When Verizon obtained AOL in June of 2015, they started gently moving their email accounts, finishing in @verizon.net to AOL.
They required Verizon clients wishing to keep their @verizon.net email id to request the shifting of their account to AOL.
Verizon clients who do not request shifting to AOL will have their email accounts closed by April 28, 2017.
What it Means for Email Marketers?
If your list has a considerable portion of @verizon.net email addresses, you can observe a massive spike in your bounce rate after April 28. A bounce rate affects your sender reputation and your capability to deliver email messages to the Inbox.
With that said, read the suggestions below to reduce the effect of this development on your deliverability.
Suggestions for Email Marketers
- Move your @verizon.net users to a separate list and send them an email message asking for their new email id (if they did not request migration to AOL) before April 28.
- Check your Verizon ids for validity before broadcasting emails after April 28, 2017.
- Ensure bounces handled correctly.
- Read the help pages given by AOL and Verizon. These pages will answer most of the queries and support their clients through this transition.
Deliverability to Verizon Addresses after Migration
Verizon once partnered with Yahoo, allowing its customers to use Yahoo! Mail as their email portal. It means that after the Verizon email closedown, clients with active @verizon.net ids will either be using Yahoo mail or AOL mail as their email service provider.
Deliverability to @verizon.net ids will be affected by which email provider the client is using. The email marketers will be able to recognize which email portal a @verizon.net user is using by finding the email header. In case marketers have a deliverability problem at either provider, it will influence a portion of their @verizon.net emails. Check your email verification apps reports to monitor your deliverability to AOL and Yahoo mailbox providers.