Tips To Get Past Spam Filters!

The following article appeared in the June issue of SIPAlert, the e-zine for Specialized Information Publishers Association (www.sipaonline.com).

By: Mitch Eisen, CIO and co-founder of Real Magnet (www.realmagnet.com/commpartners)

Monitor Your Network. It is critical to monitor your sending infrastructure to identify issues early. Check your blacklist and reputation status daily (go to these sites for blacklist updates): www.dnstuff.com; www.barracudacentral.com/ and www.Senderbase.org.

If you find out your IP address(es) is on a blacklist, take these steps:

• Assess the importance of the blacklist;
• Try to isolate the message and/or list that may have caused the listing;
• See if the blacklist operator provides information and procedures for removal at its Website; and
• Be courteous and patient in your communications

Use Best IP Configuration. Get a dedicated IP. Consider using different IPs for transactional vs. promotional email.

Get White-listed. As opposed to a blacklist, which identifies suspect IP addresses, a white-list is a list of "Approved" senders from whom a recipient allows emails to be delivered. You can be white-listed at any of three levels:

ISP level. Most large ISPs offer email senders the ability to request a white-list status for their IPs/domains. Check some of the larger ones at:

– AOL: www.postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html

– Yahoo: http://help.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_bulkmail

– Hotmail: https://postmaster.live.com/snds/addnetwork.aspx

– Juno and Netzero: www.unitedonline.net/postmaster/whitelisted.html

3rd Party Accreditation. Email reputation service providers offer white-lists that identify legitimate email traffic for the benefit of senders and receivers. Senders in these programs must meet qualitative standards and quantitative requirements. Some of the better known are:

– Habeas: www.habeas.com

– Return Path: www.returnpath.biz

– Sender Score Certified: www.senderscorecertified.com

– Goodmail: www.goodmailsystems.com

Recipient level. Perhaps the most reliable practice is to have recipients white-list key technical information about you and your sending infrastructure to ensure continued deliverability. This should include all IP addresses you send from and the "From" field and domain name you send from. Here are some other white-listing tips:

• In the upper left corner of every message, include a link to white-listing information.
• Include a link to white-listing information on the confirmation page of your subscription page.
• Ask recipients to add your "From" field to their safe address list.
• Send a broadcast email with your white-listing information to your list and encourage them to act on it.
• To the extent possible, select one address to use in your "From" field and use it as much as possible.
• If you use more than one "From" address, it is important that you remain consistent with "From" addresses and subject matter.
• Make sure the "From" field value is included in your white-listing information.

Manage Complaints. It is critical to monitor complaints and take immediate action. Set up Feedback Loops with all ISPs that provide this service

Manage Lists. Good list management practices are critical to reducing complaints, maintaining a positive reputation with ISPs and improving overall deliverability. Here are some tips:

• Get permission — A single opt-in method, whereby recipients sign up to give you permission to send them marketing emails, works well; but some email experts prefer the double opt-in method, which requires recipients to sign up on a subscription page then provides a confirmation email that includes a link that recipients must click to opt-in.
• If you are renting a list, do the proper research to make sure it is an opt-in list of recipients who anticipate receiving the type of information you are sending.
• Consider the frequency of your mailings. What are your recipients' expectations?
• Unsubscribes — Provide an easy unsubscribe mechanism and honor the unsubscribes. Opting out should be just as easy as opting in. Sending emails to recipients who believe they have unsubscribed can result in complaints made to the ISP, which can in turn diminish your reputation and ultimately degrade your deliverability.
• Bounces — ISPs carefully scrutinize the sending practices of emailers, and in particular, watch for senders who do not pay attention to list cleansing and list management. Probably the most important bounce type is "User Not Found." Continually sending to an address that an ISP has repeatedly identified as "User Unknown" can jeopardize the deliverability of the sender.

Check Content. Don't use screaming headlines in the subject line and body of the message (e.g. SIGN UP FOR FREE PUBLICATION TODAY!!!). In the subject line, minimize words commonly used in a sales pitch (e.g. 'Free,' 'Sale,' 'Save, 'Shop,' 'Promo, 'Order Today,' etc.). Be careful how colors are used; loud, flashy email messages may result in a higher spam score. Don't use punctuation in words to try to bypass content filters. Avoid using large font sizes. Keep HTML Simple

Deliver Relevant Content. The more targeted the content to individual recipients, the higher the probability they will continue to be engaged, and the less likelihood they will register a complaint. Here are some tips to keep content relevant:

• Put the most important information at the top, where the reader's eye will go first.
• Assume that most people will never read beyond the first paragraph, so make sure it's attention-grabbing and newsworthy.
• Use personalization

Test. This is a key component to maximizing deliverability. Test message to yourself, checking links, formatting etc. Send test messages to major ISPs (Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo etc.). Test different IPs and domains.