Email Deliverability

Posted February 20th, 2007 by John

Legitimate businesses have been suffering severely with respect to email deliverability. Numerous email service providers have added a “This is SPAM” button for users to inform the service of potential unsolicited emails. This is a great idea in theory, but horrible in practice. This button has been the cause of millions of emails getting falsely labeled as spam.

The problem in practice for this button is that users will label solicited emails as spam once they have reached a point of not wanting to read those emails anymore. So the users has subscribed to a newsletter, but finds it easier just to classify the email sender as spam since their email service will now block those emails from reaching the inbox.

Now I read a decent article at http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=115768&WT.svl=news1_3 whereby the authors compiled a list of 7 stupid missteps that could lead to your company’s email being mislabeled.

1. Ignoring Unsubscribe Requests

Simple oversight, but even simpler solution

2. List Repurposing

Just don’t repurpose email addresses, provide your base with an option to signup to new email campaigns

3. Providing Unclear Privacy Checkbox Instructions

Be clear and upfront with people, don’t pre-check any boxes. It’s much better to lose a few people at the start than to have them label you as a spammer.

4. Infected Machines

It’s very hard to get free of the taint of being a spammer, or being associated with an IP that is on a lot of block lists.

5. Not Keeping Address Lists Up To Date

Try not to use old mailing lists.

6. Having Vulnerable Mailer Forms

Protect any mailer forms from open relay attacks.

7. Working With Non-Reputable Third-Party Mailers

Make sure the third-party practices the same policies as you.

These steps are not the ‘holy grail’ of email deliverabilty, but by not following these 7 steps, it is very likely that you would be heading toward an unsuccessful email campaign.