BlackList Monitor Gives Businesses Options to Ensure Opt-in Email Gets Through

Email may be fast becoming the preferred means of business communications and marketing, but, according to Karen Fegarty, it is only an effective tool if your messages are getting through to your opt-in clients. This is not always the case.

"You can find a lot of data that shows that information is not getting through by email, and the impact that has on any given business. AOL currently blocks about 80 per cent of all email to its users, data from Return Path suggests, on average, 22 per cent of legitimate opt-in email wasn't delivered to user inboxes, and the costs to business of incorrectly blocked opt-in email is expected to reach $419 million by 2008."

Why is such a high percentage of business email not getting through? For the most part, it comes down to the growing phenomenon of blacklists. A blacklist is a database of internet addresses (IPs) that have either been identified as, or are being used by companies and individuals to send spam. There are many blacklists in existence and service and bandwidth providers (ISPs) subscribe to these lists to filter out the spam that their customers receive. In theory, it's a sensible solution to a significant problem, but the lists have their flaws, which means that many legitimate opt-in messages are being blocked from reaching business clients. Because it only takes one complaint, it is very easy for a company's IP to be added ? and erroneously ? to a high-use blacklist like SpamCorp. Also, many blacklists add IPs in blocks, so if one user of an IP is labeled a spammer, any business using it will be penalized. And there have been instances where companies have falsely reported competitors as spammers, just to gain a market advantage.

Fegarty's company, MailWorkZ, has come up with one of the most effective tools available to avoid erroneously blocked opt-in email ? BlackList Monitor. Launched in 2004, the web-based service actively monitors, on an hourly basis, 75 of the most popular blacklists, providing clients with automated email notifications if their IPs are found on any of these lists. It also provides clients with the best available information on how to contact and negotiate the removal of their IPs from any blacklist.

According to Fegarty, the genesis of BlackList Monitor came from problems that MailWorkZ and its clients were having sending email to clients.

"Not only do we have an email marketing software product Broadc@st - that companies can buy and use to send their own campaigns, we also conduct email campaigns on behalf of clients through our own servers."

Seeing the deliverability of a major client's email decline due to blacklists, Fegarty and her team knew they needed an effective solution, and fast: "We needed to determine exactly where we were listed on a real-time basis so we could take immediate steps to be removed. We didn't have time to check the lists daily, let alone hourly, or to find information to negotiate a way off the lists. It needed to be an instant, automated process."

With this in mind, MailWorkZ spent about four months of development work over the course of a year coming up with a solution using the .Net platform. During that time, the company conducted extensive research, wading through thousands of blacklists to determine the ones that were checked by the majority of major ISPs, how the lists determined legitimate email, and how to negotiate a way out of these databases.

Since its launch in June 2004, MailWorkZ has registered more than 400 active BlackList Monitor accounts, and is monitoring more than 1000 IPs. Client renewal rate, adds Fegarty, is over 50%, and feedback has been uniformly positive.

"Clients are indicating that this is a necessary tool, improving their email marketing success. They've also indicated that they appreciate the fact that it is easy to use, and how beneficial the removal information is for them."

Fegarty says that the company is focusing its marketing efforts on the UK and building greater market share in the U.S.

Mark Campbell is a Halifax, Nova Scotia-based marketing and communications consultant. He can be reached at krambell@ns.sympatico.ca.

More information about MailWorkZ (http://www.mailworkz.com) and the BlackList Monitor (http://www.blacklistmonitor.com) products can be seen by visiting their sites.

---

What Is An Email Signature And What Do I Do With It?

You hear it all the time... email signature, sig file,... Read More

Who Is Your Real Competition?

If you design kitchens, is another kitchen designer your competition?... Read More

Use Autoresponders, to Build Relationships In Your Affiliate Marketing

It's true that "content is king," but equally important to... Read More

Three Phases to Email Sensitivity

The neurophysiological dynamics of understanding each email message are very... Read More

Spam! Whats the Real Problem

Most people now know the official definition of spam- Unsolicited... Read More

Should You Be Writing A Newsletter As Part Of Your Online Business?

Let's start at the beginning - why do you need... Read More

How To Set Up an Ezine Encyclopedia

Do you read all your Ezines? Or do you file... Read More

The Gold Is In Your Mailing List

Let me ask you a question, "What is the most... Read More

10 Tips for Effective Email Sales Letters

1. Write Your Objective - Before you write your sales... Read More

Protect Yourself from Being Accused of Sending SPAM

Email is a vital part of doing business online, but... Read More

Email Etiquette IV

Further to my previous issues this subject continues - part... Read More

Just Write an Email

How did you sell your last product? Imagine that I... Read More

BlackList Monitor Gives Businesses Options to Ensure Opt-in Email Gets Through

Email may be fast becoming the preferred means of business... Read More

Autoresponders for Beginners

Hi you may or may not know that your Autoresponder... Read More

The Wrong Email Format Can Destroy Your Offer

Which email format is more effective to use, Text or... Read More

Seven Tips To A Perfect Email Ads

Everyone at some point in their Internet experience has received... Read More

8 Ways to Get More Email Addresses On Your List ... Today

Whether you've got 100 or 100,000 people on your email... Read More

Choose The Right Business For You In Less Than 15 Minutes

3 Characteristics Of "The Right Business" ModelThe business must service... Read More

Introduction to Autoresponders

If you've reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep... Read More

Autoresponders An Important Part Of Internet Marketing?

Setting up and using email autoresponders on your site is... Read More

Could This Be The End of Sp^am?

The war on sp^am has so far been waged on... Read More

Creating Effective Opt-in E-Mail Campaigns

It's been said before, but important to re-emphasize, e-mail is... Read More

Attract New Subscribers With Magnetic Ads

One of the most effective methods of advertising your e-zine... Read More

Email Marketing - The End Is Nigh!

Consider if you will the resources, the time and the... Read More

What Is An Open Rate

Good thing in emarketing business today is that many people... Read More

11 Extraordinary Ways To Expand Your Subscriber List

Here are 11 ways to expand your subscriber list: 1.... Read More

How To Create Gold With Email Promotions - Part 1

First make sure that the people you are sending your... Read More

Autoresponders, Which Autoresponder Is Right For Your Business?

An autoresponder is a software program that automatically sends a... Read More

Sales Prospecting for Appointments by Email

A few months into the job and Sabrina's cold calling... Read More

Virtual Marketing in a Tangible World

One of the greatest challenges facing business owners and managers... Read More

Are Opt-in Email Lists Still Valuable in this SPAM Age?

One of the things that the introduction of blogs has... Read More

How To Get People To Constantly Open Your e-Mail Promotions Or Your Newsletter

In this article I'm going to talk strictly from a... Read More

Benchmark Study of Email Database Services

-- Email Appending and ECOA Match Rates Revealed --NEWTON, MA,... Read More