Insiders Guide to Overcoming Email Deliverability Challenges at the Largest U.S. ISPs
By Ross Kramer - Listrak, LLC - JUNE 1, 2005
What was true in the past will be true into the foreseeable future; deliverability will present itself as a challenge to anyone attempting to have their email message reach the inboxes of their target recipients. At some point in time over the past several months almost all of us had a piece of email falsely routed to a junk or bulk email folder. Understanding and embracing the inefficiencies of the current deliverability landscape will help in overcoming the challenges of deliverability. Regardless if you are a marketing professional or technology provider you are reading this whitepaper because you are interested in enhancing your email deliverability. The mission of this particular whitepaper is to magnify and examine the current challenges placed on permission- based email marketers in relation to the 8 largest ISPs in the United States.
This whitepaper is the culmination of several years of close analysis of how the largest ISPs filter email. To our knowledge, there is no single resource that identifies the specific methods and technology used by these ISPs to filter email. To that extent it should be noted that due to the ever changing nature of this topic, the information contained in this whitepaper could become outdated quite quickly. Additionally, the data presented in this whitepaper is based upon our specific Listrak findings. Your experiences with the ISPs presented in this whitepaper may differ from the data that we have collected.
Even though the topic of email deliverability is a moving target, there is one aspect that you can bet on: the more complaints generated by your email activity, the greater the chance you will be blocked.
One Overriding Premise: User Complaints
Even though the topic of email deliverability is a moving target, there is one aspect that you can bet on: the more complaints generated by your email activity, the greater the chance you will be blocked. Conversations with top ranking email administrators regarding email deliverability at large ISPs ring a consistent tone across the board, "send mail that my users want, mail that generates a low amount of complaints, and I'll deliver your mail to their inboxes." For anyone reading this whitepaper whose campaigns generate a substantial amount of complaints and are looking for a "silver bullet" within this text for how to get their mail delivered, please stop now, as you won't find your answer here or anywhere else. If your mail is unwanted, it will go undelivered. It's that simple.
For the rest of the permission-based email marketers out there looking for their recipient-anticipated mail to be delivered to the inboxes of the largest ISPs in the U.S., we're certain you will find the following information useful.
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