Lessons from the good, the typical and the ugly

What can smart ESPs learn from my recent series The good, The typical and The ugly?

1. Not every company that labels themselves legitimate email marketers actually implements good practices. Every example of an ugly ESP calls themselves legitimate marketers. In fact a fair number of spammers, those using botnets and breaking the law also describe themselves as legitimate email marketers. Al Ralsky, Chris Rizler, and Robert Soloway all presented themselves as legitimate. Legitimate email marketing is not something to claim, it’s something to do.
2. Even typical ESPs do things that are not always good practices. These practices include allowing customers to spam, helping customers evade blocks and overtaxing ISP support desks.
3. Good ESPs are outnumbered by typical ESPs and typical ESPs are outnumbered by ugly ESPs. The volume of mail sent by the good is vastly smaller than the volume of mail sent by anyone else. As I quipped a few days ago: 95% of email marketing gives the rest a bad name.

The typical and the ugly are going to see inbox placement become more of a challenge. Good delivery will become more and more reliant on sending mail recipients actually want, not just mail they don’t object to.