AllTel Emails Change Domain

All emails @alltel.net are now @windstream.net. This is a temporary solution as the users will be given a chance to change their email addresses. Please update your databases accordingly.

Are you tracking your deliverability results?

We all know deliverability is 90% of the game in Email Marketing. Well how do you track deliverability? How can we measure how much mail is actually going through?

The best approach to deliverability tracking is to use multiple points of reference. The first point of reference is your delivery logs. You should scan these in real time to see what domains you are bouncing mail from. When your mail is blocked to an ISP, you should stop mailing to that ISP immediately. This technique will preserve your IP space. You should also contact the ISP administrators and work to resolve your block. In the Permicity Campaign Manager (PCM), you can view real time logs in the Dashboard. You should also gather statistics from your logs. What are your Top Bounce Domains? What domains are you sending mail from that is always getting through? You can find this information in the Analysis->MTA section of PCM. This information will give you the "big picture" of how effective your email delivery is. It also gives you data points to pursue to improve your deliverability.

The second point of reference is using seed emails. You can periodically send email to a list of emails you own at your target domain to see what gets through. You should tune how often you deliver to the seeds since this process itself can get your email blocked. You can email to seeds by specifying what the seeds are in a text file on the PCM system and then tuning how often you want to mail to them from the Outbound MTA->Injector page. You can use a program such a Delivery Monitor to automate the checking of the various email accounts. You can also use some custom code like LWP if you have specialized needs for checking how email is being delivered. Sending seeds during every campaign is a surefire way to see how much mail is being delivered.

These third point of reference is to use ISP benchmarks on your email delivery. ISPs such as Hotmail (SNDS) provide this information free of charge and it provides valuable insight into yoru email delivery. They give you detailed statistics per IP informing you of how mail was delivered (blocked, bounced, or put into the bulk folder).

We recommend using the three different points of reference in conjunction to give you 100% visibility into your email delivery. Good luck and Happy mailing!

Permicity Campaign Manager Version 3 Released!

We are excited to announce the release of Version 3 of Permicity Campaign Manager. The latest version has several enchancements and optimizations to improve your mailing experience.

The biggest change is the addition of module support. Now you can add custom components based on your needs. We currently provide two modules, Bulk Add Module and a Database Module. The Bulk Add Module will let you add multiple configurations to your system in a single screen. You can add multiple domains and ips by simply providing a list of the items.

The Database Module allows you to customize the database to add custom fields. You can use these custom fields in the campaigns you send out to improve deliverability. The Database Module also lets you back up the database to your PC.

Some other changes in Version 3 are:

• Updated analysis screens with better graphs and more data.
• Simplified campaign creation process.
• Improved help bubbles throughout the application.
• Enhanced performance when deploying campaigns.
• Reduced administration needed due to more automation.
• Ability to customize homepage and unsubscribe page.

Deliverability Links

Here are some useful links for deliverability:

General Information

1. Delivery Monitor
Track your deliverability with Delivery Monitor
http://deliverymonitor.com?535

2. Senderbase
You can research your IP Addresses and Domains at Senderbase
http://senderbase.org

3. SpamCop
You can sign up to receive SpamCop reports for your IP Addresses
http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=ispsignupform

4. Blacklists
You can check if your IP Addresses or Domains are listed on Blacklists by checking the following sites
http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/index.lasso
http://www.mail-abuse.com/cgi-bin/lookup

5. Domain Keys
You can test if your domain keys are working here
http://domainkeys.sourceforge.net/policycheck.html

6. DNS
You can troubleshoot your DNS issues, such as reverse DNS, MX records here
http://dnsstuff.com

Hotmail and MSN

1. Postmaster Information
https://postmaster.live.com/

2. Smart Network Data Services (SNDS)
A useful tool provided by Microsoft to monitor and troubleshoot delivery issues.
You can sign up here https://postmaster.live.com/snds/

3. Feedback Loop
You can sign up for Microsoft's feedback loop called the Junk Mail Reporting Program (JMRP)
http://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsjmrpp

4. SenderID Framework
You can setup SenderID to prove that you are who you say you are to help delivery
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/technologies/senderid/default.mspx

5. Certify your email
You can certify your email with Return Path to ensure delivery
http://www.senderscorecertified.com/

6. Microsoft Support
You can try contacting their support for futher information
http://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsmsbl


Yahoo and SBC Global

1. Yahoo Policy
Ensure you are compliant with Yahoo policies
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/abuse/postmaster-01.html

2. Block Code
Identify the block code you are receiving
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/abuse/abuse-57.html

3. Yahoo Postmaster
You can contact the Yahoo Postmaster by following the link for "Contact Customer Care"
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/abuse/abuse-62.html

America Online (AOL)

1. AOL Postmaster
You can access the AOL Postmaster site for more information
http://postmaster.info.aol.com/

2. Feedback Loop and Whitelist
You can sign up for the AOL Feedback Loop and Whitelist program here
http://postmaster.info.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html

3. Certified Email
You can sign up with Goodmail Systems for certification for AOL
http://www.goodmailsystems.com/index.php

Other ISPs

1. RoadRunner
You can view RoadRunner policies and contact their Postmaster here
http://security.rr.com/amIBlockedByRR.htm
http://security.rr.com/mail_blocks.htm

2. Verizon
You can apply for the Verizon whitelist here
http://www2.verizon.net/micro/whitelist/request_form.asp?id=isp

3. Netzero and Juno
You can apply for the United Online whitelist here
http://www.unitedonline.net/postmaster/whitelisted.html

Do the CAN-SPAM law changes affect you?

The U.S. Government updated the CAN-SPAM laws to reflect the following changes:

1. You can now use a P.O. Box as a physical mailing address. This helps reduce costs for a lot of email marketers who now do not have to rent a physical office space to remain CAN-SPAM compliant.

2. Email marketers must have a simple opt-out mechanism, requiring either a reply to a campaign or a web based unsubscribe where only their email address is required. Users have expressed their frustration with being required to "opt-in" to opt-out of a mailing. We recommend using a process where either the user replies to an email or they click on a link for an unsubscribe.

3. Change of definition of a "person" to be "an individual, group, unincorporated association, limited or general partnership, corporation or other business entity". This eliminates some of the legal wrangling available to email marketers to send their mail without adhering to CAN-SPAM laws. As some organizations put the burden of their operations on a single non-existent person to avoid following CAN-SPAM laws.

4. Now multiple senders, a message with parts from several senders, can identify a single entity as the designated sender. This provision now creates the possibility of sending multiple offers in a single email. It also helps limit liability of advertisers who offers are present in newsletters or similar types of content.