News Focus: email deliverability - UK spam's heyday is over

global spam.

But, warned Sophos, "Despite the UK improving in its ability to combat
spam, growing levels abroad contribute to a rise that will continue to
affect UK email marketing."

How the industry should respond has been tackled by the Direct Marketing
Association's Email Marketing Council, which is due to publish a White
Paper on maximising deliverability this month. Written by Council
vice-chair, Skip Fidura, it highlights reasons and potential
solutions.

"Regardless of how much time you put into your creative, it is all
wasted if your message is not delivered," Fidura noted in the
report.

With 80 per cent of all email unsolicited and internet service providers
investing vast resources to control the spam traffic jam, the threat of
mailings bypassing in-boxes and heading straight for junk remains
pertinent.

A basic problem, according to the DMA paper, is the failure of the SMTP
protocol to determine the reputability of email. While there are
technical solutions to ascertain message origin, the reputation of the
sender often cannot be guaranteed. So, according to the paper, the onus
is on marketers to ensure their campaigns are not filtered out.

"Email marketers should follow basic data hygiene rules that will allow
them to be included in the ISPs' white lists and hopefully off real-time
black lists," the report said. Three basic steps to improve
deliverability are recommended: permission, list hygiene and ISP
relations.

Martin Kiersnowski, chief operations officer of e-solutions provider IPT
and a DMA Email Council member, is optimistic that the industry is
dealing with the problem effectively.

"In terms of permission, the law is well understood and most people are
adhering to it," he said. "Equally it's not rocket science to ensure
subject lines are not going to trigger spam filters."

Kiersnowski remains upbeat about the industry's ability to overcome
threats to delivery. "When the problem was first identified two years
ago, many feared the worst," he said. "But as technology develops, it
seems spam is not the nemesis we thought it was."

Also putting faith in technology is Simone Barratt, managing director of
email marketing consultancy, e-Dialog. "Spam can be kept under control
with the advent of widespread use of authentication platforms on both
the sender and receiver side," she said. "Although spammers are also
authenticating, it will put a serious dent in their ability to phish
legitimate brands."

Ian Freeman, head of marketing at customer contact specialist
Broadsystem expressed a note of caution, however. "Although the threat
may be reduced, I think we are going to be stuck with it for some time
yet," he said. "There has been an increase in best practice, but also a
rise in poor operators."