Email Sending Technology
Of course, none of these aforementioned items will matter if your servers are configured incorrectly or if you are plagued with compatibility or other technical issues. You should work closely with your IT department and ESP to be sure that you have the right technology implemented to improve your delivery rates.
Set up DNS records correctly: One of the most important technical factors that can make or break deliverability is your DNS. As mentioned in the authentication section of this white paper, you must have a proper Domain Name System environment set up, including published SPF records and authorized IP addresses. This way, email servers can authentic that the emails that claim to be sent from your domain name were actually sent from you and not a spammer. You must also make sure that your IT department has fully configured Reverse DNS (rDNS) records for the IPs of your sending server(s) as this is another way for email servers to validate emails. Finally, you must ensure that your mail server settings are current and correct.
Maintain transparency: It is also critical that you use a dedicated IP address, or a pool of dedicated IP addresses if you send out a large volume of message, and if possible, you should segment the type of emails you send by IP address. For example, sending promotional emails from one IP address and transactional emails from another is an easy way for you to detect any problems that may be occurring while allowing you to send other messages without issue if problems do arise. You must also publish a fully qualified domain name that specifies the host’s position in the DNS hierarchy. These items will help keep your identity at the forefront of each message so email servers can easily recognize you as a trusted source.
Properly configure servers: Your servers should be set up to handle the proper volumes of outbound as well as inbound emails so you can accept bounces and failure notices. Also, make sure that your outbound server issues a valid MAIL FROM email address so messages may be received at this address. You must be sure to review bounced emails, removing invalid emails quickly.
Use an MTA that allows you to tweak sending rates: Your Mail Transfer Agent should be configured to throttle the delivery of messages so you are not sending a large volume of messages to ISPs all at once. Varying the number of emails that are sent out at a time is a great way to differentiate your company from spammers, so be sure your MTA can be configured to handle the different rates.
Adhere to the rules set by ISPs as well as your ESP: Each ISP, as well as your ESP, has different thresholds for the number of emails that can be delivered in a specific time frame, as well as the number of email retries that it will accept. Be sure to know what is and what is not acceptable and follow the rules closely so your messages are delivered in a timely manner.
While these items might not be the responsibility of your marketing department, they directly affect the deliverability of your email campaigns so you must be aware of the technical aspects of sending and receiving messages. Your IT department and the experts at your ESP will be able to ensure you have the right tools in place.
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