There are a number of issues that might affect how many of your email messages are actually being received by your recipients. Spam filters and ISPs are doing their best to keep unwanted emails from our in boxes. The unfortunate reality is that many legitimate and wanted marketing messages are falsely flagged.

Here are a couple of tips and references that will increase the likelihood of your messages reaching your customers.

1. Avoid non-delivery to AOL recipients - For delivering to AOL you need to make sure your SMTP service's domain can be verified using a reverse DNS lookup. Check with your webmaster or host provider. For more information on this topic check out:
1. www.dnsstuff.com/info/revdns.htm
2. http://ezine-tips.com/articles/resources/20010817.shtml

If you still are having issues delivering your message with your software, please consider our Broadcast send service. Our delivery system has the reverse DNS lookup verification in place.

2. Avoid AOL 9.0 and MS 2003 image filter issues - AOL has recently released the newest version of its product, AOL 9.0. AOL is anticipating that 30 - 50% of their current customers will upgrade to 9.0 before year end. To protect users from receiving SPAM, AOL has put some measures in place that will affect how your message is received by your AOL subscribers. All graphics will be blocked from being displayed in HTML emails, and links will be deactivated for any new message sent to an AOL 9.0 inbox. When an email is received in AOL 9.0, users will have to click a link at the top of each message (Show Images & Enable Links) to view any graphics within your email. If this action is not taken, images and links will not be displayed or enabled. This is the default setting for AOL 9.0, however, the email recipient does have the ability to add the sender's From Address into their address book (which AOL classifies as People I Know). Once this has been done, all emails received from this address in the future will automatically have images and links showing correctly.

What do we suggest you do to ensure that your message is displayed properly?

Your recipients must add you to their address book as a sender they recognize and approve. You should add a line to the top of your email which states something like: "Attention AOL 9.0 users - please add fromaddress@company.com to your address book so that you can see all of our message." Alternatively you can use the override feature in Broadcast to only send a text version of the message to AOL clients. For more information on this issue visit: http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=2455%20

MS 2003 will also filter the images. For more information visit: http://ktdcommunications.com/communications/katydid_023.htm

3. Be knowledgeable about where you are being blocked - Use a product like Blacklist Monitor to find out where you might be blacklisted. If you are blacklisted, ISPs who check these lists may not deliver your message to the recipient. You need to know where you are blacklisted and how to get delisted. AOL rejects up to 80% of the messages it receives. As many as 30% of your messages may not be delivered if you are blacklisted. Blacklist Monitor (www.blacklistmonitor.com) can tell you where and when you are listed, and provide tips on getting delisted.
4. Avoid being dumped into spam or bulk filters.
• Use a product like Broadcast that conforms to standard protocols for message delivery
  
• If you are sending a newsletter place the word "newsletter" and the date (including month) in the subject line. This reduces your spam score
• Ensure each message contains an unsubscribe statement that links to a valid URL or a valid Mailto: link. However do not use the words "to unsubscribe" as these are now getting filtered. Use something like "to leave"
• Do not include .exe or attachments in your message
• Do not purchase lists
• Do not rent lists that are not double-opt-in
• Remind people of their relationship with you. Tell them in the message the email address that they used when they subscribed
• Include a correct reply email address and telephone contact information in each email
• Avoid sending long text articles
• Do not send HTML messages without text alternatives. This can be accomplished in Broadcast by using the "Both" options and creating both a text and HTML version
• Avoid sending messages with a large number of hotlinks
• Do not use BCC distribution methods with more than 10 names per email. Use a product like Broadcast that creates an individual message for each email
• Watch your email lists, heavy B2C distribution to @aol.com, @hotmail.com. @msn.com etc may be flagged
• Avoid using words or phases that trigger spam filters. For more information on trigger words also visit: http://www.doctorebiz.com/06/021106b.htm and http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm
• Check out the common tests that filters like Outlook and SpamAssassin use to filter your emails and try to avoid.
• outlook filters
• SpamAssassin tests
• Routinely check http://www.spamcop.net/ to see if you have been blacklisted unfairly. Send an email to have this rectified. They are quite responsive. To check their list enter: http://spamcop.net/bl.shtml?111.111.111.11 (where 111.111.111.11 is the IP address of your sending SMTP)
• Sending your delivery in small batches of 500 or less might avoid filtration. This can be accomplished easily by modifying your delivery options within Broadcast
• A practical guide on avoiding spam filters can also be found from Marketing Sherpa