Help Your Marketing Team Survive the Spam War

Ron Daly, DigitalMailer, Inc.
July 3, 2007

For anyone who uses e-mail regularly, fighting spam is an ongoing battle. Luckily for consumers, progress is being made: Newer, more sophisticated spam filters, combined with consumers' increased vigilance, are making it more difficult for spammers and phishers. But not so lucky for legitimate e-mails from the credit union! New tools used by Internet Service Providers to combat spam frequently result in credit union IP addresses and domains getting added to e-mail blacklists. Frankly, without strong e-mail practices and some elbow grease, it is almost impossible to mass-e-mail your members in the near future. Items such as e-statement notifications, e-newsletters, promotional e-mails, and e-survey invitations sent by marketing departments are getting credit unions across the country blacklisted each month.

Caught in the Crossfire

Credit unions are spending millions each year on their marketing budgets, with a large portion going towards e-mail marketing and communication. Imagine the same efforts you have in place to keep spam e-mail out of your credit union being applied to your legitimate e-mail on the other end. Many technology departments may not be aware of the fact that ISPs have adopted new rules that place restrictions on e-mail transmissions based on a variety of factors, including:

• Volume of e-mails sent in a given timeframe
• Content of e-mails and percent of images-to-text
• Too many recipients reporting e-mail as spam within a given timeframe
• Repeatedly sending e-mails to addresses previously reported as bad
• Incorrect Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records

It's a strange dilemma: Just as members begin to see the value in bona fide e-mail offers and other notifications, credit unions must overcome tough challenges to get their messages delivered .

A Shift in Strategy

So, what's the solution? A good first step is to use a strong spam checker on your outbound e-mails. This is one of the most important tools available to ensure that your messages are even considered for delivery by the major ISPs. It allows you to regularly test outbound e-mail alerts before they are sent, and to receive a warning about possible delivery problems. If the spam checker scores your e-mail message too high, you can make changes to improve its deliverability.

Consider the case of the Department of Labor Federal Credit Union (DOLFCU) in Washington , D.C. , which regularly uses e-mail alerts to communicate with a growing number of its members.

After working to set up a robust spam-check process in its e-mail marketing system, DOLFCU received notice that two alerts were suspect. “The ratio of images to text was higher than normal, which served as a red flag that we were above the normal threshold,” said Joan Moran, president/chief executive officer of DOLFCU. “We were notified right away so we could adjust the copy and graphics.”

While DOLFCU's membership consists of federal employees or contractors, government spam filters tend to be fairly tight. Thus, having the ability to check outgoing e-mails before they are sent is a critical need. Moran says having to alter content or subject lines is a minor inconvenience for knowing her credit union's e-mail alerts reach their destinations.

“Our enhanced ability to test messages has meant far fewer rejections,” she said.

An IT E-Mail Checklist

In addition to using enhanced spam checkers, more credit unions are adjusting their own e-mail systems or working with e-mail service providers to stay clear of spam filters and work effectively with various ISPs. As you prepare your own spam-guard defense, remember these guidelines to give your e-mail the best chance for getting delivered:

• Have your credit union's e-mail system certified or safe-listed
• Place a spam-checker in front of your outbound e-mail to evaluate content and subject line; then stop and repair e-mail campaigns that may trigger ISPs' spam filters
• Check out e-mail software engines that use throttling programs, and more, to ensure you conform to ISPs' requirements for “numbers of e-mails sent” and “numbers sent in specified periods”
• Automatically shut off and eliminate bad e-mail addresses reported by ISPs
• Register your own Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records to protect against forged sender addresses, and to meet the growing list of ISPs requiring this form of identification
• Monitor “end-user spam reporting” and find out why your e-mail was reported as spam

Are Your E-Mails Reaching Their Targets?

There are state-of-the-art e-mail systems that carefully analyzes clients' outbound e-mail, enabling credit union clients to maintain certification on 4.3 million servers worldwide. Want to know how ISPs are rating your organization's e-mails for content, if you are blacklisted and where, as well as if your SPF records are in place and correct? Visit www.digitalmailer.com for more information.

Ron Daly is president/CEO of DigitalMailer, Inc., a leading digital communication firm providing virtual tools to credit unions. Contact him at 866-994-4900 or rdaly@digitalmailer.com .