Why isn’t my email working?

Misconfiguration

Email used alongside 3rd-party applications can stop working for a variety reasons. The most common failure is the application being misconfigured.

Therefore, at zzHosting.com we selected some of the most common 3rd-party applications and created guides on their configuration including:

• Set up your email with Gmail, Outlook and iPhone Mail.
• Issues with contact forms on WordPress.

If you have email issues and utilise any of these feature, head over to the relevant article and check over your configuration. If you’re still experiencing issues, please contact our support team who are always happy to help.

SPAM

All emails sent from our shared hosting service pass through an outbound spam filter or “mail gateway”.
Consequently, this is an essential practice for any webhost operating a shared hosting platform. And, is there to protect our IP reputation.
Because, poor IP reputation results in our IP’s on spam blacklists, will severely impacting email deliverability for everyone on that IP or everyone sharing that server.

For instance, an example of a spam blacklist is the Spamhaus project a non-profit organization. Hence, dedicated to tracking spam and other related cyber threats including phishing, malware and botnets. With aims of informing and protecting users.

Firstly, if your email has been blocked by our spam filter, You will receive a bounce message which will have a subject line similar to:

Mail delivery failed: returning message to the sender

If you have received the above message or similar, try and diagnose the issue using this mail tester or similar. Its possible that it was because of one or a combination of the following:

SPAM type language

Spammers tend to use similar language or formatting that usually promotes a call to action for the receiver.
Including: Free offers, Risk free investments, Inheritance, Overused exclamations! and CAPATALIZATION.

• Try removing any similar language from your email.

Suspicious/Blocked links

Phishing (SPAM) emails usually contain links which lead to fake replicas of existing businesses. Sometimes if a domain is new or uses a low rep .TLD (.xyz) it can trigger this rule.

• Try to remove any links from your email and test delivery.

Attachments and images

Hackers and Spammers alike utilize email attachments to send malware, spyware, etc.

• Of all these list triggers, this is the least likely. Because this is triggered by malware. Please try to scan any attachments with a tool like VirusTotal.

Abnormal message content

This includes the lack of an email subject, strange character spacing and use of quoted printable.

• Firstly, try to use a normal style of email, with a subject, correct language use and If you use a 3rd party client, try to check the underlying html for use of quoted printable.

Misconfigured headers

Email headers include: Who sent it. IP address, recipient, etc.

• If misconfigured it looks bad. Check if it is missing and fix it.

Missing or Incorrect SPF record.

SPF records are used to prove you are allowed to send emails from that server. SPF is optional but many large providers are starting to require them in the battle against spam.

• Your account should have an SPF record already you can check in the zone editor tool.