Re:How to Avoid Spam Filters
by dexiwz on Wednesday October 28, 2015 @02:21PM
(#10466284)
This is a cop-out article that MailChimp can direct its customers to when they ask "how to disable spam filters." I worked in support for another ESP, and customers would often have unreasonable expectations about email delivery rates. Enough industries are corrupted, that customers thought that with enough money, we could bypass spam filters, or ensure 100% deliverability (never mind that half their email addresses didn't exist). I even had someone ask how they could make sure that everyone would open and read their emails. Like we sold some sort of Orwellian device that would hold people's eyes open and indoctrinate them to buy a specific Insurance.
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The best answer, in my humble opinion, is "Don't send SPAM".
If you only send mail to people who have willingly opted in, not through trickery, pressure, inducement or some BS promotion, they'll actually want to read your mail and won't tolerate it being binned with the SPAM.
Unfortunately, a lot of business people don't get that.
Except this isn't nearly enough. Email is quickly becoming like the SEO industry. It's not just enough to "have great content" to ensure you're ranked highly.
You have to manipulate it at the whims of the search engine / email provider.
Have ESP's recovered any ground or power?
A couple years ago, I looked at switching from an in-house email server to an ESP -- MailChimp being one. Right as I was performing the cost-benefit, two things happened:
1. Gmail started re-hosting email images, nullifying passive email-open
detection features even if the user ALLOWED images.[1]
2. MailChimps added language around distribution caps.
[1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail-...
Not all ESPs force unsubscribe links. We ultimately put liability on our customers for CAN-SPAM compliance. We had CAN-SPAM compliance checks on by default, but they could be disabled. As to your original question, no, ESPs have not gained much in the way of power. I might be in the minority in my industry, but I think this is good. All of the arguments against page-based ads can be used against email-based ads. But in this case, the users have won, and have full power over their inbox.
Unfortunately I can't find a source at the moment, but I do remember reading that in Facebook's early days they discovered their spammy "Invite Everyone In Your Contact List to Join" emails were getting withheld from the inbox by Hotmail. Facebook made a payment(s) to Hotmail in order to get themselves whitelisted, and this was attributed as a key to their continued growth.