An Email Delivery Report for 2012: Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
EmailDirect is an email marketing solution provider
(ESP) which serves hundreds of today’s top online
marketers by providing all the functionality and
expertise required to send and track effective
email campaigns.
The information contained herein has been
compiled from the experience of delivering millions
of permission-based emails.
An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
Sender Reputation as You’ve Known It
Sender Reputation is like a credit score for mailers. The driving metrics behind that score include:
complaint rates, unknown user rates and the number of spam traps hit. Each of the major email
providers calculate and track those metrics in order to make an automatic judgment on where your
email should be delivered: the inbox, the junk folder or not at all.
Although, unlike a credit score, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL and Hotmail do not directly share the reputation
data they collect. This requires mailers to generate and maintain good Sender Reputation with each
of the major email providers.
Authentication, Domain Reputation & User Engagement Metrics Will Increasingly
Affect Your Deliverability.
Authentication is the idea of proving your identity, as a mailer. While authentication standards such
as DKIM, Domain Keys, Sender ID and SPF work in different ways, the end goal is essentially the
same: the receiving email server can verify that the domain used in the From Address is under the
control of the sender. Simply put, authentication proves that you are authorized to send email from
the domain and IP’s you are sending from.
While some form of authentication has become adopted by each of the major email providers, the
idea of portable domain reputation has continued to take hold. When sending authenticated email,
the reputation generated by mailers is no longer erased by simply changing IPs. With major email
providers associating sender reputation to domains, new IPs no longer need the same warm-up
period while new reputation is established. The reputation associated with a domain is transferred
to the fresh IP addresses assisting in obtaining good reputation. While domain reputation
represents the most significant relatively recent development to email deliverability, it is important
to understand that domain reputation is not replacing IP-based reputation. It is merely another
layer of reputation monitoring that major providers use to determine your deliverability.
Beyond sender reputation determined by complaints, unknown user rates and spam traps; user
engagement can make or break a mailer’s inbox placement with individual users. For example,
when a user marks a message as spam, it is likely that all future messages from that sender will be
delivered to the spam folder for that individual user, regardless of the message’s ability to hit the
inbox otherwise. Implementation and use of user engagement metrics differs between each of the
major email providers. Read down for specifics on each.
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
Mailers must authenticate with either DomainKeys or DKIM to participate in the Yahoo Feed
Back Loop program (Operated by ReturnPath) and benefit from existing domain reputation. It is
expected that Yahoo will completely transition to DKIM. Yahoo denies using any third party spam
filtering devices; SpamGuard is their proprietary spam filtering technology. While Yahoo delivery
is still heavily driven by IP reputation, domain reputation has increasingly become a determining
factor.
• Yahoo continues to operate a mailer’s whitelist, although being on the whitelist does not
guarantee delivery as whitelisted senders are still subject to the Yahoo! spamguard technology.
• As with IP-based reputation, Domain Reputation, Complaints, unknown user rates and spam
trap hits will drive domain reputation.
• While Yahoo does not publicize a “safe” complaint rate to maintain, mailers with complaint rates
under 0.1% (sent/complaints) have been found to be safe, as long as unknown user rates and
spam trap hits are also low.
• Solid reputation can be achieved within 3-4 weeks by sending at least 5,000 emails per day to
Yahoo users.
• Similar to the other major email providers, Yahoo will block a mailer outright if messages being
routed into the spam folder continue to be ignored by Yahoo users.
• Getting back into the inbox with Yahoo, after being routed to the junk folder, is possible through
good reputation metrics and asking your subscribers to add you to their safe senders lists.
• Yahoo publically states that they reference the block lists maintained at The Spam Haus Project.
Link: http://postmaster.yahoo.com
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
AOL is moving toward the portable domain-based reputation model, though not as quickly as other
ISP’s. Mailers must authenticate with DKIM to benefit from existing domain reputation. AOL is
quickly adopting user engagement metrics to determine where to deliver emails sent to individual
users. In addition, user engagement metrics are expected to play a larger role in overall AOL
filtering logic.
• AOL uses proprietary formulas based in part on user reliability and activity to calculate the
overall viability of a complaint rate. Simply put, having more active users on a list will raise the
acceptable complaint rate threshold.
• AOL currently maintains an IP-based whitelist. Mailers participating in the AOL Feed Back Loop
program with good reputation metrics should qualify. Link: http://postmaster.info.aol.com/cgi-
bin/whitelist/whitelist_guides.pl
• AOL has been expected to announce a domain-based whitelist for white-hat mailers.
• Beyond their standard whitelist, AOL is expected to announce an enhanced whitelist for mailers
with established and consistently good reputation. The enhanced whitelist will enable images
and links by default.
• AOL uses a proprietary content filter that, in addition to examining the content for spam words,
also analyzes any redirect URL’s. If URL’s exist within content that AOL servers do not accept,
messages will be bounced.
• AOL references the block lists maintained at The Spam Haus Project.
• Based off a ReturnPath study, it was concluded that achieving a complaint rate below .1% (sent/
complaints) will most likely land your email into the inbox.
• Currently, a successful warm-up strategy for IP’s is: sending daily for 7 days with 5,000
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
messages or less, then ramping up to 10,000 messages or less for another 7-14 days,
depending on metrics.
• After having messages routed to the junk mail folder or bounced, it is difficult to get back into
the inbox. A form to request delisting from the AOL internal block list is available.
• Users whom add a mailer to their address book will receive all future messages into the inbox.
Users whom mark an email as spam will see all future messages from that mailer routed to the
junk folder.
Link: http://postmaster.aol.com
Gmail delivery has largely depended on domain reputation for years with no signs that is going to
change. Authenticating with Domain Keys, DKIM and SPF is highly recommended. Unlike the other
major email providers, Gmail does not offer a feedback loop or whitelist program for mailers.
• In relation to the other major email providers, Gmail is very aggressive in blocking bulk
commercial email. Although not published, acceptable complaint rate thresholds are very low.
• Domains with no previous reputation are found to achieve good inbox delivery when
authenticated with Domain Keys, DKIM and SPF.
• Poorly optimized creative content can cause junk mail delivery. Gmail employs an undisclosed
internal filtering technology.
• Once your email is routed to the junk folder, it is very difficult to get back into the inbox.
Requesting to be removed from the Gmail internal block list can take several months and longer.
Link: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81126
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
Microsoft (Hotmail, Live & MSN) continues to release more reputation data than any other major
provider through its Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) program. Unlike other major providers,
Microsoft has not committed to moving toward DKIM authentication, instead sticking with Sender
ID and SPF Authentication. Domain reputation is expected to have an increasing effect on delivery.
• Existing domain reputation will impact delivery, for better or worse, only when authenticated
with Sender ID.
• Emails not signed with Sender ID will be judged on IP reputation and content.
• While domain reputation can assist with delivery, IP reputation is still the dominant focus in
Microsoft’s filtering logic.
• Microsoft employs the Brightmail and Smartscreen filtering technologies in conjunction with
proprietary filtering technology for content-level filtering.
• Microsoft’s Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) program reports daily reputation data per IP
including complaints and spam trap hits. The SNDS program also serves as Microsoft’s feedback
loop.
• The Sender Score Certified program operated by Return Path continues to be the exclusive IP
accreditation service for Microsoft guaranteeing inbox delivery with images on and the report-
as-spam link replaced with an unsubscribe link.
Link: http://postmaster.msn.com/
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
To Maintain Good Delivery in 2012 Marketers Must Understand Many Different
Elements Affecting Email.
There isn’t a magical answer when it comes to
achieving consistent inbox delivery; instead it is
a complex answer with lots of pieces. Each piece
plays a role, but generally, no singular piece can
determine whether an email goes junk or inbox.
Domain Reputation: Domain reputation plays
a large part in delivery because many large ISPs
like Google and Yahoo have systems in place to
evaluate sending practices on a domain level,
not just based on the IP reputation. If you‘re not
following best practices, causing poor domain
reputation, your mail can be deferred before
it ever hits the inbox. To keep your domain
reputation intact, list maintenance is crucial.
Only send to opt-in subscribers and make sure
that your bounces, complaints and removes are
being cleaned out.
IP: Unlike a domain, an IP address is not a part
of your brand identity. An IP address is the
source of your email. Sender practices directly
affect the IP reputation. Complaints, bounces, etc. from any sender on an IP can damage the
overall IP reputation.
Authentication: Authentication is the idea of proving your identity, as a mailer. While
authentication standards such as DKIM, Domain Keys, Sender ID and SPF work in different ways,
the end goal is essentially the same: the receiving email server can verify that the domain used
in the From Address is under the control of the sender. Simply put, authentication proves that you
are authorized to send email from the domain you are sending from. To learn more about Email
Authentication, click here.
Sender Reputation: Sender Reputation is like a credit score for mailers. The driving metrics
behind that score include: complaint rates, unknown user rates and the number of Spam Traps hit.
Each of the major email providers calculate and track those metrics in order to make an automatic
judgment on where your email should be delivered: the inbox, the junk folder or not at all.
Although, unlike a credit score, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL and Hotmail do not directly share the reputation
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
data they collect. This requires mailers to generate and maintain good Sender Reputation with each
of the major email providers. Find out what your Sender Score is at SenderScore.org.
Metrics: Complaints, also known as FBLs (feedback loops), are derived from recipients clicking the
SPAM button in their web-based email account. Most ISP’s (not all, in fact Gmail doesn’t share this
information) report back to the sender when a recipient clicks this. Senders need to participate in
FBL programs so these recipients can be permanently removed from the list. Unknown Users, hard
bounces, should also be permanently removed from a list. Continuing to send mail to users who
don’t exist will further harm your Sender Reputation. Spam Traps are email addresses created to
lure Spam. Often, they’re old addresses (once valid but long since abandoned) that after many
years of inactivity are re-released into the world as a way to trap data harvesters, stealers, etc. I
have a client whose web-based service has been around since the mid-nineties. When they started
working with us 3 years ago, they had never sent any email to their registered users. Knowing
that, we were prepared to hit a lot of traps when validating 15 year old addresses. These were
legitimate users of the service but if not handled pro-actively could have severely damaged their
Sender Reputation.
User Engagement: Beyond sender reputation determined by the metrics previously discussed,
user engagement can make or break a mailer’s inbox placement with individual users. For example,
when a user marks a message as Spam, it is likely that all future messages from that sender will
be delivered to the spam folder for that individual user, regardless of the message’s ability to hit
the inbox otherwise. Implementation and use of user engagement metrics differs between each of
the major email providers.
Active Users: Another newer trend in email delivery is metrics based on “active users”, which are
categorized based on their activity level within that ISP. For example, I have a Gmail account I use
for all my personal mail. I’m active in it all day long; marking some mail as Spam, others as not
Spam, Opening, Clicking, Unsubscribing, etc. I have a Hotmail account that I use when I purchase
from a company I don’t wish to hear from again and then I have other accounts at AOL, Yahoo, etc.
that I use only for monitoring my clients mail. In this scenario, I’m only an active user in Gmail.
ISPs that are adopting the Active User model are now gauging metrics based on how many “active
users” you delivered to, not the total users. Let’s say you sent 100,000 emails to AOL, of which
1,401 hard bounced (0.1% Unknown rate) and 380 complained (0.04% Complaint Rate). Those
aren’t bad numbers…BUT, if out of the 100,000 AOL has only 20,000 of those recipients classified
as an “Active User”, your metrics (now a 0.7% hard bounce and 0.2% complaint rate) just got a lot
more suspect!
Content: The actual content of your email (both copy and images) can affect your delivery. You
can’t just send anything and expect it to hit the inbox. Optimized content will lack “spammy”
phrases, be clear of Spam Triggers such as unmasked links and excessive punctuation, and will
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An Email Delivery Report for 2012:
Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
have an even text-to-image ratio (just to name a few).
HTML/Code: Coding for email is much different than coding for the web. Many people think they
can just pull the source code from a website and plop it into an email. Wrong! There are certain
tags that are optimal for email. For example, tags aren’t recognized by Outlook, so you must
use a tag to create a space. Beyond rendering problems, using the wrong code, coupled with
other triggers, can activate Spam Filters across the board.
Text Version: Spam Filters can be triggered when only HTML is sent. Always make a text version
in addition to an HTML version of your creative. The plain-text version should have about the
same content as the HTML version. Also, be careful with triggers in your Text version. Last
week a client was including advertisements for a partner in their email newsletter. Unfortunately
their partners URL was blacklisted, which left un-masked in a text version would have negatively
affected their inbox delivery. Catching these things before mail is deployed will save you time and
money!
Consistency: Consistency is necessary for any kind of marketing, but it is even more important
when it comes to email marketing because it can improve delivery. Sending on a regular basis
can improve your Sender Reputation. If you send good mail regularly, that will be noticed by
ISPs, and will in turn improve your reputation, increasing inbox delivery. Also, marketers who
mail consistently tend to have less bounces, removes and complaints, the metrics that reputation
is based from. If you only mail every 6 months, chances are some of the email accounts in your
database have been cancelled or your subscribers have forgotten about you.
Subject line: Sometimes whether or not your email will go junk or inbox can come down to
the subject line. It is not that the subject line itself is the main factor in delivery, but it can be
the determiner. Let’s say you have a lot of triggers words in your content, but your subject line
reads more like a newsletter, you may hit inbox. However, if your subject line reads “HUGE SALE
TODAY!!” the combination of content and the subject line may be enough to land the email in the
Spam Folder. Because of this, testing the subject line for inbox delivery is crucial. Stay away from
any spam-like words or phrases, all caps and excessive punctuation.
Blacklists: These come in various forms and from numerous organizations, but they are
essentially a reference list of “bad” senders that are known to send Spam. ISPs will check a sender
against certain blacklists and if a sender is on one, they are flagged as Spam. Obviously, it is
important to keep yourself off of blacklists because it can put a damper on your delivery.
Whitelists: Lists compiled of “good” senders. Being on a whitelist can allow your email to
automatically bypass one or more Spam filters that an ISP uses. There isn’t a global whitelist and
in fact, many email services have their own whitelist. Because whitelists aren’t universal, it doesn’t
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Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail & AOL
guarantee delivery across the board. If you work with an ESP, you should find out what ISP’s offer
whitelisting, and whether your IP/Domain has been registered with the whitelist.
Email delivery is like a puzzle with many pieces. There is not a single piece that is the most
important, which means you have to take into account all of the above factors. It may seem a bit
overwhelming, but if you are a consistent sender with good sending practices and quality data, you
shouldn’t have a problem regularly reaching the inbox.
About EmailDirect
When changes in deliverability happen, it pays to have a partner paying close attention.
EmailDirect.com provides a full service email marketing solution for medium to large scale
mailers. Beyond providing all the technology needed to send and track effective email campaigns,
EmailDirect also dedicates knowledgeable email marketing consultants to every customer in order
to achieve maximum inbox deliverability.
Discover why top online marketers choose EmailDirect as the best value among leading full service
email marketing solution providers.
For more information or to schedule a no-hassle consultation, visit http://www.emaildirect.com
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