In A Bounce of Prevention, Kelly Molloy explained how important it is to address potential list quality issues before getting listed on a blacklist such as the Spamhaus SBL. Blacklists such as the SBL have always been a pain point for marketers who are running legitimate programs but have list quality issues nonetheless.

Spamhaus has been a frequent topic of discussion lately, since several large retailers were listed over the 2012 holiday season.  Since the number of listings in December...

Brian Krebs recently posted on his blog, Krebs on Security, that spam has decreased significantly in recent years. Using data from Symantec’s MessageLabs, Krebs created a graph that shows spam volumes since 2007, and the peaks and valleys associated with bot takedowns and other major events are clearly visible. What’s also clear is that spam volumes are as low as they’ve ever been, and have been consistently low for over a year.

So, shouldn’t we all go celebrate? Has our blood, sweat, and tears...

Email is a communication channel that is becoming increasingly vital for the management of critical information. People depend on email for order confirmations and receiving and printing travel and event tickets. Additionally, people rely on email for valuable local alerts about weather, traffic, and other emergencies. Users have immense expectations of how their email will perform, even free webmail. They expect to receive all the messages they want and none of the messages they don’t want,...

Earlier this month, I started receiving daily coupons from a golf retailer, who I shall refer to as The Golf Store (names have been changed to protect involved parties, and any similarity to an actual store is entirely coincidental). I have shopped at The Golf Store in the past, mostly to purchase Christmas gifts for family members. I've never signed up for their newsletter, and never received one until now, when out of nowhere they decided to start mailing me daily coupons. Yes, daily....

Some of our clients have recently inquired about increased bulking at Gmail and Hotmail. Additionally, senders and ESPs throughout the email marketing industry have noticed an increase in bulking at Gmail and bulking and deferrals at Hotmail. We have confirmed with both Gmail and Hotmail that they made recent updates to their filters, so we shouldn’t expect these issues to resolve on their own. Senders experiencing a decrease in inbox delivery at Gmail or Hotmail will need to take steps to...