Best Practices that Improve E-Mail Deliverability (Part 4)
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Editor-in-Chief,
Web Marketing Today, Rocklin, CA
Sep 25, 2007, 11:49
In parts one, two, and three of this series, I've discussed a number of the strategies that serious mailers must pursue in order to achieve high inbox deliverability of their bulk e-mails. Here are the remaining best practices:
11. Deal Quickly with Spam Complaints
As mentioned above, anyone who mails to a sizeable list will be accused of spamming. Yahoo, America Online (AOL), and Cloudmark, for example, make it particularly easy for users to declare an unwanted e-mail message as spam by just clicking a button. You the sender will never know. In fact, it's often easier to mark an unwanted e-mail as spam than it is to unsubscribe. As a result, e-mailers must (1) keep e-mails continually relevant so they will be perceived as valuable, (2) make unsubscribing clear and easy, and (3) respond quickly to spam complaints that they do receive. When your web hosting service, ISP, or a recipient ISP accuses you of spamming, immediately respond to protest your innocence. Prepare a standard e-mail that explains how you carefully follow all the e-mail best practices. Don't put off your response when there is a complaint. Do it immediately. It is one small step in maintaining your reputation as a responsible e-mailer.
12. Contract with a Reputation Service Provider
Larger companies should consider contracting with one of the services that authenticates legitimate senders. Unfortunately, some smaller businesses may find that they can't afford the stiff prices charged. These are the leading e-mail reputation service providers:
Habeas (www.habeas.com) places its clients' domains and IP addresses on the Habeas SafeList, a whitelist against which several of the leading ISPs check their incoming e-mails. To take advantage of this, however, e-mails must be sent from a unique, dedicated IP address, not through an Email Service Provider's usual bank of IP addresses.
Sender Score Certified (SSC, http://www.senderscorecertified.com) of ReturnPath (formerly marketed as Bonded Sender) provides a whitelist of clients that adhere to strict standards of e-mail best practices.
Goodmail (www.goodmail.com) has developed relationships with some of the biggest ISPs such as AOL, Yahoo, Comcast, RoadRunner, and AT&T. While many large ISPs will disable links and images on bulk e-mails, Goodmail clients' e-mails are delivered to participating ISPs with links and graphics intact. Goodmail CertifiedEmail is identified with a unique, cryptographically secure token. A number of the more expensive Email Service Providers (ESPs) are equipped to send CertifiedEmails for their clients.
13. Offer a Text Alternative for Subscribers
Don't assume that all recipients on your list prefer to receive HTML e-mails. In order to prevent viruses from getting behind corporate firewalls, a number of large corporations, as well as government agencies, routinely strip HTML codes from e-mails and only deliver a text version. A few recipients might even use e-mail programs that don't read HTML e-mails properly. Give your recipients a choice between HTML and text e-mails. Even though I make HTML e-mails the default radio button, I find that about 16% of my subscribers select text-only messages. Those who make it a point to select text-only know they need it. Being responsive will increase the deliverability and readability of your e-mails.
14. Establish Relationships with the Major ISPs
Finally, bulk e-mailers should work to establish relationships with the major ISPs. Many won't be responsive to smaller businesses. But a few of the larger ISPs do provide a way for your business to be recognized as a legitimate e-mailer and get on internal whitelists by affirming that you follow important e-mail standards. For example:
- American Online Postmaster (postmaster.aol.com) allows you to set up a Feedback Loop (FBL) that informs you immediately when AOL members mark your e-mails as spam.
- Windows Live Hotmail will allow you to get on a Junk E-mail Reporting Program (JMRP, http://postmaster.msn.com/Services.aspx) by filling out and submitting a questionnaire.
- Yahoo! Mail Whitelist Form (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/postmaster/bulk.html) provides a way for your domain to be considered for whitelisting. E-mail from your domain is monitored for a probationary period. If you don't have too many spam complaints, you may be whitelisted so that your e-mails get to the recipient's inbox by default.
It is difficult for individual mailers to keep in touch with the top 20 or so ISPs, but better ESPs make a point of building and maintaining these relationships. That's why their clients' e-mails tend to be delivered to inboxes at a higher rate than that which individual mailers can achieve by their own efforts.
Throughout this series of articles we've explored the various ways you can improve inbox delivery of your e-mails and avoid the dreaded black hole where spam filters send bad little e-mails. Getting a high delivery rate doesn't require just a single modification of your behavior, but careful implementation of as many of these deliverability best practices as possible. Here's to higher inbox deliverability for you!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Dr. Wilson is an Internet marketing pioneer and author of more than a dozen books and reports, including The E-Mail Marketing Handbook (2005) and Planning Your Internet Marketing Strategy (Wiley, 2001). He is the founding editor of Web Marketing Today.
