5. 1. ISPs are focused on providing a great
email experience to mailbox users
Common Truths 2. 99 / 100 deliverability issues are the
sender’s problem
About
3. ISPs put a heavy weight on a
Email and sender’s IP reputation
Receivers 4. Engagement is important
5. Batch and blast is a thing of the past
6. ISPs will mediate with senders if
subscribers are engaged and vocal
about your email deliver (Detailed
Info is needed to support your case)
7. ISPs have a tough time sorting the
good, the bad, and the ugly email
7. Fun Facts
#1 ISP with 350 million active users / 1 billion mailboxes
HoTMaiL launched in 1996; acquired by Microsoft in 1997
8 billion emails per day for all domains
#2 ISP with 280 million users / 320 million with its partners
Y! launched in 1995 but email came later
#3 ISP with 193 million users
Launched beta 2004 and general public in 2007
Fastest growing ISP
#4 ISP in size
Email launched in early 90’s
Global presence is about half that of the top three ISPs
8. Spam Filtering
Patented Spam Guard Home-grown, Home-grown
SmartScreen Technology learned system
Focus mainly on
anti-spam
All Aspects of “This is Spam” IP
filtering
Reputation vs. “This is not
technology “This is Spam” vs.
Spam” Votes
Heavy Emphasis “This is not Spam”
Panel data
on URL Content Domain and IP Votes
(Active Users)
and User Consideration
Complaints Invalid recipients
Junk or Not
(Trusted Voter or Unknown Users
Junk Votes
Community) Engagement
URL Content
Filtering Engagement
Domain and IP
Consideration
10. Methods to Reduce Complaints
Set expectations
Respect unsubscribe
requests
Be recognizable
Send relevant content
Analyze complaint
data
11. Junk e-Mail
Reporting
Program (JMRP)
FBL’s by individual
domain
(requires DKIM)
No FBLs
List Unsubscribe
Feedback Loops
Set industry
standard for FBL
application
12. Engagement
Panel Data Shapes their Filters
How active subscribers are with the mail
Considerations for Mail Placement (Inbox vs. Junk Folder)
Trusted Voter Community
In-house solution, coupled with a 3rd Party Filters
“This is Spam” vs. “This is not Spam” Votes
Priority Inbox
Analyzed engagement for a long period of time
Similar to Yahoo!
Engagement Trumps Complaints
14. Best
Practice
Import
Address
Book
Maintain Your List
15. Consistent Hygiene
Review your data collection
processes and modify if necessary
Use Confirmed Opt-In
Segment new subscribers on IPs
Monitor unknown user rate
Grow your list organically
Review your internal bounce
categorization routine
Monitor sending logs
Monitor Blacklists
16. Sending Requirements & Authentication
Sender ID
DKIM look up when SID does not pass
Throttles mail from new IPs
Reviews both DKIM and SPF
Max of 20 messages per SMTP connection
reject if open relay or open proxies
SPF, DKIM and DomainKeys
From matches d= in DKIM record
Shared IPs should sign DKIM w/ Unique domain
Both DKIM and SPF is best practice
DKIM will help maintain reputation across IPs
Fail of both SPF and DKIM = Spam folder
17. Best
Practice
Utilize a
Solid Sending
Infrastructure
18. Best
Best
Practice
Practice
Maintain Sending Permanence
19. Sending Reputation
Tools
Microsoft SNDS
AOL Reputation Check Tool
Gmail List-Unsubscribe Link Enabled
Return Path Sender Score
20. Prioritized Delivery
No internal Whitelist
Return Path’s Email Certification Program
Yahoo offers an internal Whitelist
Return Path’s Email Certification Program
No Whitelist
Priority Inbox
AOL Standard Whitelist
AOL Enhanced Whitelist
25. Partners
Sympatico (Bell Canada)
AT&T (BellSouth, SBC, Ameritech)
Verizon
Rogers, BT, TNZ, and Nokia
ig.br
virginmedia.com
sify.com
CompuServe
Netscape
26. Deliverability Blogs
Return Path
www.returnpath.net
Deliverability.com
www.deliverability.com
Word to the Wise
blog.wordtothewise.com
Al Iverson
blog.exacttarget.com/blog.php/al-iverson