You play by the rules. Your list is confirmed opt-in. You have written a compelling message and an inspiring call to action. Your graphic designers have created a stunning custom email.

You then blast the email and achieve deliverability rates lower than you anticipated. You investigate and find that none of your targeted recipients at a major Internet Service Provider (ISP) received your email. This is a disappointing outcome, to say the least. You decide to look into this as a way to avoid low email delivery rates in the future.

Your research reveals that the ISP has blacklisted the IP address that you share with numerous other customers of your Email Service Provider (ESP) because another email marketer sent out an email blast that generated too many spam complaints. Thus, your email delivery rates were lowered by the actions of someone else.

You may be surprised that most ESPs have a very small pool of IP addresses. They reserve these for large customers. In many cases the only way that small companies or non profits can get these addresses is to pay extra or switch to an ESP that offers them as a standard feature.

f your deliverability numbers are consistently high, it probably means that your ESP is offering private IP addresses or does a good job of managing relationships with the major ISP’s. If the ESP is offering mostly shared IP addresses, high delivery rates mean that the company polices customers’ compliance with the CAN SPAM Act, a 2003 law designed to cut unsolicited mails. It also suggests that when shared IP addresses are invoked, the ESP is getting the situation straightened out relatively quickly. This is where good relationships with the ISPs are important.

What is an IP Address and Why Should I Care?

Every machine connected to the Internet has an IP address. The big difference between an IP address and, say, a cell phone number is that you do not share your cell phone number with a large group of people. You have a unique cell phone number through which people can reliably reach you--and only you. Your family, friends and associates know it is you calling, and not some prank caller who happens to share your phone number.

There is no such guarantee with a shared IP address. Indeed, some ESP’s have customers share an IP address with thousands of others.

When you blast a marketing email, your messages are stamped as coming from a specific IP address—similar to how caller ID shows who is calling you. Your identity, however, is lumped together with everyone else who shares your IP address.

The bottom line is that ESPs are constantly battling to keep their pool of IP addresses in the good graces of the ISP’s, corporate networks and others. This is not a perfect system, however. While high quality ESP’s make sure their customers are CAN SPAM-compliant, recipients still file spam complaints. If a certain percentage of recipients file spam complaints (the precise level varies by the ISP or corporate network), the ISP or network administrator adds the IP address to a blacklist and blocks all email originating from that IP address.

The better ESP’s have relationships with the ISP’s and do a good job of keeping their IP addresses off the blacklists. If the IP address does get blacklisted, they are usually good at getting the IP address removed. This process does not always go smoothly, though.

If you decide to get a private IP address, follow guidelines to avoid the spam filters, and stay CAN SPAM-compliant, your deliverability rates should be excellent.

Even better deliverability rates are possible by getting on the whitelists of the major ISP’s and even the corporate networks to which you send a lot of email. A whitelist is a list of IP addresses that have proven to be used only for permission-based email. Emails from those addresses are much less likely to be blocked by spam filters. ESPs get on an ISP’s whitelist by establishing a track record of sending legitimate email. After a couple of months, the ESP will apply to the ISP and likely will added to its whitelist. Since nobody shares your IP address, you are the only one who can cause your removal from the whitelist or lead the ISP to add your IP to their blacklist.

How To I Whitelist An IP Address

The good deeds that lead to whitelisting are CAN SPAM-compliant steps such as including a valid "From" address, sending messages only to confirmed opt-in email lists and providing recipients a clear opt-out link. Things that prevent whitelisting include writing deceptive subject lines or trying to hide the intent of your emails. I recommend reading a summary of CAN SPAM. The rules are simple.

To qualify for whitelisting status, you have to have a good--but not perfect--track record in terms of spam complaints. Sending email to an opt-in list still results in some spam complaints. People forget they opted in originally or grow irritated with the emails and file a quick spam complaint instead of finding the opt-out link at the bottom of the email. The ISPs recognize that there will always be spam complaints with permission-based email marketing. However, as long as the complaints fall below a certain level, you can still qualify for the whitelist. The ISP’s know that real spammers receive a higher level of complaints than legitimate permission-based email marketers.

Each major ISP maintains its own whitelist, so you will need to visit their websites and submit their forms. Your email ESP should be able to provide you links to the whitelist application forms for the major ISP’s and email address providers. They also should be able to provide assistance.

Deliverability is key to email marketing success, so watch it like a hawk. If your ESP is not performing, find out why and ask them to remedy the situation quickly. If low deliverability rates persist, it might be time for a change.

Author Bio

Neil Anuskiewicz is the Marketing Manager for EZ Publishing. The firm specializes in helping businesses harness the power of the Internet for marketing and to automate business processes.

Neil has been in the Internet technology industry for 10 years. He has a passion for learning, and reads two business books each month. He also enjoys writing useful articles for small business people.

In addition to custom web applications, EZ Publishing offers web hosting, web design, and permission-based email marketing. Please email questions or comments to Neil at [email protected].