Intellectual Intercourse

There are lots and lots of things Email Service Providers (ESPs) can do to enhance delivery, but a recent thread on a mailing list I am on reminds me of one thing they cannot: dictate terms to Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

If you want someone to tell a receiver that they’re all screwed up, go somewhere else. No one can help you. ESPs and delivery consultants don’t get to tell receivers that they’re all screwed up, they can only tell you how you screwed up. ESPs can go the extra step of designing their system to minimize the opportunity for you to screw up. But, really, that’s it.

A good ESP or delivery consultant may have a bit of special access to receivers. We work with them all the time and you don’t. We know the person on the other end of the phone or the email address. And many of us were once that person in a previous life. But, there’s a secret to this special access….

Here’s the secret: It cannot be abused or it will be shut down. Yes. Seriously. And a lot of ESPs, especially ESPs, never learn that lesson.

If you are experiencing problems with being blocked by ISPs, you need to look inward first. Are there any little processes you are not absolutely certain about? Change them. Fix them. When things are as tight as you can make them, re-evaluate. A good ESP or delivery consultant will tell you that. Fix your own stuff first.

If that doesn’t work, look at your list. First off, I am assuming that your lists are opt-in. If people don’t ask for mail, they’ll report it as spam. It really is just that simple. But, people also mark as spam a lot of stuff that isn’t spam. People will mark as spam things that they don’t recognize. People will mark bad news as spam. People will also mark mail that they no longer want as spam. That may not sound fair, but that is the way it is. You have to understand it and live with it.

So, look at your list. Are you sending mail to this list that people expect? Yes, your privacy policy says that you can send mail, but does the person who reads that email know that when they give up their address? If they don’t, then it will get marked as spam. If enough people do that, you will get blocked. If you don’t send enough mail and your list forgets that they agreed to your mailings, they will mark it as spam. If you send too much mail and they feel flooded by you, they will mark your mail as spam, permission notwithstanding. If you use hideous, clashing colors in the HTML markup of your mailing and the mail they agreed to receive gives them headaches or induces seizures, they will mark your mail as spam. These things should always be fixed first. Do it before you start asking for help.

All too often, though, clients expect that things will go like this:
Client: Help! I’m being blocked by an ISP!
ESP or Consultant: Let me get on the phone with them. We’ll have you back in the inbox within an hour!
Client: You’re the greatest!

The big problem comes in where the ESP buys into that scenario, too. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons:

1. The ESP should be monitoring this already. It’s not a good sign when you tell your ESP that you have blocking problems that the ESP doesn’t already see. Yes, it happens. Sometimes, data breaks down and what you see is not what the appropriate people at the ESP see. It’s not the end of the world, but that issue needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.
2. When the ESP buys into this scenario, they get off of the phone with you and onto the phone with the ISP. What they should do is start looking at what YOU are doing, not what the ISP is doing.

If they do hop off of the phone with you and directly into discussions with the ISPs, then whatever access they have will get shutdown. Sooner rather than later. ISPs have much larger problems to deal with than the piddly amount of email you send. (And really, no matter how much you’re sending, it’s a small amount compared to the amount of spam they’re seeing and trying to block.)

This means that ISPs have to allocate their resources in a wise manner. And they don’t have either the time or the resources to handhold your ESP or your delivery consultant while they figure out that your processes are broken. Yes, they want to fix broken filters, but your first assumption should not be that filters are broken or that the ISP hates you. Unless you’re spamming, it’s not personal and their filters were created from spam samples.

Ultimately, the answer to all of your delivery problems is going to be “Give people what they ask for, when they want it, and you’ll do fine.” And you’re the marketer, so you know what they’ve asked for. But, if you, your ESP, or your delivery consultant are perceived by the ISP as abusing relationships, you’ll find yourself shut out faster than your crazy Uncle Irv or Aunt Matilda at Christmas dinner.

It’s all about the perception, baby!

Tags: Professional, Technology //