Educational Fundraising Whitepapers
Email Deliverability Demystified:
Papilia’s Commitment to Optimizing Results
A Whitepaper by Mark DiMaio
Deliverability Expert
Overview
With the ever increasing bombardment of spam flowing into ISPs, corporations, and other entities, it is a constant
challenge to legitimate marketers not to be labeled a “spammer”. As many as 10 out of 11 messages running
through email systems are spam*. That translates to hundreds of millions of messages at any given time, or a
staggering 90+% of all email traffic!
As a result of this alarming trend, in 2003, the term “deliverability” was born.
* According to Postini, a major hosted spam filtering service.
What is Deliverability?
Deliverability may be defined as the percent of communications that actually reach the target audience. Online
deliverability is both receiving domain acceptance and favorable/optimal mailbox placement (i.e. delivery to
the inbox as opposed to the junk or SPAM folder). This is important since inbox placement implies legitimacy, and
many ISPs will render images and links by default, which in turn may ultimately drive higher response rates. Just
because an organization or company is legitimate does not mean that they will avoid blockages, spam complaints
or other Deliverability issues. And just because a recipient once provided an organization with permission to email
does not mean that they won’t report that organization as a spammer.
Important Statistic: Industry experts estimate that only 70 to 80% of legitimate email actually reaches recipients’ inboxes, leaving 20 to 30% of possible conversions and income on the table.
Why is Deliverability important?
Deliverability is the way to amplify your marketing efforts and to be sure that the email that people have registered
for reaches them. Email is one of the most effective and lowest cost ways to build relationships with your target
audience. If that pathway is restricted by the ISPs, then relationships, donations, engagement, loyalty, and
advocacy will also be diminished.
At a high level, the concept seems simple, but if we take a closer look, we’ll see that deliverability is made up of a number of components.
ISP guidelines – The main goal of ISPs (Internet Service Providers, such as AOL or Yahoo!) and other receiving domains is to protect their members (subscribers, customers, employees). Member perception plays a very large role in Deliverability, which is why ISPs also differentiate themselves by highlighting spam-fighting features. ISPs weigh member complaints heavily and will impose blocks against senders and/or filter mail to the spam folder (i.e. junk or bulk) if thresholds are exceeded.
RBLs - Some receiving domains use RBL (Real-time Blackhole Lists), such as Spamhaus or Spamcop. These third party systems monitor a number of things from complaints to trap addresses (addresses that have not provided permission to receive mail, but they receive it anyway). If a sender is identified on one of these RBLs, any receiving domain who subscribes to the service will automatically block all of the sender’s mail.
Filters (both public and proprietary) – Many major ISPs and other receiving domains use a combination of filtering techniques to determine potential spam. Fingerprinting (content based) and Bayesian (learned behavior) filters are very common. Fingerprint filters work by matching messages against common message components (e.g. images, URLs, etc.) that have generated previous complaints, while others, such as Bayesian, take into account the probability that specific words in the email are considered spam.
Authentication – Due to the emergence of phishing, which is spoofed or fake email, certain ISPs and an unknown number of receiving domains have chosen to authenticate email before allowing it to reach its final destination, the member’s inbox. There are numerous authentication protocols available to receiving domains to assist them in determining whether email is permitted from a given IP and/or from the domain. In short, receiving domains check to ensure a sender is in fact who they say they are.
Those along with other ISP mail volume restrictions and guidelines can make a mailer’s head spin. The pathway can become restricted, indeed.
How can Deliverability impact my results?
Let’s take a look at an example of a typical email:
| Good Deliverability |
Poor Deliverability |
|
| Sent | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Delivered | 19,400 | 16,000 |
| Delivery Rate | 97% | 80% |
| Click-through Rate | 4% | 4% |
| Conversion Rate | 0.28% | 0.28% |
| Average Gift Amount | $500 | $500 |
| Donations | $27,160 | $22,400 |
Average click-through rates and conversion rate based on Convio 2006 benchmark study.
As you can see, the totals add up, especially across multiple mailings per year! Deliverability has a substantial impact to your bottom line.
How does Papilia handle Deliverability?
Papilia plays a crucial role in helping to navigate through this precarious and dynamic landscape. The dynamics
are changing constantly, and Papilia is vigilant on a daily basis about helping you to optimize email Deliverability.
Authentication - To start with, our basic mailing infrastructure is configured for SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and SID (Sender ID) authentication protocols required by many receiving domains. DK/DKIM (Domain Keys/Domain Keys Identified Mail) will be implemented in Q1 ’08 as well.
Whitelisting - Our sending IPs are whitelisted (registered and listed as safe and legitimate senders) with many of the major and secondary ISPs, as well as receiving domains who offer them. Whitelisting allows higher volume thresholds and exclusion from certain filters on the receiving end, resulting in more optimal delivery results.
Feedback Loops – Papilia has complaint feedback loops set up with a number of domains in order to monitor and action recipient address spam complaints.
Monitoring of Inbox Placement - We also monitor the acceptance and placement of email across a vast number of receiving domains worldwide and initiate immediate ISP outreach to resolve any identified issues.
Bounce Management - Papilia provides bounce management on your behalf. If a record is permanently undeliverable (a hard bounce), it is marked as such and no further attempt to deliver the email is made. Receiving domains are very sensitive to these types of bounces since known spammer tactics consist of “probing” or “dictionary attacks.” These tactics consist of sending a large number of randomized emails and those that do not return undeliverable errors are considered live email addresses. The spammer will then add those live email addresses to a list of known valid addresses, which in turn leads to high hard bounce rates.
Best Practice Advisement - Ultimately, your reputation is critical to the overall equation. List quality and recipient expectations speak volumes to ISPs and the hundreds of thousands of receiving domains on the Internet.
Papilla and You – Partners in preserving email performance
There are a number of actions you can take to ensure your spot as a good mailing citizen in the world of online communication.
1) Capture strong affirmative consent from members. Double opt-in is the industry holy grail, but not always possible. Notified and single opt-in, when managed correctly, can be equally effective. Keep in mind, failure of a member to take action or simply providing their email address, does not mean he or she has agreed to accept your email. If a member is not engaged, you may wish to consider not mailing to him or her. Continuing to mail these members may increase the risk of higher complaints over time.
2) Set member expectations up front. Welcome messages that state what types of email communications will be sent, and how often, are very helpful. Consider including an add-to-address book or safe sender list suggestion to help drive better inbox placement for future messages.
3) Process member opt-out requests promptly. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 allows for up to 10 days to do so, but the sooner, the better. (For more information, visit the Direct Marketing Association website at http://www.the-dma.org/antispam/.)
Optimal Deliverability is a joint effort that Papilia shares with every client. Papilia is excited to be a partner in assisting you to build strong member relationships and achieving your results for years to come.
About the Author:
Mark DiMaio
Deliverability Expert
Mark has more than 25 years of experience in operations and has been instrumental to the success of a number of start-ups. Over the past 8 years he has specialized in online email marketing and communications, mostnotably in Deliverability. Mark has held senior positions with some of the largest Email Service Providers, including Acxiom|Digital (formerly Digital Impact) and Yesmail (formerly Post Communications) and sits on a number of advisory boards, developing and providing expertise in order to help clients optimize email deliverability results.
Prior to his focus on Deliverability, Mark was the Senior Planner for a major computer manufacturer where he helped develop a demand fulfillment process with an outsource vendor, which included an Electronic Data Interchange transaction infrastructure. Mark also has experience as Director of Operations, Project Manager, Production Manager, and Sales/Administration Manager in the design, furniture manufacturing, and commercial furnishing/space planning industries.
Mark attended the State University of New York where he studied Liberal Arts and Business Administration. h
