E-mail marketers should apply plenty of SPF
E-mail marketers should make sure their Sender Policy Framework records are current if they want to maintain their inbox delivery rates for permission-based messages. A new study shows increasing reliance on the SPF authentication method to determine whether the e-mail is legitimate and should be delivered to the inbox.
The “Lyris’ E-mailAdvisor ISP Deliverability Report Card for Q2 2007” notes the first appearance of SPF authentication among the top 10 content triggers that ISPs check, according to Stefan Pollard, director of consulting services at E-mailLabs. E-mailLabs and Lyris Technologies, a provider of e-mail marketing software, are both units of J.L. Halsey Corp.
“This is the first time we’ve seen SPF checks start to creep into content filter tests, which means that receivers are starting to verify that a sender’s SPF authentication record is accurate,” Pollard says. “This is new. And the good news is that it’s an easy fix for marketers – in fact, it’s completely in the sender’s power to make sure the records are accurate at all times. Don’t assume it’s the responsibility of your system administrator. If you’re responsible for the e-mail program, you need to realize the importance and test it yourself.”
The report card is a quarterly research study that monitors deliverability rates for permission-based e-mail marketing messages. From April 1, 2007, through June 30, 2007, the Lyris E-mailAdvisor service monitored the delivery of 436,558 production-level, permission-based e-mail marketing messages sent from 69 businesses and nonprofit organizations to multiple accounts at 58 ISP domains in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
SPF checks compare the sender’s return path domain and the Internet Protocol address to a list of approved addresses the sender includes in their domain name system, or DNS, zone, E-mailLabs says. The company in charge of a domain must keep the list of approved IPs up to date. A common -- but easily rectified -- reason for failing an SPF check is when a company changes IP addresses or e-mail service providers, but doesn’t update its SPF records, E-mailLabs says.
To learn if they would pass an authentication check, marketers can review their message headers in the major web-based e-mail platforms, such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail. The header should read “SPF PASS” or, for domain keys, either display a trust icon or the key check results.
More information about authentication is available from the Direct Marketing Association.
Marketers sending permission-based e-mails to U.S.-based ISPs still land in the junk or bulk folder almost 16% of the time, the study shows. XO Concentric tops the list, banishing 56% of invited e-mail to the junk/bulk folder. Next in line are SBC Global and Bell South, both junking 30% of permission-based e-mail, then Yahoo at 26%. MSN Network, GMail and Hotmail are tied at 18%. Rounding out the top 10 are PeoplePC, USA and EarthLink. At the other extreme, AOL diverted less than 2% to the junk/bulk folder.
Marketers sending to European ISPs face increasing obstacles, the study says. More than 20% of permission-based e-mails were sent to the junk/bulk folder, almost three times more than last quarter’s report.
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