While most users will find Outlook’s generous sending limits to be sufficient, those with a large contact list will soon run into some roadblocks. Any business with an interest in cold emailing or email marketing will need to work around these limitations sooner or later.
In this article, we will talk about why the Outlook.com web application implements these sending limits as we go through the specific numbers that free and paying users can expect, before finally discussing some workarounds to circumvent Outlook’s daily email limits.
- Working around Outlook’s Email Send Limits
- Why do Daily Email Limits exist?
- Specifics of Outlook’s Daily Email Limits
- How are daily limits calculated?
- What happens if you exceed Outlook’s send limits?
- Workarounds for Outlook’s Sending Limits
- Use Mailmeteor to send Bulk Emails
Why do Daily Email Limits exist?
Email service providers are responsible for ensuring that no one can use their platform for sending unsolicited spam, phishing emails, or for any unauthorized or illegal activity that could harm their reputation. To combat this, Outlook implements strict spam filters on top of their daily sending limits which vary from one account to another.
Internet Service Providers are also a significant stakeholder in the email world, as they have strict anti-spam regulations and policies in place, which all email servers must comply with. These limits help keep the network secure from potential threats and abusers while increasing email deliverability numbers across the board, since emails from a trustworthy email server are more likely to avoid spam filters.
Enough about the why, let us move on to the specifics of how daily email limits work in Outlook!
Specifics of Outlook’s Daily Email Limits
Outlook treats all accounts differently based on a wide range of factors; we only know the factors at a surface level since there is no way Microsoft would ever disclose the specifics. Here is what we know so far:
- Your reputation as a sender is 100% a factor.
- New accounts have extra strict sending restrictions.
- Free accounts get enough emails for the average user to never hit them.
- Paid accounts have more legroom with daily sending limits.
Let us break down the limits that we know so far:
New Accounts
Recently created Outlook.com accounts have a low sending quota at first. This is a temporary restriction to prevent bad actors from creating multiple accounts and sending spam emails in bulk using Outlook’s services.
Outlook will remove these restrictions as soon as your account establishes some credibility in their system. They have never disclosed the exact daily sending limit assigned to new accounts, but we know from user feedback that the numbers are strict, ranging from about 10 to 100 emails per day depending on the user.
Follow best practices, avoid sending unsolicited spam, and these limitations should go away on their own.
Free Tier
While Outlook’s free tier has a higher sending limit compared to the quota for new accounts, it is still far from enough for email marketing needs.
Free users can only add up to 100 recipients per message while only being able to send around 300 emails per day. Once again, Outlook keeps the exact thresholds secret as bad actors could use the information to circumvent these limitations.
Paid Tier
Users subscribed to Microsoft 365 gain a significant increase in their daily sending limits. Letting professionals and organizations send a ton of emails without fear of running into any limitations.
- Daily Recipients: 5,000
- Maximum Recipients per Message: 500
- Daily non-relationship recipients: 1,000
Non-relationship recipients are recipients to whom you have never sent an email before, meaning that you can only send a thousand cold-emails per day.
While the above numbers may seem high to the average user, it is realistic to hit them every now and then if you happen to have a mailing list with a few thousand contacts on it. Leaving you no choice but to work around these limits.
How are daily limits calculated?
Outlook’s daily email sending limits are calculated on a rolling 24-hour basis, rather than resetting at midnight.
Meaning that Outlook does not reset the limit all at once at a specific time of day.
Instead, the count of emails that you can send begins to refresh from the exact time you sent each email the previous day. This rolling mechanism allows for flexibility, letting you distribute your email-sending habits throughout the day according to your needs rather than waiting for a full reset at a conventional cut-off time.
What happens if you exceed Outlook’s send limits?
Hitting the sending limit is not a big deal, here is what will happen:
- You will no longer be able to send any emails once you hit the daily sending limit.
- This daily quota will become available 24 hours after you send the emails.
- Outlook might penalize your account if you are using their service to send spam or if you break their terms of service.
Workarounds for Outlook’s Sending Limits
While necessary, these limitations often end up becoming a headache for users with emailing needs far higher than the above quotas. Fortunately for us, there are a lot of strategies that users employ to work around these limits.
These workarounds can facilitate your higher email needs while still respecting the structure and ground rules set by Microsoft.
Here are some practical methods you can consider:
- Schedule Your Emails: By spreading out your email campaigns around different times of the day, you can manage large batches of emails without hitting the daily cap suddenly. Tools within Outlook and third-party services can automate this process. This is extra useful in Outlook where the daily sending cap does not reset altogether.
- Consider Multiple Accounts: For users with valid email needs that span multiple ventures, you can use several Outlook accounts to distribute the workload. Each account will have its own set of daily limits to handle their email needs. Just make sure that you are not actually using multiple accounts to break Outlook’s Terms of Service, or they might be swift and harsh with the banhammer.
- Third-Party Services: There are plenty of third-party bulk email services out there that will gladly manage your email volumes for you, no matter how large they may be. These platforms often provide ways to integrate directly with Outlook, managing large-scale campaigns without directly impacting your account’s send limit.
- Upgrade your Subscription: Outlook offers many tiers on top of the Microsoft 365 subscription for businesses who need to send emails in large volumes. These tiers can let you send upwards of 10,000 emails per day and are worth looking at to see if your business needs require them.
All these strategies can help you send emails in bulk without hurting your account’s reputation. Odds are high that you are already using at least one of the above strategies for your email campaigns, but just in case you need an extra helping hand, we have the perfect tool for you to add to your arsenal.
Use Mailmeteor to send Bulk Emails
Mailmeteor is an email marketing tool that integrates seamlessly with the various Microsoft 365 applications to give you a complete solution for managing, analyzing, and running your email marketing campaigns.
If you are interested in a solution that lets you send thousands of personalized emails with the click of a button, each tailored to a recipient with data directly from a spreadsheet, then look no further since Mailmeteor excels at doing exactly that.
- Personalization: Mailmeteor lets you personalize emails for each recipient. For example, you can add someone’s name to the subject line or customize the email’s content based on recipient-specific data, increasing engagement and conversion rates across the board.
- Tracking and Analytics: Users can track the success of their email campaigns with email analytics. These include statistics like open rates, click rates, and bounce rates. Giving you a valuable insight into how recipients interact with your emails so you can improve your future campaigns.
- Easy to Use: Since Mailmeteor integrates directly with applications that you are already familiar with; it is incredibility easy to use by anyone with basic knowledge of how Excel spreadsheets work. No need to go through complicated setup procedures since Mailmeteor uses your Outlook account to send all emails.
- Autopilot: Worried about running into Outlook’s sending limits? No need. Mailmeteor automatically spreads out your campaign over a few days so you can sit back and let its Autopilot feature work its way around your account’s daily limits.
- Deliverability: Back your email campaigns up with the credibility of Outlook’s email servers as Mailmeteor uses your Outlook account to send your entire email campaign. Maximizing the odds of your email landing in your recipient’s inbox instead of being caught in spam filters across the internet.
Ideal for cold email as well as mail-merge campaigns, the feature list does not end here. Mailmeteor has a generous free tier that lets you try out the service before you pay for anything, take it out for a test drive today and run your email campaigns with ease.
