The Email Delivery Guru

The Email Delivery Guru
The latest on email marketing delivery best
practices & trends from our resident guru,
Al Iverson, Director Deliverability.

CASL: Implied Consent for Existing Customers?

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, January 9, 2012

Email for Financial InstitutionsWe're beginning our new blog post series of answering your follow-up questions on Canada's new Anti-Spam Law (CASL). Today, I'll answer this question: For financial institutions, is there always implied consent provided the lead continues to be a customer?

There's an allowance under the law for an assumption of permission allowing you to mail existing customers. However, that exemption expires after a period of time, so you've got to track these subscribers in a way where you're able to expire them out after a period of time. Instead of doing that, our recommendation is to just ask for...

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CASL Webcast Followup

Posted by: Al Iverson
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Canadian anti-spam legislation

A special thank you to everyone who listened in on our Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation webcast on November 15th, with presenters Neil Schwartzman of CASLConsulting.com and Mickey Chandler, Senior Deliverability Consultant here at ET, and myself, ET's Director of Deliverability.

As we mentioned on the webcast, CASL regulations are still under development and subject to change, so stay tuned for further developments. We'll be sure to update our clients via the blog, additional documentation, and probably another webcast or two as the CASL "go live" date for final regulations and enforcement comes...

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Spam Filter Trigger Words -- Are they important?

Posted by: Al Iverson
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Spam FiltersAs the holidays approach, I think it's a great time to talk about spam words and phrases that could trigger ISP spam filters and create deliverability problems for marketers. I've asked my esteemed colleague, marketing consultant (and deliverability expert) Josephine Garcia, to weigh in. Here's what she had to say:
I've often heard that using words like 'Free' and 'Viagra' will get your email delivered to the junk/spam folder. My response is, it depends. What does it depend on? It depends on two things: First, it depends on your sender reputation and second, it depends on how you use those...
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Sending Mail via ExactTarget.com?

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, July 11, 2011
As of June 29, 2011, Gmail now displays more authentication-related information to end subscribers. This means that your Gmail subscriber segment could possibly become confused by the extra bits of information now exposed to them. But don't fret -- ultimately, more end user exposure to email authentication is a good thing -- as it will help drive better trust and confidence in email messaging.

When you see the Gmail interface telling you that a message was sent "via" another domain, Google is explaining that they have "detected that the email was sent via another mail service. This means... Read More »

What's next for EU Cookie Regulations?

Posted by: Al Iverson
Thursday, May 26, 2011
This is not exactly email related -- but I thought I would share what I've read, as folks have asked about it.

There's a new EU privacy directive requiring marketers to obtain "explicit consent" before tracking website visitors using cookies. The directive took effect on May 25, 2011, but few EU member states have yet to comply. The Register reports that "Almost entire EU now violating Brussels cookie privacy law." Another article details how the UK fails to comply.

So, what comes next? It's hard to say. For now, I'd start thinking about opt-in consent and how that can be accomplished as it...Read More »

Canadian Spam Law Question: When does it go into effect?

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, May 16, 2011
Over on his CASL Consulting blog, Canadian legal compliance consultant Neil Schwartzman tackles this question: "The recent elections in Canada delayed the publication of the full set of regulations," he explains. Meaning, the law is not likely to take effect until early 2012. Still, Neil suggests that "companies should be ready to conform to the new law by January 01, 2012, at the very latest.Read more here.

Note: I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice.


Canadian Spam Law Question: Agency Labeling Requirements?

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, May 9, 2011

A client asked me an interesting question the other day. He wrote, "I have a question about a clause in Canada's new anti-spam law, CASL. Specifically, about the clause that states that marketers need to include the identity of the person who is sending the email message. If the email is being sent on someone's behalf other than the sender, the name of that person needs to be included. How will this affect an agency that is sending on behalf of one of our clients? Do we have to include our name in the email campaigns?"

The new law governing spam in Canada, Canada's Online...

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Problems at Fuse.net

Posted by: Al Iverson
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Over the past few days, multiple clients (and indeed, multiple ESPs) have seen delivery issues when sending to addresses at Fuse.net. Email attempts are bouncing with the error message, "553 5.1.8 Domain of sender address (bounce domain) does not exist." The error is not specific to any one bounce domain. And it has been seen by multiple email service providers, meaning that it is not specific to ExactTarget.

We contacted Fuse.net regarding this issue, and they have told us that as of yesterday, the issue is resolved. They've invited us to reach out to them if the issue recurs.

ET clients, don't...

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Changes at Gmail and Hotmail

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, April 25, 2011
gmail hotmailReturn Path's Christine Borgia writes, "We have confirmed with both Gmail and Hotmail that they made recent updates to their filters."

We're not seeing anything too widespread here at ExactTarget, but there have been a few instances where a client's mail may be going to the bulk folder at either ISP now, but it wasn't before.

What's the fix? The ISPs don't ever tell us exactly what they've changed, so we can't tell you EXACTLY what to do to fix it. But what we can tell you is that ISPs are looking closer and closer at senders, trying to find ones who don't follow permission best practices or...Read More »

Let's Talk About SMS Legal Compliance

Posted by: Al Iverson
Friday, January 7, 2011

Today, a client called in, asking about SMS legal compliance. Specifically, what’s out there that explains what the rules are as when it comes to SMS (short message service – aka text messaging)? Here’s a very brief roundup.

SMSTurns out, the law is pretty straight forward when it comes to unsolicited SMS messaging. The courts have repeatedly held that the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) prohibits unsolicited SMS messaging. There’s also effectively a private right of action – meaning that individuals can sue you for SMS spam. (In the email world, in the US, only an ISP or state attorney...

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Canada's Anti-Spam Bill (C-28) Becomes Law

Posted by: Al Iverson
Friday, December 17, 2010
Canadan LawOn December 15, 2010 Canadian Bill C:28 was signed into law. As Return Path is reporting, final details of the regulations will be published in January, but here's what we know so far.

Unofficially named "Canada's Online Protection Legislation," (according to CAUCE) the law covers permission and best practice requirements related to commercial email messages. It is written in such a way that it likely covers other types of electronic communication, including instant messaging, SMS and social media-related communication.

This is an opt-in law, but don't be alarmed. It does not establish some...Read More »

Facebook Social Inbox Roundup

Posted by: Al Iverson
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The new Social Inbox platform from Facebook is very new. There are so many unknowns that it makes it hard to provide any substantive advice on what clients and other savvy marketers should be doing or watching out for. For now, allow me to share with you a roundup of first thoughts on the new Facebook messaging platform from a variety of smart folks.

The Social InboxDavid Daniels of the Relevancy Group offers a clear and consise overview of what Facebook announced during launch. Highlights include rich media/attachment support, relevancy control and control over message threading.

Over on ClickZ, Christopher...Read More »

The Emails You Don’t Support Could Hurt You

Posted by: Al Iverson
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Please Join Me “The Emails You Don’t Support Could Hurt You” Webinar Nov 17, 11:30-12:30pm ET

I’m excited to join Elateral, an ExactTarget partner, to explore how global enterprises can ensure world-class marketing capabilities from creative to compliance to delivery through the Elateral demand center.

Email Support Webinar

I’ll be speaking with Paul Goater, CEO of Elateral. The Elateral team works with global brands such as Coca-Cola, SAP, Motorola, and Symantec by streamlining their marketing efforts through channel partners with targeted and branded campaigns. My portion of the presentation will discuss the...Read More »

Facebook’s new Messaging Platform: First Impressions

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, November 15, 2010
Facebook announced their new messaging system today, incorporating elements of SMS, instant messaging, and email messaging. The "Social Inbox" is a big component of this new functionality, and Facebook's goal is to make it feel like a conversation.

Facebook was careful to tell us, "This is not an email system." Email is a component, sure, but they aren't expecting everybody to go home tonight and shut down their Yahoo account. This is a new platform, Facebook tells us, to enable more direct IM-like one-to-one communication.



The Social Inbox is probably the feature that is likely to have the...Read More »

Reminder: Road Runner Domain Changes

Posted by: Al Iverson
Monday, October 18, 2010
Road Runner InternetCable internet provider Road Runner is alive and kicking. They're still out there, they're still a huge inbound mail receiver, and they're still hosting a whole bunch of mail boxes.

But, remember, these domains are no longer valid domains for Road Runner users: jam.rr.com, midsouth.rr.com, mn.rr.com, se.rr.com, sport.rr.com, swfla.rr.com, ucwphilly.rr.com and houston.rr.com. As I mentioned way back in 2008, all email service at those domains was retired by Road Runner, usually because they sold some given market to another cable provider, such as Comcast.

Addresses at these "dead domains" will...Read More »

SMS Can Have Spam Blocking Problems, Too

Posted by: Al Iverson
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
This article from the CTA Tattler blog points out that Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus riders who use US Cellular are currently unable to obtain bus tracking info via SMS. The issue supposedly relates to a problem with the CTA's SMS partner, TextMarks.

SMS SpamReading between the lines, I wonder if perhaps there is a spam blocking issue here. Maybe this specific carrier is unhappy with some practice the CTA is engaged in, or perhaps some other TextMarks client has done something that raised the carrier's ire and resulted in them blocking all text messaging functionality between the carrier and the...Read More »

Google's new Priority Inbox

Posted by: Al Iverson
Friday, September 3, 2010
Google Priority InboxI'm already a huge user of Gmail, and a huge user of Gmail's filters and labels. So, I was very curious to learn how this new Priority Inbox functionality would impact my Gmail experience., as well as (obviously) wondering exactly how this will impact email senders.

Here's what a few other folks have had to say about it.
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But CAN-SPAM Defines Spam….

Posted by: Al Iverson
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Stop SpamSomeone asked me the other day, "Can you help me understand where in CAN-SPAM it says that it is illegal to buy lists?"

CAN-SPAM doesn't prohibit list buying or email append. ISPs and spam filterers hate it, because their users hate it. If you're buying a list or engaging in email append, your spam complaints spike, because permission is poor. Smart receivers notice this spike in spam complaints, and use that information to identify which senders they don't want to accept mail from. Don't believe me? Ask Cloudmark. Don't believe them? Ask consumers themselves.

ISPs may not always be loud and...Read More »

Appending your way to success

Posted by: Al Iverson
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Email List GrowthChip House: "[ExactTarget's 2009] list growth survey showed [that tactics like append, list rental and purchasing] produce low quality names, and since permission is not in place, mailing to rented, purchased or appended names can do significant harm to your deliverability, brand and ROI. Don't kill the goose to get the golden egg. Your core program can really suffer when you try to grow your email list campaign unreasonably quickly using these tactics."

So if you can't do email append or buy a list, how do you grow your subscribe base? Chip House has tips for you here.