Why this might not be the time to move that e-mail server

Internet service providers are getting more aggressive in monitoring e-mail from new IP addresses, says George Bilbrey, general manager of delivery assurance at Return Path, which specializes in helping clients improve e-mail delivery rates. That means this might not be the best time to move an e-mail server or switch e-mail service providers, as either would result in a change in the mailer’s IP address and trigger closer scrutiny.

“If you are going to change IP addresses, actively warm up those IP addresses by sending lower volumes of mail before dramatically increasing the volume over the fourth quarter,” Bilbrey says.

ISPs are also more often implementing “throttling limits,” that is, limiting the volume of e-mail from a particular IP address based on the reputation of that address. After the limit is reached, some ISPs will send additional messages to recipients’ bulk or junk mail folders, while others will give a “temporarily busy” message that prevents receipt of additional e-mail for a time.

Reputation is the biggest cause of e-mail deliverability problems, accounting for about 80% of delivery failures of e-mail from legitimate businesses, Bilbrey says. He says mailers should check their reputation to see if their IP addresses have been identified as abusive. He says there are free reputation-checking sites, including one maintained by Return Path. Another is TrustedSource.org operated by Secure Computing Corp.

Another tip is to sign up for the free feedback services from such major ISPs as AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo. Those services forward messages generated when a recipient hits the “report as spam” button. That enables the mailer to take that person off the e-mail list, preventing future complaints from that individual that could harm the sender’s reputation. Some Return Path clients have reduced complaints by 40% by using those feedback services, Bilbrey says.

Spam complaints are a major way e-mailers get a bad reputation among ISPs. And nearly 27% of consumers surveyed in January by Return Path said they dealt with increased e-mail volume during the 2006 holiday season by reporting the e-mail as spam.

That survey also provided hints on what to include in e-mail subject lines to improve the chances of an e-mail being opened. 55.2% of respondents said a clearly stated offer most often attracts their attention, 49.6% said a discount or free shipping. and 48.8% mentioned the brand name of the sender.