EvolutionMC, LLC

by Brad Redfearn

Many of our clients are reaping the benefits of communicating with their customers via email. Whether this is a simple email group/list created with your client software (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Gmail, etc.) or a robust email marketing management system tied into the back-end of your website, this is a great way to support your customers, generate feedback, and promote your products and services.

However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make sure that these communications are reaching your customers. The reason: large ISPs like MSN, Yahoo, AOL, and others are having to tighten up their email policies to fight spammers. The downside is that legitimate emails are also sometimes blocked as well.

Each ISP has its own policy regarding how spam email is identified and dealt with. What you want to avoid is having email originating from your domain name or server marked as spam. The consequences can range from temporary delays in delivering mail to outright blocking of email from your domain.

One simple thing you can do is make sure your email contains only valid email addresses. When you collect email addresses from your customers, make sure there is a mechanism in place to validate that it is an active, functional account. Often, people will try to use fake addresses in the interest of privacy, and email addresses often expire when users cancel their service or move ISPs. And sometimes people just make typos.

Try to send mass email out to a large number of invalid email addresses and you’re increasing the risk of getting labeled as a spammer, also known as “blacklisting.” The process of getting “un-blacklisted” can be a real pain.