Yahoo Talks to the common folk...

... and apparently many delivery people as well (I recognize many of the handles used in this discussion). Unfortunately I was not able to attend the event, with Yahoo's Lead Anti-spam guru - Mark - and their Mail Blog admin -Ryan, but I was supplied with the transcripts of the discussions and have been reviewing them. Here are a few of the highlights.

Q: I would like to know how I can reduce the amount of Spam I receive in my e-mail accounts.

Mark: Some general tips include:

1. Protect your e-mail address as you would your phone number

2. Use the “Spam” button to report junk mail

3. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

4. Create a Sign-in Seal to avoid password theft

Q: What does the Yahoo! team do with email marked as Spam?

Mark: We have some incredibly sophisticated computer systems analyzing mail to block the spam -- we're using advanced techniques like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and heuristics to identify the bad messages. When you click the "spam" button, it sends a signal to those systems that "this message, and others like it, are bad." We'll then do two things:
1) we'll stop messages from that sender from getting to you in the future, and
2) we'll try our best to stop similar messages for all Yahoo! users. So it's really the best thing you can do, and the best way to help us improve.

Q: What are you recommendations for handling blocks due to complaint volume, since FBL requests are not accepted at the moment?

Mark: The FBL, or feedback loop for those of you who aren’t familiar with the lingo — is a way that Yahoo! communicates back with commercial e-mail senders to let them know their messages are being marked as spam by Yahoo! Mail users. One of the most important ways that Yahoo! Mail is able to block spam is by listening to its users. Yahoo! is the largest webmail system on the planet, and if someone is sending mail our users don’t want to receive, those users let us know. We recommend commercial e-mail senders ensure they’re sending mail that Yahoo! Mail users want to receive. This means following recommended practices like confirming — and even periodically re-confirming — that users want to be on their mailing lists and proactively removing anyone who doesn’t read their mail.

If you have any question on this let me know I'll do my best to answer them or I'll drop a note to Mark myself and see that we get your answer.

Open Letter to Email Marketers

Dear Email Marketing Manager,

As an avid email connoisseur I have several issues that I'd like to bring to your attention. Please understand that I'm only calling you out for your own good.

Issue #1 -
Send me engaging content...
In the interest of engaging with your customers, please stop sending Image only emails. I am unable to read these on my mobile device and have virtually memorized your disclaimers about HTML enabled devices. I like HTML emails, and don't want to subscribe to your text version, if it's even offered, or a separate Mobile version - it's all the same inbox and only one email is necessary.

Issue #2 -
Ask my preference...
For example I live in a country with two official Languages, but I don't need you to send me both. I'm sure this is equally annoying to the French recipient that has to use the "Click here to see French version" or "Scroll down for French version". Why are they always second? Why not ask for a language preference and segment, it's so easy within most "Email service providers" solutions now.

Issue #3 -
Send me a welcome message...
You should enlighten me and thank me for wanting your email - your competitor did... Tell me why I'm special and What I'll get out of your email program. I'm a consume on a generation with little brand loyalty - it not that I don't have brand loyalty but I frequently shop at your competitors websites/stores, so WOW! me and show me why your better.

Issue #4 -
Make me a brand ambassador...
I'm socially active, and an influence - I tell people what I think, how I feel and about my experiences interacting with you. Make this compelling and easy for me to pass along and share with my network.

Thank you for your time and hopefully these few items will help your programs performance and ongoing success.

~ Matt Vernhout
Web: http://www.emailkarma.net/
twitter: @emailkarma

Shiny new Postmaster site

Another ISP has jumped on the band waggon (that's a good thing) with a shiny fresh postmaster page, complete with RSS updates. Comcast's Postmaster page is now live go subscribe to their RSS feeds* and stay current on:

• What's new on the Postmaster site
• New mail delivery errors
• New Comcast mail servers
• Comcast's dynamic IP range

This page also details a number of important items regarding the sending of email to Comcast's members, FBL information, Bounce information and Rate limits.

This is hot on the tail of Comcast's much report success around social networking to deal with customer service and reaching out to the community... find them on twitter @comcastcares. Maybe Comcast will get their mail admin team on twitter [hint hint] ;)

* Many of these appear empty and look like place holders at the moment, but I expect them to be used in the future for any updates or changes Comcast makes.

What is the life span of an email address?

I'm looking for some information on the average life span of a consumer email address. Reports from Fresh address' ECOA program show that the average email list churns about 30% a year.

My reports tend to agree with this too (~2-4% a month), but this still doesn't answer the question "How long does the average consumer use the same email address for before switching and moving to a new account?" 1 yr, 2, yrs, 5?

Anyone have insight into this?

Deliverenderbility - do you have it?

Deliverenderbility - what's that you ask...

Most of us see problems with getting emails delivered and problems with getting emails displayed as two different issues.

But are they?

Mark from the Email Marketing reports answers this idea in detail.

What's wrong with this picture?

Bragging writes to the first comment that gets it right... Answer Monday if no one has it by then.

EmailKarma.net is One Year old today!

Thanks to everyone for reading over the last year.

What is PII?

Many people wonder about PII (Personally Identifiable Information), and what is considered PII. Recently this conversation was discussed among a number of industry experts and the best answers included the following;

• Names
• Geographic subdivisions smaller than a State/Province
• All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly related to an individual
• Telephone and Fax numbers;
• Electronic mail addresses;
• Social security numbers;
• Account numbers;
• Certificate/license numbers;
• Vehicle and serial numbers, including license plate;
• Device identifiers and serial numbers;
• URLs and IP address numbers;
• Biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints;
• Full face photographic images and any comparable images; and
• Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code.

Remember to consider these and other potential data points that will be directly tied to an individual, protecting this information should be highly important to you and your users. Consider implementing strict security and access rules, that will limit the number of people that can have direct access to this data. Limit this to only individuals that need access to the detailed data, sharing only obfuscated and high level data outside your Data teams.

Thanks to all those that were involved with the discussion for clarifying this.

And we're back... Blog updates

After a nice short Stay-cation (stay at home vacation), to celebrate my 3rd wedding anniversary, I'm back and ready to go.

To get started back up here are two new blogs for you to monitor;
1 - SenderScore Certified System Status blog, brought to you by Return Path
2 - The BusinessCast Podcast, a weekly educational podcast - for SMBs - that I have been featured on twice now, once for Email Marketing and once for blogging for business.

Tamara from BeRelevant! also shares with us her Email Marketing Blog links there are some really good finds here.

Also if your on Facebook, Drop by the new EmailKarma.net Blog Network or our Fan Page. Better yet - drop by both. ;)

Also be sure to check out the new look of Facebook.

Comments from a far

Found this website kinda of randomly, while researching some PIPEDA information... It talks about several Key factors for marketers when looking to market to Canadians - a report published by Marketing Sherpa.

Some of the tips are very funny; our strong relationship with hockey is mentioned a few times, and the "Looooong" winters - LOL - that we have here and the "Short" summers... Some times I love when things like this are produced and published - makes me smile and wonder where some of these thoughts truly come from.

Any way the key point I have issue with seems to be the idea that PIPEDA and CAN-SPAM are two related law... Guess what - THEY ARE NOTHING ALIKE...

Here are my comments posted to them, in case they decided to moderate them ;)

PIPEDA and CAN-SPAM are about as similar as apples and oranges... CAN-SPAM is a marketing law dealing with the rules, regulations and structures to have a "legal" online marketing program.

PIPEDA is a "PRIVACY" law, and has nothing to do with email marketing or spam... It has everything to do with how you can collect, use, store and maintain Personal information on a Canadian buyer. There are 10 fundamental principles that you need to follow - find them here.

For a Canadian comparison to CAN-SPAM you need to look at Senate Bill - s235 (The Spam Act).

Also for businesses I'd recommend reading the PIPEDA Checklist prepared by 4 leading Canadian Privacy Practitioners: http://tinyurl.com/PIPEDA

AOL Announces new Support Tools

Today on the AOL Postmaster Blog they announced a new set of "Web Support Tools" these are currently in Beta, so don't expect everything to be perfect while using them, but I expect few issues as these are well tested before getting to Beta.

From AOL:

The AOL Postmaster Team is pleased to announce the beta of our new web support tool for delivery issues. Please feel free to test it out and give us your thoughts and feedback. We hope it will provide a way for mailers to get help and resolution more quickly than ever before!

It must be stressed, though, that this is just a beta, and problems could arise.

Give these tools a try and post some feed back to AOL or leave me a comment and I'll pass them along to the right people @ AOL.

The tools look like they are split into the three most common support requests made to AOL (at least from my experience):

* FBL Modification/Deletion Request Tool -- FeedBack Loop tools
* RTR/RLY/DNS Block Removal Request Tool -- General Configuration Type issues
* HVU Inquiry/Removal Tool -- Spam Blocking issues

For a full list of errors returned during email delivery by AOL, check out their "Error Messages" list.

Yahoo! announces Yahoo.in

Received word today from Yahoo!'s Postmaster team that a new localized domain, for India, will be coming online.

New mail users in India will now be designated with an @yahoo.in email address. Users who have mail accounts with Yahoo! India prior to this transition will continue to use their accounts ending in @yahoo.co.in.

This coming shortly after the announcement for Ymail and Rocketmail. As with all Yahoo domains this should continue to be managed by the mail team located in California and under the same anti-spam, rate limits and white listing services.

Still no updates from Yahoo on the pending changes to their Feedback loops - new applications are still on hold.

PSA | New Rules take effect today

Just a quick Public Service Announcement, the new rules announced by the FTC for CAN-SPAM changes take effect today.

To recap the changes here are a number of good resources to review can be found here:

• EmailKarma.net: CAN-SPAM Rule Clarification
• The Internet Patrol: New CAN-SPAM Rules Effective This Month Require Single Action Opt-Out, Designated Senders, and More
• Shop.org: CAN-Spam Rules - What They Mean to Retailers
• Internet Law - New Rule Provisions for the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act

Q&A | Email Software

Q: Dear EmailKarma.net,

Right now I'm sending to Europe via send safe with a proxy service. I want to sent to the US via; msn, aol, yahoo.com and others. Is there any better software to send with than send safe? I'm trying to find software "light speed nexus"?

[Name Withheld]

A: Occasionally I receive questions I'd normally pass on and not answer but this one needs to be shared for the benefit of marketers everywhere.

The software your asking about is commonly used as a spam tool (or tools in this case), the whole idea of using "Proxies" to send email is just a awful idea. Many times they are blocked by ISPs before even getting mail out onto the Internet, think Spamhaus PBL. Blocking the commonly used mail port (Port 25) to prevent mail being sent by proxies is actually a highly recommended practise, drafted by members of MAAWG, to help ISPs prevent spam from originating from their networks. Many times these "Proxies" are actually created by virus infected PCs acting within a botnet.

I would recommend staying well away from both of these services, and other similar services, and finding a real Email Service Provider to work with. Supporting and using these types of tools only further supports the problems that legitimate marketers and services providers (both ISPs and ESPs) need to overcome everyday.

Should I certify my emails?

A great post by Mark today over at Email Marketing Reports, and I'm not just saying that because I was quoted in it. Mark answers several key questions around certified (or accredited) email messages and programs including;

• What is my current deliverability?
• How does improved deliverability help?
• Does certification make sense?
• Who are the prime candidates for certification?

Mark mentioned there may be more articles related to this topic so keep an eye out for these, I'll add them to my del.icio.us feed (ensure you get this feed via RSS or email subscription - to the right).