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October 27, 2005
Shot Fired Over the Bow
So what happens when another ISP blocks all emails from another. This past week it looks like Comcast did just that for all MSN.com and hotmail.com users. So sorry mom if you tried to email me, Comcast thinks you are a spammer just because you are guilty by association.
I think this is more of an ISP war than we are all led to think. With spammers using fake ISP email accounts or sending volumes off of free email ISP account, it sure would be easy to fire and scoot.
From: Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com
US ISP blocks Hotmail emails
Undelivered messages threatened to cripple entire email service
Broadband internet service provider Comcast temporarily prevented its subscribers from sending emails to Hotmail and MSN accounts.
For three days, users trying to send messages to the Microsoft owned internet service received error messages stating: "The message could not be sent because one of the recipients was rejected by the server.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 6:18 AM | Permalink
October 24, 2005
Don't Get Caught in the JunkBox
A great article on best practices in email marketing. Read Wendy's article. Well worth your time.
Six Steps for Email Optimization
Even if your customers have opted in, ISPs may be blocking your emails: contributor Wendy Roth helps you break through.
Your customers want your email; otherwise, they wouldn't have signed up to receive it in the first place. So what can you do when your permission-based emails are being blocked by an ISP? How can you persuade them to let it through?
Don't panic! Blocks happen to the best and most reputable organizations. Here are six steps to get your email delivered again.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:45 AM | Permalink
October 19, 2005
New MSN Mail Beta Screen Shots
Here is the first Taste. Can't wait to see what it does to spam, whitelists and email.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 10:04 PM | Permalink
MSN Mail Releases Beta Today
Login in today to check for delivery for a client campaign to MSN as a whitelisted sender, and invite popped up to move to Beta. Well I can't turn that one down, even with the note:
Will be able to see all my old mail if I participate in this beta?
All of your mail will remain on our servers during the Mail Beta program. While we do not anticipate issues, due to the test environment, we cannot guarantee that all mail will be viewable through the beta.
And it ONLY works on IE 6.0 and above. So much for checking my mail on my Mac as well.
The Announcement:
It Reads:
Check out Mail Beta.
Then tell us how to make it better.
We figure that as a Hotmail user, you know as much as anyone about how an e-mail service should work. That's why we want you to check out Mail Beta, a new version of the service that we're working on. If you accept, you will be among the first to see some very cool new features, and you can tell us exactly what you think of them: what you love, what you hate, and what you'd rather see.
More about what Mail Beta can do for you:
Reading Pane See a preview of each message (just like Microsoft Outlook), and cruise from e-mail to e-mail without reloading a new page each time. One click shows you a message's full contents.
Info Bar The Info Bar is a new weapon to help you zap junk and "phishing" e-mail off the face of the earth. ("Phishing" is when someone is trying to fool you into giving up your personal info with an official-looking message).
Address AutoComplete Start typing a name and "pow!" up pops a list of possible recipients from your contact list. Click on the one you want and you're done.
Expanded Storage Your Mail Beta inbox will have 2GB (2 gigabytes) of storage. That's a lot. Enough for 1,000 photos of 2 MB (megabytes) each, for example.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:57 PM | Permalink
October 18, 2005
Bill Gate Takes on Nigeria
I mean who hasn't got the Nnigerian email scam. And if we are really going to go after the bad guys, why not stop in an under developed country that really has a major effect on us?
Nigeria enlists Microsoft to fight spam scammers
Microsoft is planning to work with the Nigerian government to help track down and prosecute criminals involved in e-mail scams and other Internet-based fraud originating from the African country.
Microsoft will provide technical expertise, training and other security resources to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is tasked with fighting cybercrime in the country.
Nigeria was initially slow to respond to the problem of "419" e-mail scammers operating in the country, who were duping unsuspecting Internet users out of thousands of pounds by promising a share of the secret multimillion-pound fortune of a deposed African dictator.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 6:00 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 17, 2005
The Boston Tea Party?
Looks like the State of Mass is going after a Russian Spam ring. I love the fact that the US is still the leader in spam according to a recent Sophos report, but we turn the cameras on those outside our borders. Go get em Yankees.
Massachusetts Hits "Internet Spam Gang" With $37 Million Fine Oct. 13, 2005 - from Information Week
To collect, the state's Attorney General is looking for Leo Kuveyev, the leader of the spam ring, who's believed to be in Russia.
The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General is looking for Leo Kuveyev, the leader of the "Internet Spam Gang," whose illegal spam operation was fined $37 million by a Boston judge this week.
“We believe he is in Russia,” said assistant attorney general Scott Schafer Thursday. “He continuously moves around.”
Kuvayev and six other persons with Massachusetts ties were named in a suit brought by Attorney General Tom Reilly in May and the court decision came down this week. Schafer, who is an assistant attorney general in the state’s consumer protection and antitrust division, said civil and not criminal charges were brought against Kuvayev so his operation could be quickly shut down.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:57 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 14, 2005
Weaning the Troops off the Smack
Seems that spam emails sent from the US have declined dramatically based on a new study from Sophos. While the US overall volume as declined, most of the slack is being taken over by China and Korea. Thanks Guys for picking up the slack. I would have preferred to get less Viagra, Porn and Mortgage spam, but at least it is not our fault this time.
And since I can't read Asian languages, I most likely will ignore it. Ha ha.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:51 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 13, 2005
Operation Honey Pot
I came across this article tonight on AdBumb. Talks about the project dubbed "HoneyPot" that is a genius idea. The team at UnSpam.com was able to set addresses across the web to monitor the harvesting of email addresses and who uses them, when they visit and what they send. Amazing.
They came up with some great stats and even better a way that can help legitimate marketers comply with the law, purge thier lists of bad emails and comply with state bodies and laws.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:18 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 12, 2005
The SuperPowers Collide
I read this article on ZD Uk tonight. Seems that many of the trusted voices in the War on Spam are having mixed thoughts in regrard to the validity of SPF. Seems they feel that it is an idea that will rapidly be exploited or spoofed by real spammer. Even if it is a good idea, seems that it is ripe to be used for ill uses.
From the Article at ZDNET
Weak user authentication may be worse than none at all, claims one security expert; others are backing SPF to make a difference
User authentication for email "may be worse than useless" at preventing the spread of spam, according to Nick Fitzgerald, security consultant at Computer Virus Consulting.
"As an anti-spam measure, SPF is broken before it's implemented, as it's not just breakable, it's trivial to break," Fitzgerald told an audience at the Virus Bulletin conference in Dublin on Friday.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 11, 2005
Troop Morale Low Due to Friendly Fire
A new study shows that ISPs are filtering more and more based on SPF and other adhoq, constantly shifting rules that they make up. This is causing opt in email delivery rates to sink. Now if you play by the rules, it goes to show that not every email is going to be delivered. That hurts.
Hotmail, Gmail Filter Out More Permission Emails
Delivery rates for permission-based emails rose for the third straight quarter, MSN's Hotmail and Google's Gmail filtered out more legitimate emails, writes DM News, citing a new study from Lyris Technologies. Hotmail's rate of "false positive filtering" increased from 5.6 percent in 2Q05 to 9.4 percent in the third quarter, and Gmail's from 4.1 percent to 7.17 percent, according to Lyris's quarterly Email Deliverability report, provided exclusively to DM News.
In Hotmail's case, the issue may be its second-quarter introduction of Sender ID, which sends emails for which the sender cannot be verified to customers' junk boxes; in Gmail's case, the issue may be that it is new to the arena and is still finding its footing, according to a Lyris spokesperson.
Lyris found that overall inbox delivery rates are improving: 89 percent of opt-in emails were delivered by U.S. ISPs, up 4 percentage points from the second quarter. ISPs with the best delivery rates included PeoplePC, Mailblocks, Gmail, Yahoo, SBC Global and RoadRunner.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 10, 2005
AOL Stops selling your name to spammers
This kills me. AOL, one of the largest ISPs that hammer businesses and end users for "spamming" by placing a button called "Report this as Junk" every time a user clear out trash... has just stated that they will stop SELLING your info to others to use to email you.
Wait... I am an AOL customer and I get alot of Junk and you mean to tell me that you (AOL) have been selling my data to others to email me? Wait, I know I opted in somewhere, but let me get this straight....... you are selling my email address to companies that I do not know and do not want to get email from (as I did not opt in with them) and as a bonus, you are giving me the EMPOWERING button that let's me rport it as JUNK? This is such an interesting thing to do.... so does AOL hammer all the emails that they sell people to use with the JUNK complaints? Are they not under the rules of the AOL Feedback loop?
It seems to me that if AOL was providing the email addresses to advertisers to email AOL subscribers and then AOL has such a massive spam problem that users complain against, why the heck would they do this? I mean no wonder people are leaving AOL in Droves and using an ISP that does not sell thier data.
AOL Revises Policy, to Collect and Use User Data
America Online is making its first major privacy policy revision since 1998, and the ISP's 20 million U.S. members were notified by email over the weekend of the changes, InternetNews reports. The new policy takes effect November 10, and under it AOL will no longer rent or sell mailing lists to retailers.
Other changes consist of practices that are the norm among most major search engines and portals: To personalize content and ads, AOL will use information about the AOL sites and pages that users visit; AOL will also use information about member searches to tailor future search results and other content and ads. Members can opt out for each search or entirely.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:19 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 6, 2005
Spam Queen Cans Spam, Says Email Marketing is Dead
Let's see now, you spammed people, got busted and now want to say it is dead. Well hell yes spam is a no win, dead marketing plan. Glad you caught up with that one lady. But targeted email marketing is not dead, it is actually just really maturing and taking off. Web 2.0 all the way. Glad we have cleared some of the jerks off the battle field. People like Laura are the reason you and I are lined up side by side fighting this war.
Laura Betterly, coined the “Spam Queen” in the Wall Street Journal denounces bulk e-mail as a tool for marketing.
In a bold move, Laura Betterly, president of In Touch Media Group Inc. www.intouchmediagroup.com (ITOU.OB), denounced sending massive bulk e-mail in an article entitled “It’s 2005 - Email is Dead.”
She asserts “Now, you might be asking why I, who was dubbed the 'Spam Queen' in the Wall Street Journal three years ago, is even bothering to say anything about e-mail?"
“Just to set the record straight, I have never advocated spam or sending spam.”
“One reporter said to me ‘Some people consider all bulk email as spam, what do you have to say about that?’ to which I replied, ‘Then I guess you'd call me the spam queen' as a joke."
“I advocated email at that time as a very effective medium for small business, which because of its low cost lets small businesses level the playing field against big corporations.”
She continues that legitimate e-mail isn’t getting thru filters and the only “signal” getting thru is the scams being sent from overseas or using illegal methods.
“The simplicity is this—bulk commercial e-mail has gotten to the point where it isn’t effective. We just don’t do it anymore. What’s the point? It doesn’t get a response, and we found people are overloaded with advertising messages and no longer willing to receive more, especially in their inbox, unless they specifically asked for it.”
“As a marketing professional, the only thing that should count for you at the end of the day is effectiveness. Bulk commercial e-mail has turned into the above, a bunch of unprofessional, ineffective scams.”
“In other words, Spam is a four letter word.”
Her solution to the problem of generating web traffic for businesses is a combination of market research, design, search engine marketing (In Touch Media Group was just awarded the highest expert rating given out by Google), search engine publicity and sites like the recently launched www.pixelbay.org that drive traffic directly to her clients sites.
“I’ve been in the marketing game for many years, and finally we’ve found the tools we need to drive traffic to our client’s sites”
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:26 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 5, 2005
Battling List Attrition
Great Article I read today from Melinda Krueger at Krueger Direct/Interactive. Worth the read.
Really addresses the list hygeine and steps you should take in keeping your lists clean and peforming.
I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF A customer list as a leaky bucket. While you are filling the bucket with fresh new customers from the faucet, old customers are dripping out the bottom. These drips can become a flow for e-mailers, since addresses change so frequently and the number of companies that consumers allow into their inboxes is so limited. Here are a few thoughts on stemming the flow.
First and foremost, ask for a back-up or alternative e-mail address. Not all consumers want to provide another address, so make this optional. Explain the purpose of the second address in simple language: "If your primary e-mail address becomes undeliverable for any reason, we will send future e-mails (or a notice) to this address." For those consumers who provide a back-up address, you will have a permission-granted means to stay in touch.
Using an e-mail change of address service is also an option, but the permission aspect is troubling. If I give permission to send Brand X e-mails to my account, and then close that account, do I still want to receive e-mails from Brand X? Maybe. A better practice is to send e-mail to customers who definitely request it.
By the same token, don't assume consumers are definitely not interested in your e-mail -- unless they unsubscribe. Since you cannot be certain whether desire is there, regardless of how many e-mails a consumer has ignored, let the consumer decide. I have seen instances where the 13th e-mail was the one that turned lapsed opt-ins into recent responders.
You should, however, take steps to reactivate your non-responders. First determine what the average consumer does with your e-mails -- for example, clicks on one to three e-mails within the first six months after opting in. (Gauge response by clicks, not opens, as opens are not trackable for text and image-blocked e-mails.) Then look at those who do not follow the typical pattern and send a reactivation e-mail with a special offer (discount, coupon, gift with purchase, free shipping) or digital freebie (screensaver, wallpaper, ringtone, white paper) and a we-want-you-back message.
Direct mail can also be productive, but may only be cost-effective for commerce-driven e-mailers.
Perhaps most important, find out why your opt-ins are opting out. Put a brief survey on your unsubscribe page and include a free-form textbox for comments. You can't please all of the people all of the time, but you may identify problems you can fix.
Understanding consumer complaints, developing a reactivation program and collecting a secondary e-mail address will help patch the hole in your leaky bucket.
Melinda Krueger of Krueger Direct/Interactive can be reached at mkrueger@kd-i.com.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 4, 2005
The War Began a Decade Ago
It is this week that the first postings on online discussion boards happened and the name SPAM was given to this problem. It marks the beginning of the war we are all part of today. If you are online, you are on a side. Some of us are on many sides, kind of like Switzerland, but we do care what the outcome is.
Where do you sit on the war? What is your role? I will define roles this week of Consumer, ISP, ESP, FTC, and Portals. As well as the most important... marketers.
A decade on, gains seen in spam war
By Crayton Harrison
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Ten years ago, a librarian posted a message on one of the first online discussion groups devoted to battling spam.
"Is it just my imagination, or is the spamming rate suddenly picking up?" she asked in August 1995.
manage. You never cure it," Fontaine said.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 2:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 3, 2005
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
This AM, I got a subject line from one of our clients in a weekly campaign that went out that I was SURE would be a big problem. I mean if you use the words "HARD GAY" in a subject line, wouldn't you assume it would be blocked somewhere?
This just goes to show you that words are not always the triggers when you are working off a great email platform with wonderful ISP relationships. (Self Plug) Take a look at the email and the header spam scoring below.
Words are a daily changing thing in the war against email. Always test subject lines and use other resources, like SpamAssasin to check the overall score of an email. Nice work Martina at Adverblog!
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 11:44 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 1, 2005
A Little Music with your Spam?
Spam has taken a new twist this month with a large number of unsolicited emails appearing which feature an embedded Midi file that plays music the second the email is either previewed or opened whilst the user is online, according to email management specialist Email Systems.
The mails, which are being sent from the Far East, are relatively simple HTML spam emails, with the primary difference being the addition of music. Whilst this latest addition to the spammers’ arsenal of attention-seeking tactics appears to be relatively innocuous, it opens the door for other highly undesirable possibilities such as pornographic or offensive voice-recordings embedded within emails which the user would unwittingly ‘play’ in front of friends or colleagues just by receiving the email.
Moreover, the fact that the spammers are embedding files within the email again serves to underline the more sinister potential for embedding cookies or other programs within spam emails which enable the spammer to covertly track or monitor the users’ actions whilst online.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:57 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
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