How Global Crises Impact Email Traffic—and What Hosting Providers Can Do About It

In 2020, COVID-19 disrupted nearly every aspect of life, including the world of email. At the time, MailChannels observed a sharp increase in global email traffic—especially transactional and outbound messages—as businesses rapidly shifted operations online. But even as the immediate crisis faded, one truth remained: in moments of disruption, email becomes a mission-critical channel.

Now, with new waves of global uncertainty—from supply chain disruptions to geopolitical tension and evolving regulatory landscapes—email continues to play a central role in business continuity. Hosting providers are once again being called upon to deliver reliable, secure email services under pressure. And that comes with new challenges.

Then and Now: What Changed Since 2020?

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw:

• A dramatic surge in legitimate email volume as businesses pivoted to digital-first.
  
• An increase in phishing and spam activity, as bad actors exploited chaos.
  
• Greater variability in delivery success, especially for providers without robust spam controls or IP reputation monitoring.
  

Fast forward to today, the trends look different—but just as challenging:

• Transactional email has become table stakes for nearly all online businesses, from WordPress installs to e-commerce checkout flows.
  
• Phishing is more sophisticated than ever, often routed through compromised hosting environments.
  
• Shared IP reputation is under threat as bad actors adapt and abuse weak points in multi-tenant infrastructures.
  

What This Means for Web Hosts

For hosting providers, the pressure has shifted from surviving a one-time surge to managing a long-term evolution in email traffic patterns—and securing their infrastructure from abuse.

Common challenges we now see:

• Compromised WordPress plugins and scripts silently sending spam.
  
• Shared hosting environments facing IP blacklisting, hurting thousands of legitimate customers.
  
• Time-consuming manual troubleshooting, delisting, and customer support escalations that erode your brand.
  

MailChannels ResponseAnalytics™: Built for This Moment

MailChannels developed ResponseAnalytics™ precisely to solve this problem at scale. Our system parses and categorizes SMTP responses in real-time, helping detect compromised accounts before they do damage. Unlike traditional filters that react after spam has already been sent, MailChannels proactively analyzes sender behavior, reputation, and receiver feedback to block threats instantly.

It’s how we help hosting providers:

• Eliminate the risk of blocklisted IPs dragging down deliverability.
  
• Cut support tickets related to email failures by up to 80%.
  
• Automatically detect and isolate spam sources—before email receivers take action.
  

Resilience Requires Modern Infrastructure

Hosting providers can’t afford to rely on reactive, legacy systems. Whether you’re preparing for the next spike in email activity or cleaning up after an account compromise, you need a solution that scales with your customer base—and shields your infrastructure.

That’s why more providers are choosing MailChannels as their SMTP relay partner. We provide:

• Intelligent IP pool management and dynamic sender reputation routing.
  
• Seamless integrations with cPanel, Plesk, and popular mail servers.
  
• Real-time log search, alerts, and Top Sender reports to surface issues quickly.
  

What’s Next

The world is unpredictable. Your email delivery shouldn’t be.

Whether you’re bracing for the next surge in outbound traffic or tired of juggling blacklist delisting requests, now is the time to upgrade your infrastructure.

Let MailChannels handle the chaos behind the scenes—so you can focus on growing your business.

👉 Learn more about MailChannels Outbound Filtering