RoadRunner announced changes to their FBL this morning. Everyone who is currently getting a FBL should have received an email. Important dates to remember include the following.
August 28: Existing RR FBL will be frozen. No changes to existing loops will be accepted and no new FBL applications will be processed. All current FBLs will continue to work.
November 17 (tentative): The new FBL will go live. Existing FBLs will not be converted from the old FBL to the new one. Everyone wishing to be a part of the new FBL will be required to re-enroll in the program beginning on this date.
December 31 (tentative): The old FBL ceases to exist.
More information about the migration is available at http://postmaster.rr.com/FBL.html
RoadRunner FBL changes
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It’s nice to see the ISPs consolidating and upgrading all their feedback loops. But the scary thing for us ESPs is that changes to FBLs can sometimes mean a few days of buginess for those ISPs.
That’s totally inevitable and understandable, but those few days are pure hell if you’re trying to deliver millions of emails to those ISPs, and you’re not getting FBL alerts to properly clean lists. Still not catastrophic, but the uncomfortable part of all this is their timing—they seem to be happening during the peak holiday season.
Let’s hope they get things upgraded and tested well before December.
Ben, it sounds like you’re relying heavily on feedback in order to tune your mailing practices. Why not rely on your gut? You’re a human being, same as your recipients.
ISPs originally created feedback loops to inform EACH OTHER of abuse from their networks; any marketing benefit is a side effect, and you’re extremely lucky they permit you to participate at all.
Ask yourself: what would you do without that data? If you’re not sure, read some of the other fine articles on this blog….