New Research Study: How the Unsubscribe Process Impacts Sender Reputation

By Bonnie Malone
Director, Strategic Services

In June we published a research study on how top brands manage the sign-up and welcome experience for their subscribers. As you might recall, our findings were rather shocking. Big, well-known brands were falling down on what many email marketing experts consider basic best practices. We decided to re-visit those same companies and see if they handled the unsubscribe experience any better. Download this new study now.

The good news is that most of the companies studied had the basics in place. They may not have optimized their experience, but they at least stopped sending email quickly.

The bad news is that, again, we were shocked to discover ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

Fight or Flight? Dealing With Marketing Stress

By Chad Malchow
VP, New Business Development

Whether or not you believe we are in or heading to a recession, you most likely believe we are in times of uncertainty. If you are like the many clients I have talked to over the past few months, your budget has been frozen or cut. You still have goals to meet and now you need to meet them with fewer funds. This is not a fun or easy place for you to be in. The question is how will you react to this marketing stress. Will you fight or flee?

I hope everyone reading this chooses to fight. I hope you choose to make your own luck rather than waiting for luck to find you. I hope you choose to find a way to make more with less. These times of uncertainty are times of opportunity. An opportunity for you to shine. An opportunity for your business to not only exist, but grow.

If you are still reading, you chose to fight. Good for you! In order to fight and move forward ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

IN Panel: The Future of Messaging Moderated by Matt Blumberg

By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Strategic Services

[Ed note: This is the final blog on our IN Conference sessions. Do to some technical issues -- and a late night on Thursday -- it's a little later than the rest.]

The last panel session of the day was moderated by Return Path CEO Matt Blumberg and included Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures. Fred has been in the VC space since 1987, was the founder of Flatiron Partners and was recently recognized as the #1 most influential insider in the New York tech scene by Silicon Alley Insider.

Also on the panel were Tom Evslin, the inventor of the "Blok" which delivers books in serial format via blog postings, and Phil Hollows, the CEO of Feedblitz, a leading independent RSS to email alert service.
The session really took the form of an informal chat between four messaging gurus and it was fascinating to hear them talk about email: its past, present and future.

Matt kicked off the discussion by stating that email isn't just evolving - it's "turbo-evolving." Over the last 20 years, new forms of messaging and communication have rapidly expanded. So where does that leave users, subscribers and marketers?

Before the gurus answered that question, Matt posed some questions to the audience using the Perception Analyzer tool. Those included ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

It's Not Rock and Roll, But We Like It: The Return Path Podcast

We are pleased and proud to announce the launch of Reputation Radio, the Return Path podcast. It's a whole new way to experience the expertise and thought leadership you've come to expect from Return Path. We'll be podcasting every two weeks.

In this week's episode you'll hear George Bilbrey and Robert Barclay discussing our Reputation Benchmark Report and Bonnie Malone sharing a cool email idea from eBay. Future episodes will feature our experts talking about spam traps, mobile marketing, international email trends and much, much more. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single episode.

Here's three fun, creative ways to enjoy Reputation Radio: ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

Reputation Is No Longer Black and White

By Alex Rubin
Vice President, Business Development

Comcast recently announced they are using Sender Score as a factor in determining if you are eligible to participate in their feedback loop program.

Basically, if you pass their threshold for "good" (Sender Score above 60), you're in. If you appear below their threshold for "bad" (Sender Score below 30), you're out. And if you are in-between (Sender Score between 30 and 60), they'll factor in additional elements to determine your eligibility.

Reputation has evolved quite a bit in the receiver world. Not too long ago, the first reputation systems only gave binary answers. Most classified senders as bad (meaning they'd be blocked), or not bad (and thus not blocked) according to their own criteria. Others followed the model of ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

Is Your Email an Invited Guest or a Drunken Frat-boy?

By Neil Schwartzman
Director of Standards and Security, Sender Score Certified Compliance

I have been thinking about the analogy between the email inbox and the postal mailbox we all have. It doesn't work.

It is true that the inbox is a replacement for where we receive news about friends, since handwritten letters seem to have been all but replaced by email (and to a lesser degree, instant messages, and text messaging).

But the inbox isn't your mailbox, it is your living room, a far more intimate and personal space. It is where your friends can drop by unannounced, and invited guests are welcome.

Now, when an invited guest comes into my home ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

The Root of All Email

By J.D. Falk
Director of Product Management, Receiver Products

This week, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) published a number of what they call "RFCs," which originally meant "Requests for Comment" -- the standards documents which specify the technical underpinnings of the internet. Two of these, numbered 5321 and 5322, replace earlier documents defining the very core of internet email. On the surface, each of these seem surprisingly simple; one aims "...to transfer mail reliably and efficiently," while the other defines itself as "...a definition of what message content format is to be passed between systems." Yet without general industry-wide acceptance of (and compliance with) these standards, internet email simply would not exist.

This week also marks ten years since the death of Jon Postel, who arguably had more influence over the creation of the internet than any other single person. One of Jon's most enduring recommendations is ...Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

Before You Get Famous Protect Your Email Account

By Neil Schwartzman
Director of Standards and Security, Sender Score Certified Compliance

By now, you have likely heard about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin having joined the redoubtable ranks of famous people like Paris Hilton and Chester Charlie Bennington (the lead singer of Linkin Park) whose email accounts have been hacked.

Like the Alaskan tundra, the Internet can be a scary, cold, dangerous place. But if the proper precautions are taken, risk of obvious dangers can be reduced significantly. So, whether you've been thrust into the spotlight recently or not, we'd like to nominate the following precautions and hope they get your vote ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

Why The Rules Have to Be Flexible

By Matt Blumberg
CEO & Chairman

We have clients ask us all the time - how much email should I be sending out to my subscribers? One a week? One a month? And usually, we give the same advice - it depends on what you are sending, and on what expectation you set with your subscribers when they sign up.

This week is a great example that proves the rule "it depends." I get the Wall Street Journal's email alerts of major headlines. I think I've subscribed in two different categories, maybe three - I can't remember, since I signed up about 10 years ago. In a typical week, across all the categories, I might get ...Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability

Asia Diary Day 3: Reviewing Spam Laws in Shanghai

By Alex Rubin
Vice President, Business Development

During our APAC tour (previously written about here and here), we became more aware of interesting local laws attempting to legislate against spam. Please don't interpret this as an official legal position (we aren't lawyers, international or otherwise), but check out these policies:

Singapore: Marketers must mark their messages with the letters "ADV" for advertisement to make it easier for a consumer to direct unwanted mail to the electronic trash bin. Singapore supports "opt-out" mailing - a generally lower bar than requiring "opt-in." If a consumer opts not to receive ...

Tell me more

Categories: Email Deliverability