April 21, 2005
Article

Correction to Email Delivery Story

SUMMARY: No summary available
CORRECTION

Yesterday, we published a story about a study performed by content specialists eDiagnostix. We mistakenly reported that the study examined the overall deliverability of emails from some of the industry’s leading email service providers (ESPs). In fact, the study was much more narrowly focused on how content (HTML setup and the words used) can potentially affect how spam filters react to specific emails.

Email deliverability is based on a complex mix of internal and external factors. Internal factors include infrastructure, server configuration, design, and wording while external factors are the ever-changing criteria, filters, and algorithms used by ISPs and personal/corporate filtering mechanisms and services.

The top-tier ESPs in the study work effectively to anticipate and respond to these factors. As a result, they have outstanding deliverability. Marketers who work with the elite ESPs and have dedicated email servers tend to see much higher delivery rates (well over 95% in some cases) than their peers who manage email in-house without benefit of a third-party deliverability service.

The eDiagnostix study makes a good point, that content is a factor in deliverability. The words and design we choose can impact how spam filters react to our emails. However, its important to remember that most commercial email will raise red flags in one of the many spam filters out there. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the email won’t get delivered unless the errors meet the threshold to be called "spam."

“ISPs change the rules of email deliverability all the time,” says George Bilbrey, VP & GM of Deliverability Services at Return Path. “To get an accurate view of delivery, you have to be diligent about monitoring dozens of seeds across ISPs, analyzing delivery logs and infrastructure for hidden issues, analyzing complaint data to remove problem areas, and testing all content prior to sending any email. Focusing on just content –- or any other trigger -– is not enough to ensure delivery success. In our experience, content represents less that 10% of the delivery problems that our clients experience.”

In fact, Deidre Baird, the CEO of Pivotal Veracity (a company that focuses exclusively on deliverability and partners with many top-tier ESPs) says “The Best Practice is not to fix every single spam filter rule but rather to use sound marketing and legal judgment on what should and should not be changed. For example, if you include unsubscribe language you'll hit a spam filter rule. Does that mean you should remove it? Absolutely not!” The exception is when you are experiencing delivery problems or you’re hitting those spam thresholds.

Generally, the key content issue isn’t wording, but HTML design and whether it meets the requirements of W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium). Bad code can impact delivery, and perhaps more importantly, it can change how the email renders (how it looks and functions).

Three key take-aways

#1 – If you work with one of the ESPs in the study, don’t panic! They are obsessed with deliverability and you’re in good hands.

#2 – Even experts design emails that raise red flags. The question is whether you know that up-front. You may decide to bend or break the rules sometimes, but that should be your decision, not an accident.

#3 – HTML design is something that you can get right every time, so take the extra time. (You can always check your emails at http://validator.w3.org/ )


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