Intela’s Martin Ebongue Looks Ahead to 2010

With the new year here, big changes are expected in the field of deliverability. Indeed, 2009 has witnessed the foundation of two major advancements in the deliverability world: engagement and domain reputation, and the development of these new features is going to continue in 2010.

Based on my interaction with ISPs and constant involvement in the deliverability landscape, I was able to make the following predictions/analysis on the upcoming market changes:

1. The increasing importance of “engagement” and its integration in the spam filters

Even though engagement has been used for a while by the ISPs, it’s role has never been as important as what we witness today.  Engagement is becoming a key metric for ISPs when it comes to inbox placement and reputation. Previously, reputation filters focused on elements such as unknown users, spam complaints, spam traps, volume and frequency to determine inbox placement.

Times have changed and the focus has shifted from the sender of the message to the recipient; in the sense that the subscribers perception of the emails is now valued. In the past, the “only” way for a subscriber to display his discontent was the famous “this is spam button”.  Spam filters are now and becoming smarter and will now determine inbox placement by analyzing the activity that each subscriber performs on emails: opens, clicks, forwards etc.

For marketers, this highlights the importance of relevancy, personalization and targeting. Bottom line: If subscribers don’t read your emails, they won’t be delivered to the inbox in the future.

2. Domain based reputation is coming

Senders have been asking for this metric for a long time and it is finally there. Several ISPs have started developing and implementing domain reputation in their spam filters and they should start using it in 2010. The current reputation system is based on IP addresses, simply because IPs are impossible to forge and the usage of domain reputation had been jeopardized in the past by spammers and spoofing.

Because of inadequate authentication protocols, domain reputation could not be used as a reliable indicator but with the adoption of DKIM (authentication protocol) it is now possible. The advantage of domain reputation for senders and ESPs is undeniable and welcomed by the sender community:

• The reputation is attached to the domain and not the IP and that allows the reputation to be portable. In other words, switching IP will no longer be a nightmare since the reputation will follow you on the new IP.
• The warm up period will be far shorter and ISPs will be able to assess and updated reputation with a limited volume.
• For senders still using shared IPs, the ISPs will be able to determine a reputation for each individual domain limiting by the same token the “collateral damage” effects.
• New domain white lists will be developed, based on the IP model, but these white lists will not expire with inactivity; as this is currently the case with IP white list. AOL is currently looking into building such a tool.

The only requirement for benefiting from all these advantages is to properly authenticate emails using DKIM. DKIM has been widely adopted by the majority of ISPs (Yahoo, AOL, Gmail) and the only ISP using a different system is Hotmail with sender ID. Hotmail however, is looking to build the same type of reputation system using sender ID.

3. The Adoption of DKIM

As explained above, signing emails with DKIM opens totally new perspectives in terms of deliverability and we expect it to be adopted by the entire sending community. It has now become an imperative for anyone looking at improving  ROI.

DKIM was recommended back in 2009 and there now is an urge to implement it with 2010 here. This year will witness some of the most significant developments in the email industry and will change the delivery habits of senders. For senders who want to be successful in 2010, the focus has to shift from the sole ROI to their subscribers and on how to keep them active and happy.

Technologically speaking, the sender community must now jump on the DKIM bandwagon to benefit from the many advantages of domain reputation.

By: Martin Ebongue, European Email Delivery Manager