Dec
21
By: Tom Bartel
Chief Privacy Officer
Just in time for the Holidays comes the FTC's "Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act" report to Congress.
Believe it or not it has been two full years since Can Spam was enacted. Part of the law was a requirement that the FTC issue a report on Can Spam's effect on the spam problem after two years. That time has come...
Categories: Email Deliverability
By: Leslie Price
Senior Product Manager;
Accreditation Services
As part of the Return Path team, I frequently do a review of a client's mailing practices by signing up as a user to their services. I create an account that is only used for that sender alone so that I can monitor their mailing practices and their use of my email address.
One such client had worked very diligently for 6 months to improve their internal practices, but after that period of time, they decided to "share" my email address. I don't know the specifics of whether my address was sold, shared with a partner or affiliate, or brokered. But whatever the arrangement, after the address was "shared", I received...
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Dec
15
By: George Bilbrey
GM of Delivery Assurance
We often hear complaints that a client's email service provider who provides them with their larger scale email delivery services is ruining their company's email deliverability rates. There is a tendency to point the finger to everyone other than in the mirror when looking at deliverability issues.
The truth is, though, that as a marketer, you control nearly every facet of blocking and filtering that happens after you hit the "send" button on your campaigns. Various aspects of your email program can not be fixed by an ESP, you can begin by focusing internally on the following five...
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Dec
14
By: Leslie Price
Senior Product Manager;
Accreditation Services
This week, the Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC), which is a trade association that focuses exclusively on the email industry, released an updated Email Marketing Pledge and Best Practices Guide.
The updated Email Marketing Pledge reflects current regulatory terminology and permission definitions. The Best Practices Guide is designed to be a reference tool of standardized regulations and best practices for email communications. The guide covers...
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Dec
07
By: Matt Blumberg
CEO & Chairman
It seems like there are signs of an email marketing renaissance left, right, and center these days. First, the industry has enjoyed significant growth this year. Every vendor I speak with in the space except for one or two is posting record numbers -- whether they sell data, technology, or services. And many vendors have been swallowed up by larger multi-channel CRM or DM companies for nice prices.
Every marketer or publisher I speak with is investing more money into their email programs, and they are seeing stellar returns. In fact, their most persistent complaint is that...
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Nov
16
By: Tom Bartel
Chief Privacy Officer
I wanted to follow up on my earlier post last week regarding the Michigan Children's Protection Registry Act.
First piece of information is that as of November 16, 2005, the state of Michigan now expects compliance with their Michigan Children's Protection Registry Act (2004 PA 241).
While there was a pause in Lansing for the past two weeks, likely due to an FTC issued letter which addressed fundamental problems with the registry...
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Nov
08
Guest Blog
By: Brad Feld
Managing Director, Mobius Venture Capital
Several weeks ago, Postini announced a new product called PTIN Access – enabling enterprises, solution providers, and OEMs to have access to the Postini Threat Identification Network. PTIN is Postini’s real-time sender behavior analysis for email threat prevention and is the core for Postini's remarkable email security service (which I like to refer to as “magic” as this is what it’s like to go from a spam-filled inbox to no-spam at a flip of a switch.)
Today, Postini announced that Return Path will use data from PTIN to support...Tell me more
Categories: Email Deliverability
Nov
07
By: Tom Bartel
Chief Privacy Officer; Return Path, Inc.
Like many in the email marketing world, I've been keeping tabs on the Child Protection Registry initiatives in Michigan and Utah. It has been difficult to watch an effort which was based in good intentions get implemented in such a painfully bad way. I had my suspicions that these state laws wouldn't go well and they really haven't.
To summarize the situation, over a year ago Michigan and Utah quietly passed Child Protection Registry statutes. The laws in both states are very similar. Each intend to prohibit particular types...
Categories: Email Deliverability
Oct
26
By: George Bilbrey
GM of Delivery Assurance
A lot of our clients are surprised when they have delivery problems at top ISPs. They are opt-in marketers. The people who they are sending mail to have asked to receive these messages. They comply with the CAN SPAM act. What's the deal?
The answer is that ISPs (particularly larger ISPs that have invested a lot of effort in private reputation systems) care more about the trouble that a mailer is causing their subscribers than they do about the mailer's permission practices. Reputation (as measured by mailers) matters. There are four drivers that most frequently...
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Oct
25
By: Matt Blumberg
CEO & Chairman
A couple of months ago, I blogged about two well-intentioned but very unfortunate new laws on the books, one in Michigan and one in Utah, designed to protect children from advertising that's harmful to minors, but in fact full of unintended consequences.
Today, the Detroit Free Press had a great article about how the law in Michigan is so poorly conceived and executed, that not only is it angering legitimate businesses, it's actually angering the parents...Tell me more
Categories: Email Deliverability
Privacy | Copyright 2010 Return Path, Inc.