I started out with the best intentions to get back into the swing of things with blogging more regularly. But between MAAWG recovery, COVID recovery and life it’s not worked out that way. This is an excerpt of something I wrote over on slack to explain why someone was still struggling with delivery even though best practices weren’t working. Hope it will be helpful for some folks...
In 2010 Chad White declared best practices dead. Frankly, the term has always been too “big tent” to be truly useful. When “don’t buy email lists” and “use buttons for primary calls-to-action” are both best practices, it’s no wonder there’s confusion. What we need is new language that differentiates those practices that are a litmus test for...
It’s rare I find mail that violates the SMTP spec (rfc5321 and rfc5322). I’ve even considered removing “send mail from a correctly configured mail server” from my standard Best Practices litany. But today I got mail asking me to respond to a survey. This whole email is a mess of problems, and it’s claiming to be from the California Secretary of State. It’s...
A bit of a refresh of a post from 2011: Six best practices for every mailer. I still think best practices are primarily technical and that how senders present themselves to recipients is more about messaging and branding than best practices. These 6 best practices from 2011 are no longer best, these days, they’re the absolute minimum practices for senders. If you can’t manage to do...
What really are the best practices for email? A year ago I wrote a post about best practices and how most of my best practices were different from what other people recommend. I don’t talk about rules for frequency or subject line length. I don’t focus on best practices for bounce processing or content length. My best practice recommendations are really about process. Send only opt-in...
Yesterday I talked about how the truth matters in email marketing. But that’s not the only place the truth matters. Today I found myself in a bit of a … discussion on Facebook. It ended up being a lesson in why you should never trust the clickbait headline. I also realized there are parallels with email best practices and how we share them with people. The Facebook discussion One of...
“We follow all the best practices!” is a common refrain from many senders. But what does best practices really mean? To me the bulk of best practices are related to permission, technical setup and identity. Send opt-in mail. Follow the SMTP spec. Authenticate your mail with DKIM. Publish a SPF record. Don’t hide you domain whois behind privacy protection services. Honor...
Each month, we like to focus on a core email feature or function and present an overview for people looking to learn more. This month, we addressed authentication with SPF. We also talked about feedback mechanisms, and the importance for senders to participate in FBL processes. In our ongoing discussions about spam filters, we took a look at the state of our own inboxes and lamented the challenge...
M3AAWG publishes documents summarizing and discussing current practices for stopping and preventing abuse. Some of these documents are focused on ISPs while others are focused on marketers. While M3AAWG is not directly nor officially a standards body, most of the documents have been written by members and reflect the best current practices for that document. Members have been asked to leave the...
Which best practice is ruining your business?
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