Microsoft blocking my email account when using sequences

[mattymil]

Hello - I recently upgraded to sales hub pro and have begun using sequences for emailing prospective customers. I know that HubSpot has had a no cold email policy, but I confirmed with my account rep that as part of the new propsecting functionality, cold emailing was allowed using this feature. I have HubSpot connected to my mailbox, which is hosted on Microsoft 365. My contact list is very small and I only load about 20 addresses into the sequence every few days and then the sequence takes off sending one email every few minutes or so. The following has happened twice now: after about ten messages or so, Microsoft warns me that it is seeing anomalous behavior in the mailbox I am using and then shortly after, blocks the mailbox, leaving the remainder of sequence emails unsent. 

I have a ticket open with Microsoft and HubSpot but the answers are slow in coming. Has anyone else seen this and or can reccomend a best practice to overcome this issue?

Thanks

Matt

[Shadab_Khan · Accepted solution]

Hi @mattymil ,

This does sounds like a drag, While I haven't personally used Microsoft I have not heard such an issue with this little amount of sequence going out.

If your email and domain is very new then, this could cause an issue because Microsoft is fairly strict with their email spam policy.

Have you considered warming-up your email (i.e using a service like warmbox) before you start sending out the emails?

The issue you are facing is very specific to your account so I would try to get to HubSpot call support(because you have pro-Hub, why not use that) and see what they recommend.

best

[MarcPozzuoli · Accepted solution]

I got something similar from HubSpot Support.  Basically, something MS changed is causing this issue.  I confirmed with HubSpot suppoort that they also don't violate MS365 30 messages per minute maximum, and they said they limit sequences to 3 emails per minute.  

At this point I don't think I have any choice but to open a ticket with MS, which is a complete PITA....   Good luck everyone

[mattymil]

So here is what HubSpot support has come back with. They indicated that they are seeing this for a number of MS subscribers and currently recommend that it may be due to exceeding the outbound spam filter sending limit and or the default sending limits for the account. Currently my outbound spam filter limit is and has been set at 5000 emails / day, of which I have never even come close to exceeding. Same goes for the sending limits set by MS. Sounds like at this point, HS does not really have a solution as it seems that the MS AI is flagging it as spam apart from any sending limit. 

On the MS side, I am still waiting on a response. 

Curious what others are using for a cold emailing solution?

[mattymil]

So on Wednesday I re-enabled the sequence in question and all of the emails were sent successfully. Another batch went out on Thursday with no issue. Both batches were the normal number of emails I send, approx. 20. I have another batch going out today and will let you know how it goes.

[MarcPozzuoli · Accepted solution]

I got something similar from HubSpot Support.  Basically, something MS changed is causing this issue.  I confirmed with HubSpot suppoort that they also don't violate MS365 30 messages per minute maximum, and they said they limit sequences to 3 emails per minute.  

At this point I don't think I have any choice but to open a ticket with MS, which is a complete PITA....   Good luck everyone

[JWoods6]

Opening a ticket will not work. I have worked with Microsoft on this issue for weeks, but to no avail. It is a bulk email issue. There isn't any workaround except not using sequences, as I have. This negates one of my primary reasons for using HubSpot Pro.

[MarcPozzuoli · Accepted solution]

I worked the MS ticket and they offered the following as a solution and it appears to have worked.

Disclaimer: You should only be editing these policy settings if you understand what they do.  Get your email admin involved

ACTION PLAN: 

1. In the Microsoft Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com , go to Email & Collaboration > Policies & Rules > Threat policies > Anti-spam in the Policies section. Or, to go directly to the Anti-spam policies page, use https://security.microsoft.com/antispam .

2. On the Anti-spam policies page, select 

    Create policy and then select Outbound from the dropdown list to start the new outbound spam policy wizard.

3. On the Name your policy page, configure these settings:

   • Name: Enter a unique, descriptive name for the policy.

   • Description: Enter an optional description for the policy.

   When you're finished on the Name your policy page, select Next.

4. On the Users, groups, and domains page, identify the internal senders that the policy applies to (recipient conditions):

5. On the Protection settings page, configure the following settings:

• Message limits sections: The settings in this section configure the limits for outbound email messages from Exchange Online mailboxes:

  • Set an external message limit: The maximum number of external recipients per hour.

  • Set an internal message limit: The maximum number of internal recipients per hour.

  • Set a daily message limit: The maximum total number of recipients per day.

  A valid value is 0 to 10000. The default value is 0, which means the service defaults are used. For more information, see Sending limits .

[RTeuch]

We're seeing the same issues! Our domain is 3 years old and this is the first time this has happened so frequently and for so many in our sales team

[jennyperl]

We are having the same issue since months. We have ticket open with Microsoft for 3 months, they bounce us back and forth pointing to their useless limits explanations. At first we had issues with mailbox A. We linked it to HubSpot right after creation of a mailbox. Mailbox B was already existing for 1-2 months and mail was circulating via this mailbox. We linked it to HS and same story. We blocked for mass mailing by MS after different number of emails sent in sequence: 25 / 100 / 200. We do not obey any MS limits and Microsoft support is completely useless. MS support cannot do anything, HVE does not seem to be a solution as I assume I will not be able to link to HubSpot as it has only SMTP side, no incoming server. HubSpot, please, advice a solution. How do other HubSpot and Office 365 clients work?

[MarcPozzuoli]

I'm having this issue with 2 of my users as well.  We are only trying to send ~100 emails.  For now I have them batching <25 emails into the sequence at time, but this is very inconvenient or using marketing emails instead.   

I'm curious to hear what everyone learns from HS and MS.

Marc  

[HPadgett]

I am encountering the exact same issue.  Microsoft is pointing at HubSpot, and HubSpot is pointing at Microsoft. I'm thinking it's MSFT... This wasn't happening a few months ago, but is now. I have AEs using a different cold emailing platform that were encountering the same issue with MSFT, which is why we decided to go with HubSpot becuase we weren't seeing the same issues.

Curious what HS has to say about this... as I now know it is no longer an isolated incident.

[mattymil]

I'll let you know what Hubspot says.

[Shadab_Khan · Accepted solution]

Hi @mattymil ,

This does sounds like a drag, While I haven't personally used Microsoft I have not heard such an issue with this little amount of sequence going out.

If your email and domain is very new then, this could cause an issue because Microsoft is fairly strict with their email spam policy.

Have you considered warming-up your email (i.e using a service like warmbox) before you start sending out the emails?

The issue you are facing is very specific to your account so I would try to get to HubSpot call support(because you have pro-Hub, why not use that) and see what they recommend.

best

[mattymil]

Interesting, this is a relatively new domain, I think it is about five weeks old. I'll keeo that in mind. I am working with both MS and HS support. Currently HS has it with their dev team.