Jul
27
By Robert Barclay
Senior Product Manager
Today we are pleased to announce that we are launching some exciting enhancements to our Sender Score.
In 2005 when we launched the Sender Score reputation measure, it was the first-of-its-kind aimed at giving marketers real insight into how their email messages were being viewed by ISPs and other mailbox providers. Before then, reputation was largely a mystery. There were widely publicized best practices (i.e., keep complaints low, clean your list, don't hit spam traps ...) however ...
Tell me moreCategories: News
By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Response Consulting
That's it - I'm unsubscribing from all the marketing emails I receive.
I'm going undercover for three months, removing all my marketing email subscriptions and tracking various data points in the opt-out experience to unearth the sometimes hazy business of the unsubscribe process for an upcoming Return Path email study.
I'm investigating how effective brands are in their response to me opting-out of receiving their emails. I'll also look into whether or not brands are providing their subscribers with a clear unsubscribe option. Failure to do so may result in subscribers preferring to complain to their ISP, if that's the easier option. This could lead to all of the brand's marketing messages getting diverted to the junk/spam folder or being blocked all together.
When it comes to the unsubscribe experience, I imagine many marketers will assume because I've unsubscribed from an email I'm not interested in their brand anymore. In fact, this 'rejection' could be for many reasons
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Jul
26
Check out some recent mentions of Return Path
Stephanie Miller discusses "What's on the Minds of Email Marketers" about her experience leading a chat session at eM+C's Retail Marketing Conference & Expo and exposes myths about email on DirectMag.com. Stephanie also wrote an article about ...
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By Stephanie Miller
VP, Global Market Development
Retailers (or any marketer or publisher) seeking higher conversion rates must adopt an "innovation attitude" to guide them amid a fertile landscape for new ideas, advanced technology and customer behavior learnings. So advised speaker after speaker at the Shop.org Merchandise Summit held earlier this month in sunny Huntington Beach, California. Despite the pleasant weather, attendees stayed focused in the conference rooms (strategically chosen for their lack of windows!). It's clear there is a pressing need to ...
Tell me moreCategories: Response
Jul
12
There's a thin line between perceptions of legitimate email and spam - just 1 percent difference, in fact.
That's what the findings of the Digital Marketing Association's Digital Tracker study looks like to me. When asked "What is most likely to prompt you to mark email as spam?" ten per cent of people responded "Products offered are illegal" and eleven percent said that it was because they had a "Lack of trust in brand concerned"
The research also suggests that legitimate senders of commercial email are encouraging spam complaints by simple poor email marketing practice.
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Jul
07
by J.D. Falk
Director of Product Strategy, Receiver Services
The Denver edition of Security BSides took place a few weeks ago in a garage turned art gallery on the far end of Denver's emerging Santa Fe Arts District, right on the border between historic working-class neighborhoods and a rambling wasteland of building supply warehouses.
The nearly all-male crowd, dressed in jeans and black t-shirts or IT casual, started the morning with bagels and copious amounts of strong, dark Daz Bog coffee while discussing other computer security and hacking conferences they'd been to, or were planning to attend. Two full kegs from local favorite Breckenridge Brewery arrived shortly after noon.
BSides started last year as an alternative alongside DEFCON, RSA, and other big security events, and follows the loose "un-conference" model popularized by BarCamps a few years ago. As one of the BSides regulars explained, "this isn't some square-ass, like, sit around, don't talk to people thing."
The presentation I enjoyed most was
Tell me moreCategories: News
Jun
29
By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Response Consulting
Pizza Express has kicked off the World Cup emailing fest by inviting me to miss the soccer - sorry, football - barrage. My only recent experience with the game of football is participating in the office sweepstakes and randomly selecting a team that's not an odd-on favourite to win, so I was pleased to see a company targeting football lovers and haters at the same time. (See image below)
Tell me moreCategories: Response
Jun
16
By Tom Sather
Director, Professional Services
As you've probably read, Microsoft recently unveiled some big new changes to Windows Live Hotmail that could have significant impact on marketers. My colleague George Bilbrey wrote about them in some detail in his Email Insider column with ideas for how marketers can start to prepare for the changes ahead. As George mentions, we see this as more than just a feature upgrade to Windows Live Hotmail. This is a continuation of a number of changes we've seen and more we anticipate from all the big mailbox providers in their ongoing battle to be the inbox of choice and to compete against social networks.
Having said that, here are my thoughts on changes specific to Windows Live Hotmail and how they might impact marketing programs:
Tell me moreCategories: Email Deliverability
Jun
09
By Matt Blumberg
CEO & Chairman
Today Return Path is announcing the launch of a new product aimed at fighting phishing emails. Domain Assurance includes an audit and a registry to help brands properly authenticate all of the email and allow ISPs to confidently block unauthenticated email. The service leverages Return Path's relationships with more than 130 of top ISPs around the world and will launch with the participation of Yahoo!, Comcast, Cloudmark and Tucows.
Phishing messages are extremely dangerous, as they often contain links that lead to malware and viruses that can access private accounts and steal valuable personal data. These emails have a corrosive effect on brands as consumers become wary of any email from often-spoofed domains. ...
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Creation of a Domain Assurance Audit and Registry Supports Email Authentication and Allows Malicious Messages to be Blocked
June 9, 2010 - New York - Return Path, the global leader in email deliverability and reputation management services, today announced the launch of Domain Assurance, an audit and registry service aimed at battling phishing and spoofing by enabling the widespread use of email authentication protocols. The service leverages Return Path's relationships with the top ISPs around the world and its reach with 2,500 brand-name clients. It is currently in beta with a commercial launch planned for Q3 2010.
Domain Assurance provides companies with an audit of all email streams to determine if they are properly authenticated. Return Path's team of email experts can then assist companies to authenticate all of their email - corporate, transactional and marketing. The company's domains then go onto a registry and any improperly authenticated email coming from that domain can be blocked by mailbox providers with confidence. Companies that have registered will also receive immediate notification of spoofing and phishing attacks to their brands. In turn, ISPs and other mailbox providers will be able to protect their customers from phished emails pretending to be from registered companies.
Categories: Press Releases
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