Spam Resource
Today’s guest post comes from my Kickbox colleague, Jennifer Nespola Lantz. Don’t forget to check out her posts over on the Kickbox blog. Take it away, Jen!Yesterday, a colleague shared a link, a much anticipated link, a link that adds clarity to a topic that caused some hair to catch on fire (mine in particular), some ire and anger, much speculation, and little support. That topic: Gmail’s Political Pilot Program or as Gmail has coined it Gmail Verified Sender Program Pilot (some speculate there are reasons for this, but let me learn my lesson and not talk about that just yet).I was hot on the topic when I first read about it and quick to comment judge. I was also quick to jump right into this newly shared link, filled with (what I hoped was) answers to some lingering questions. And what an enjoyable read it was. Not because it was
We knew that BIMI support was coming to Apple iOS and MacOS. And now, Apple has published a support page: Prepare your email server for BIMI support in Apple Mail. Reading through the guide, it sounds like support might go beyond just Apple iCloud (mac.com, me.com, icloud.com) domains, if other mailbox providers structure their headers properly. If this support is client-based and not recipient domain based, that could really make things interesting. Here’s hoping I’m reading that right.For more on Apple’s rollout of BIMI support, check out this update from the Authindicators (BIMI) Working Group.
Thank you Denise, for the suggestion! I’m traveling this week which means that my free time to write relevant blog content is limited, and also, I listen to a lot of music while on the road. So, why don’t we have some fun together this Friday, thanks to the Cure and their 1992 hit, “Friday, I’m in Love.” Please enjoy.
DELIVTERMS: The (almost) weekly series here on Spam Resource that defines deliverability terminology. Today, I’m going to talk about Smart Network Data Services, commonly called Microsoft SNDS.SNDS is a Microsoft sender reputation data portal. It provides senders feedback on their deliverability reputation based on the stats around their sends to the Microsoft consumer mailbox domains — aka Outlook.com, aka Hotmail.This reputation dashboard provides data based on sending IP addresses. To be able to view SNDS reputation data, you’ll need to work your way through the SNDS IP registration process, where Microsoft will send an email address to a certain address to verify that you own (or have exclusive access to) a given sending IP address. This means that if you use an ESP or CRM platform, that platform may receive that verification request and may have to confirm it for you. Most seem willing to do this, in my experience.Note
French mailbox provider La Poste (laposte.net) has added support for BIMI sender logos! Here’s what you need to know:If you implement a BIMI logo without a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC), you’ll have to contact La Poste and ask them to review and approve your use of BIMI before a logo will display for La Poste users.If you do implement a VMC from Entrust or Digicert, the contact step should not be necessary.Any BIMI logo will display in the list view and message view on webmail.There’s no mobile client support for BIMI logo display today.Find out more information over on the Authindicators Working Group website.
I try not to do a lot of “name and shame,” but when something like this hits the news, it’s important to let the world know, to remind us that sending unsolicited marketing email can indeed come back to bite the sender in the rear end. In this case, it’s UK bike and car accessory retailer Halfords, fined nearly $35,000 by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office’s for sending just under half a million unsolicited marketing email messages. Read all about it at the Register.
More fun, more webinars, more info, all about Apple Mail Privacy Protection, aka MPP!If you’re curious about the current state of Apple MPP and how it impacts marketers, my Kickbox colleague Jennifer Nespola Lantz and I presented a live webinar on this very topic recently. Head on over to the Kickbox blog where you can read a recap of the webinar and view the webinar recording.
Long week? Yeah, I’m feeling it, too. Let’s take a few minutes for a break, shall we, and enjoy Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz, a fun song from 2005.
Encrypted email service CTemplar has shut down as of May 26, 2022.Security website The Daily Swig reports that, “No reason was given for the closure of the service. However, it comes less than one year after a system failure meant that some customer data was ‘irrecoverably lost.'”It looks as though their primary email domain was likely ctemplar.com. They also supported custom domains and I see at least a handful of custom domains out in the wild in the dot com DNS zone that can no longer receive mail, as their MX records pointed to mail.ctemplar.com, which no longer exists. Best to suppress as much of this as your sending ESP or CRM platform can identify.
Hey, Pardot users! Looking for a recorded webinar that covers on deliverability best practices, how to maximize deliverability success when sending via the Pardot (aka Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) B2B email platform? Well, we’ve got you covered right here at Spam Resource. On August 24, 2022 Ben LaMothe hosted a Tampa Pardot User Group meeting, and invited me to attend. We talked about how best to keep a clean house (meaning clean data) in Pardot, what your options are for data cleanup, as well as touching on deliverability best practices and how to use Pardot’s built-in features to help boost your engagement and, by extension, boost your deliverability success. Check out the recording below, and don’t check out Ben’s Pardot tips and tricks blog at PardotGeeks.com and his recent article for DemandGen on this very topic.