This post was originally posted on the DMA Email Marketing Blog
I think most marketers have heard about email authentication and the use of Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) and the Sender Policy Framework (SPF). If your using an email service provider then its likely that they will handle the authentication for you and you don’t need to worry. But why do emails need to be authenticated ?
In the past an ISP would judge your email reputation on the number of complaints they received via feedback loops. And, in the case of Hotmail, the number of unsubscribes via the automatic unsubscribe link. Its fairly obvious that this isn't an accurate measure of reputation. Spammers are very aware of this and send a large number of emails to email accounts that they know are dormant just so their percentage complaint rate is still low and they are not recognised as a spammer.
One of the inexorable truths of email marketing is that you can never second guess a spam filter.
The complex and often illogical algorithms used to select what is, and is not, spam can be infuriating for email marketers. We simply want to send a campaign safe in the knowledge our efforts will not be consigned to a junk folder. We want to present information clearly so recipients can quickly decide whether they are interested in our message or not.
Today we received an email from the CEO of Goodmail Systems informing us that as of 8th February 2011 Goodmail will cease operations. Our contact at Goodmail tells me that they were close to doing a deal with Symantec but it didn't quite materialise and this was the only option available.
I read an interesting article on the BBC website today about how a long running Canadian magazine had decided to produce an online version but had seen poor results due to spam filters. They have decided to change their name from "Beaver" to "Canada's History". I can only imagine the costs and time to rebrand a 90 year old magazine and I'm sure they didn't take the decision lightly.
extravision is a privately owned UK-based email service provider founded in 2004, with a great ISP reputation ensuring high deliverability rates. We offer flexible email marketing solutions to both small and large businesses across all sectors.
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