Deliverability and reputation services
If you're worried about whether and why your email isn't always landing in front of the recipient, then these services may be able to help identify the problem and suggest solutions.
Related categories:
- Email marketing services (selection guidance)
- ESPs, consultants and software
- Email certification and accreditation programs
- Email design testing services and tools
As spam increased, so did anti-spam measures employed by those guarding our inboxes. A side effect is that many legitimate emails get caught up in the crossfire and are filtered out or blocked inadvertently. And a logical result of that is the appearance of services designed to help you get as much of your email delivered as possible.
Each service typically offers one or more of the following features:
- Monitoring of prominent email address providers to see if your emails arrive safely
- Monitoring of blacklists to see if you're on any
- Content checkers which test your email to see if your content triggers spam filters
- Deliverability audits which examine your email practices and sender reputation to determine where there may be problems
- Deliverability consulting, proposing solutions to problems identified in an audit
Services
[Note that if you use an outsourced list host, they may include deliverability services in their wider offering. The following companies are, however, specialists in the field.]
Delivery Monitor
Like the name suggests, this service monitors what happens to your emails at the major ISPs...whether they land in the inbox, junk folder or don't get through at all. Other reports include blacklist monitoring and recording the time it takes for your email to arrive at their destination. More suited to those senders unable to afford the full-feature deliverability services offered elsewhere.
Pivotal Veracity
Pivotal Veracity offer a suite of deliverability tools, including a deliverability tracker, reputation monitor, content checker, and audit and advice services.
EmailReach
A delivery auditing and resolution service. The company monitors inboxes and blacklists -- and evaluates your content in the context of the major anti-spam filters -- to assess your likely deliverability problems. Then they suggest ways to resolve these problems.
EmailAdvisor
A deliverability monitoring service, EmailAdvisor reports on the real-time delivery status of your emails at over 40 popular ISPs. Other features include blacklist monitoring and a content check against various spam filtering programs.
Accucast Deliverability Services
Accucast also has a range of deliverability services. These include an assessment of those aspects of your email marketing that impact on your deliverability, coupled with advice on how to deal with any identified problems and help when dealing with ISPs and whitelists. Other services include deliverability monitoring and a content check against a database of common spam filters.
Return Path's Sender Score
Sender Score is Return Path's delivery assurance service, which helps you understand and manage your sender reputation (which plays a key role in determining how ISPs view your email). Their various services include inbox and blacklist monitoring, reputation monitoring, deliverability optimization services and specialized consulting. Also covers international markets.
Habeas
As part of a wider range of deliverability services, Habeas provide specialist consultancy services and an Email Monitor service. The latter service includes email delivery rate tracking, reputation monitoring, complaint monitoring, and content checking.
eDiagnostix
The company's services focus around an email optimization product where your emails are pretested and evaluated for likely deliverability problems and then adjusted to counter any identified issues. Other services include consultancy on standards compliance and whitelisting/ISP relations.
Word to the Wise
Not a standardized service offer, but individual consulting on "deliverability, reputation repair, mail filtering issues or the technical details of sending bulk email," with solutions then tailored to particular deliverability needs. Can also help with setting up services to track delivery and manage whitelists, ISP relations and feedback loops.
See also the article categories for more information on deliverability and reputation.