Multiple elements of Absorb LMS involve the creation and delivery of email. By default, Absorb LMS will distribute email via a default noreply address. As your Portal grows, and more Users are expected to have email delivered to them, it becomes increasingly important to assure that email will be delivered without obstacle. This article focuses on improving email deliverability, and preventing issues related to messages not being received.

Maintaining a Strong Sender Reputation

Email sender reputation is like a trust score for email senders. To be more precise, it is a measure of how reliable and trustworthy an email sender is, based on their past behavior. Email sender reputation refers to the reputation or trustworthiness of the sender’s email domain and associated sending IPs. It is a measure used by internet service providers (ISPs) to assess the quality and potential impact of each email sent.

Your sender reputation significantly influences inbox placement. Factors like sending frequency, list hygiene, and recipient engagement with emails impact sender reputation.

There are a number of methods to keep Absorb in good standing reputation-wise and ensure that emails from an Absorb Portal reach their intended Users:

• Make certain that User inboxes are created prior to sending emails to an address.

  • As an example, if you create a User with the email ExampleEmail@ExampleMail.com but the account and inbox associated with that address hasn't been created yet. Sending an email to an account that doesn't exist can have a negative impact on sender reputation.

• Make certain the email inbox storage limit of a User has not been exceeded. Mailboxes that don't exist and full mailboxes send back bounce messages.

  • If you are managing your organization's email domain/receiving server. Make sure all Users have adequate storage space for incoming email.

• Reduce the number of messages from our noreply addresses that are marked as spam.

  • When an email is marked as spam, this reduces our reputation and makes it more difficult to maintain trust.

• Make certain that there are no typos in User Email Addresses.

• Add our noreply address to your email domain's/receiving servers allow list. This makes it so messages are less prone to be quarantined. It also reduces how some email domain filters affect incoming mail. The Absorb noreply addresses are:

  • noreply@myabsorb.com
  • noreply@myabsorb.ca
  • noreply@myabsorb.eu
  • noreply@myabsorb.au

• If using Custom SMTP, please test your implementation before leveraging it to all Users.

  • Improper Custom SMTP configurations can lead to accidental blocking.

• When customizing a Message Template use as few links/hyperlinks as possible. An excess of links in an email may cause a filter to view the email as a phishing attempt, or malicious message.

• Reduce the number of messages sent to a single User.

  • An overwhelming amount of messages can be seen as a spam or DoS attempt.

Understanding the Email Suppression List

To protect overall email deliverability, Absorb LMS maintains an internal suppression list. This list prevents the system from repeatedly sending messages to email addresses that have previously resulted in delivery failures, also known as hard bounces.

When an email sent from your Portal cannot be delivered and returns an error from the recipient’s mail server, the address may be added to the suppression list. This helps prevent ongoing delivery attempts to invalid or unreachable email addresses, which can negatively impact email reputation and overall deliverability.

Why an Email Address Is Added to the Suppression List

An email address may be added to the suppression list when:

• The email address does not exist.
• The User’s mailbox has not yet been created.
• The mailbox is full and cannot accept new messages.
• The domain cannot receive messages.
• The receiving mail server rejects the message.

The most common scenario occurs when a new User is added to Absorb LMS before their corporate mailbox has been fully provisioned. If automated emails are triggered before the inbox is active, those messages may bounce and the address can be suppressed.

What Happens When an Address Is Suppressed

If an email address is on the suppression list:

• System-generated emails will not be delivered to that address.
• The User will not receive enrollment confirmations, password resets, or notification messages.
• Delivery attempts are automatically blocked until the address is removed from the suppression list.

If you suspect an email address may be suppressed, Absorb Support can help determine if the address is on our suppression list, as well as take action to get it removed.

How to Prevent Emails from Being Suppressed

To reduce the likelihood of email addresses being added to the suppression list, follow these best practices.

Ensure User Mailboxes Are Active

Confirm that user inboxes are created and able to receive messages before adding users to Absorb LMS or triggering automated enrollments. Attempting delivery to uncreated or full mailboxes is the most common cause of email suppression.

Verify Email Address Accuracy

Double-check User email addresses for typographical errors before importing or creating accounts. Even a minor spelling error can result in a bounce.

Limit Excessive Messaging

Avoid sending a high volume of messages to a single User within a short period of time. Large bursts of email traffic may be flagged by recipient mail systems.

Keep Custom Emails Clear and Concise

When creating custom Message Templates, avoid including excessive links or complex formatting. Emails containing too many links may be flagged by recipient mail systems.

Allow Lists and Deny Lists

It is important, especially if managing an entire organization, that the correct From Addresses are approved on the side of your email service. If you are not using Custom SMTP then the default addresses that Absorb distributes email via are as follows:

• noreply@myabsorb.com
• noreply@myabsorb.ca
• noreply@myabsorb.eu
• noreply@myabsorb.au

In addition to allow-listing the above From Addresses, it may be beneficial to allow-list our region-specific IP Addresses as well. A full list of our sending IP Addresses can be found in our IP Addresses, Ports, Allow Lists & FQDNs article.

If you are using Custom SMTP then the From Address will be configured by you, and your organization. When possible, ask your Users not to block or report messages from Absorb as spam. Instead, create internal filters to organize messages and review with your Administrators to confirm the outgoing number of emails is adequate, instead of excessive.

On the Absorb side regularly cleanse your Users by removing inactive or invalid email addresses.

Absorb IP Addresses

It is possible that your email provider, or receiving server filters incoming email by the IP address of the sender. In the case that your email provider filters emails this way, or your Custom SMTP configuration requires the information. Please reach out to the Absorb Client Advocacy team, or your Client Services representative and we will be able to provide you relevant IP addresses your organization may add to your allow list.

Language in an Email

When creating a Message Template, it is important to consider the structure of the email and how the content is phrased. Are there multiple hyperlinks? Are there a great number of embed pictures? These elements may trigger a filter that causes an email to be considered spam, or outright malicious.

Every year, new phrases and terms are added to databases that define 'spam' language. A few examples would be:

• 100% satisfied
• Be your own boss
• Double your income
• Earn extra cash
• Free investment
• Free membership
• Free money
• Guaranteed
• Increase sales
• Increase traffic
• Incredible deal
• Lower rates

There are a great number more. In the age of AI, an increasing number of tools are surfacing that determine if text has been created through the use of a large language model. While the usage of these tools expands, and email filters grow in an attempt to counter their usage for the purposes of spam or malicious messages. Creating authentic, simple emails with essential information is always advised.

Other items in the language or structure of an email to avoid are:

• Repeating changes as it relates to text size, font style, or headers.
• Colored text at the top, or bottom of the email.
• Multiple pictures or a large number of pictures using hyperlinks.
• If viable, consider using plain text emails without additional elements.

Troubleshooting Email Delivery

When a Message is not received by a User, troubleshooting options within Absorb LMS are limited. This section outlines what can be verified within the platform, and when to involve your internal IT team or Absorb Support.

Verify Global Email Settings

The first step is to confirm that email delivery is enabled at the Portal level. If global email settings are disabled, messages will not be sent regardless of configuration at the course or template level.

Navigate to Portal Settings > Info and confirm that Disable Email Sending toggle is not enabled for your Portal.

Check the Learner Inbox

When the system generates an email, a corresponding copy is also stored in the Learner Inbox. Reviewing this inbox via impersonation can help determine whether the system attempted to send the message.

• If the Message is present in the Learner Inbox, this indicates the system generated and attempted to send the email.
• If the Message is not present, the email may not have been triggered due to configuration or workflow conditions.

Work with Your IT Team

If the Message appears in the Learner Inbox but was not received externally, your internal IT team can investigate delivery on the recipient’s email server. This may include reviewing spam filters, quarantine rules, or server-side logs.

Work with Absorb Support

If additional verification is required, Absorb Support can assist with further investigation. Our team can review system-level logging to confirm whether an email was processed and handed off for delivery.

Consider HTML Best Practices

If you are customizing your Message Template with custom HTML, there is an additional set of considerations that may interact with email deliverability. The following article discusses best practices for editing the HTML of a Message Template:

• HTML Message Templates Best Practices

Custom SMTP Specific Best Practices

When you are using a Custom SMTP configuration to deliver email from Absorb to your Users, there is an additional degree of insight and responsibility taken on. As Custom SMTP allows you to utilize a distinct/unique From Address, elements of email deliverability such as sender reputation, email policies, anti-spam filters and more are configured outside of Absorb. If there are restrictions as it relates to your email domain, or the content of messages it can handle; these restrictions will also apply to emails distributed from Absorb. This section contains best practices specific to Custom SMTP configurations.

Review Send Limits

Depending on your configuration, your domain may be limited to a certain number of emails per day. Review with your IT team, and confirm if there are any limits that your Absorb Portal may exceed based on the number of Users receiving email.

Consider that a send limit is often reinforced across the entire domain, or email service; not per service. As a result, if you are using the same From Address across multiple services. It is possible the combination of Absorb emails, and the emails of other services in total surpass the daily send limit of your email provider.

Monitor Key Metrics

Regularly track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. Access to information of this kind may be limited depending on your Users and organization. As an example, if your Custom SMTP configuration is largely used to distribute email to internal Users. You may be able to review how many of the recipients are opening the emails, how many are being delivered to a single User or more. This information can inform the structure of your email campaign alongside Admin usage of Absorb LMS.