IP has attempted to send to Microsoft.
Data Commands
This figure represents the total count of directives that facilitate the transmission of communications to designated recipients, as determined by Microsoft to be capable of receiving email in the preceding phase. In essence, this denotes the aggregate number of messages sanctioned by Microsoft
Message Recipients
This figure represents the total number of messages successfully delivered to recipients, encompassing both those found in the inbox and those relegated to the spam folder.
It is important to note that a significant disparity between the RCPT commands and DATA commands indicates a high hard bounce rate.Conversely, a minor difference between the number of RCPT commands and the actual message recipients is typical, often attributed to account inactivity or other irregularities.
Filter Results
This represents the cumulative outcome of the spam filtering processes applied to messages dispatched by the IP during the specified activity period. These results do not explicitly indicate the percentage of emails that ended up in the spam folder; instead, they reflect the proportion of messages deemed to be spam by Microsoft.
Complaint Reports
This figure represents the ratio of complaints to the total number of message recipients (as mentioned earlier). In other terms, this constitutes the complaint rate.It is important to note that SNDS presents complaints based on the day they were reported, rather than the day the messages were delivered. Consequently, there may be instances where high complaint percentages are observed, particularly if the volume of messages sent was low following a larger dispatch.
Trap Hits
This figure indicates the total number of messages directed to spam traps managed by Microsoft. Additionally, the timestamps for the first and last messages sent to these trap accounts can be found in the “Trap Message Period” column.
Resolve deliverability issues with SMTP SERVER.
At SMTPServer.com, we epitomize excellence in email deliverability, ensuring each message reaches its intended destination with unwavering precision. Our dedicated IPs are meticulously monitored through Smart Network Data Services (SNDS), granting us unparalleled insight into their performance. This proactive vigilance allows us to swiftly identify and mitigate any potentially compromised IPs, fortifying the integrity and reputation of our network. With a steadfast commitment to security and seamless inbox placement, we empower businesses with an SMTP solution that is both robust and refined, setting the gold standard in email transmission.
