Email Marketing Best Practice Setup with SmARTebusiness

With Internet SPAM becoming so much more of an issue and internet email filters becoming more and more advanced it is necessary to make sure the setup of your smARTmail account conforms to best practice.

Reverse DNS

To make sure your emails are recognised as coming from your company we recommend that you buy a branded domain name specifically for your emails.  If you use come website address it will not reverse DNs to our servers and therefore emails will be stopped by larger companies and ISPs such as AOL.  Once you have a domain name we will forward it to our servers.

Static IP

With a domain name specifically for your email marketing it allows us to create a static IP address for your emails to be sent from.  This way to the outside world it looks as though your emails are coming from a server that only specifically sends emails on your behalf.  This way you are in complete control of your reputation and no other account on the server can affect your ability to be delivered.  Also with a static IP address we can sign you up to various anti spam programs that the large ISPs run to help legitimate emails get through.  These services include Hotmail and AOL.

Feedback

Also with a specific domain name and IP address we can setup the required email address needed by the ISPs to monitor your emails.  We will then forward email address like abuse@ and postmaster@ to your email address so you can monitor any problems the ISPs are reporting with your mailings.  This way you can stop problems and take action before you get blacklisted from their network.

SPF

We will also setup your Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records so that mail servers who check for this information will let you through.  An SPF record simply stats that only a certain IP address is permitted to send email for a particular domain name.

Domain Keys

We will also setup Domain Keys on your account so that ISPs like Yahoo will be more likely to let your emails through.  A domain key is an encryption method that shows the recipient that you have the correct permissions to be sending an email from the email address that you are using.  It is used as an anti phishing measure.

Return Path

If email marketing is key to your success as a business you can invest further in your email reputation by signing up to the return path email service.  We will handle your application and process your subscription.  Return Path has strict requirements for entry and most of the above points when setup will allow you to apply.  What return path does is negotiate with the ISPs to let them know that your emails are legitimate and that you comply with the various rules and procedures needed to run email marketing legally.