A Practical Guide to Protect Your Inbox Reputation and Support Your Ongoing Email Deliverability Goals Deliverability Best Practice Guide - 2019
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A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PROTECT YOUR INBOX REPUTATION AND SUPPORT YOUR ONGOING EMAIL DELIVERABILITY GOALS DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICE GUIDE - 2019 For professionals in email marketing, achieving great deliverability begins with a solid understanding of email best practices. And with today’s constantly changing environment, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with current trends. At the foundation of this understanding are practices that align with legal and regulatory compliance requirements that protect consumer rights. The lens we must look through is always the customer’s. Federal and Global laws are only a small part of safely managing inbox reputation, however, and all email marketing professionals must understand the importance of complying with a set of best practices meant to protect reputation and ensure strong, unrestricted email deliverability. In this whitepaper, eDataSource provides readers with an extensive introduction to these best practices. In the future, we’ll be releasing more in-depth coverage of sending best practices so don’t forget to sign up for our email newsletter to get the latest and greatest from our resident industry experts. 2 DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICE GUIDE - 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS EMAIL MARKETING LAWS AND REGULATIONS THE CAN-SPAM ACT 5 Best Practices Go Far Beyond Legal Compliance The Basics When Does CAN-SPAM Apply? CANADA’S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL) 7 What Is Considered A CEM Implied vs. Expressed Consent Content and Record-Keeping Unsubscribes GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR) 8 Consent Opt-Out Duration Penalties Age Restrictions ESSENTIAL BEST PRACTICES EMAIL SUBSCRIBER ACQUISITION 10 Opt-In Best Practice Subscriber Acquisition Methods and Sources LIST MANAGEMENT 11 List Hygiene Spam Traps Pristine Traps Recycled Traps EMAIL CONTENT AND STRATEGY 12 Engagement Screening Relevance Frequency Optimization Mobile Optimization Subject Lines and Content Filters Delivery Tracking UNSUBSCRIBES, COMPLAINTS, AND FEEDBACK LOOPS 14 Unsubscribe/Opt-Out Process Email Address Changes Complaint Tracking Feedback Loops Outlook Postmaster Tools Google Postmaster Tools ESP AND IP REPUTATION 16 IP Address Warming Shared IP Addresses Multiple IP Addresses AUTHENTICATION AND BRAND PROTECTION PRACTICES 17 Sender Policy Framework (SPF) Domain Keys (DKIM) Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) CONCLUSION FOUNDATIONAL BEST PRACTICES 19 SENDER REPUTATION 20 3 APPENDIX 21 THE INS AND OUTS OF SENDING EMAILS... LEGALLY. DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICE GUIDE - 2019 THE CAN-SPAM ACT Introductory Note: This document is not intended as a source of legal advice, therefore CAN-SPAM is not explained here in detail. In reference to this law, please remember that federal laws concerning email marketing were only created to limit abusive behaviors. Our professional perspective, and the widely accepted standard, is that compliance with federal laws does not even begin to cover the full extent of best practices that should be followed by email senders. Best Practices Go Far Beyond Legal Compliance While CAN-SPAM compliance will enable email senders to legally send emails, this alone does not prevent a sender from being considered a spammer by consumers, the ISP industry, or the email industry. The reality is that the CAN-SPAM Act has been referred to by some within the industry as the “You-Can-Spam Act” because of specific weaknesses associated with the bill including: • Failure to prohibit email practices widely associated with spammers. • Preempting specific state laws that would otherwise have provided spam victims with practical means of redress. • Not requiring email senders to obtain permission before sending marketing messages over email. • Preventing states from enacting stronger anti-spam protection. • Prohibiting spam victims from suing spammers except under laws not specific to email. The CAN-SPAM Act is critical in understanding email deliverability compliance. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the CAN-SPAM Act applies to all commercial messages, not only bulk emails. In the law, emails subject to the CAN-SPAM Act include: “Any electronic mail message where the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service.” This includes any emails that promote content on commercial websites and no exceptions are made for business-to-business email. Under the CAN-SPAM Act, all email must comply with the law, even such examples as a message to former customers announcing a new product line. Non-compliance to the CAN-SPAM Act is costly, with each separate email in violation subject to penalties of up to $16,000. However, following the law isn’t complicated. The Basics Let’s take a look at the main requirements for remaining in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act: • DON’T use false or misleading header information. Accurate identification of the person or business initiating the email message isn’t optional. This means that your “From,” “To,” “Reply-to,” and routing information cannot include false or misleading information. • DON’T use deceptive subject lines. Instead, ensure that all subject lines accurately reflect the content of the message. When in doubt, be direct not deceptive. • DO identify the message as an ad. All commercial messages must clearly and intentionally disclose that the email is an advertisement. The law provides a number of ways to accomplish this. • DO tell recipients where you’re located. Whether you have a street address, a post office box registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency, you must include a valid physical postal address in all emails. This also establishes credibility with your readers. • DO tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. All emails must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of receiving future emails. 5 DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICE GUIDE - 2019 • Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. • Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. • Give a return email address or another easy, Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. • You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. • Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests. • DO honor opt-out requests promptly. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. • You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. • Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. • In short, don’t be tricky. If they want off your list, make it easy for them to do so. • DO monitor what others are doing on your behalf. It is ultimately your responsibility to comply with the law. The CAN-SPAM Act is clear that, even in the case the email management is contracted out, both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible. When Does CAN-SPAM Apply? Here’s how you can tell. The primary purpose of the messaging being sent is the ultimate determination of whether or not the law is applicable to any given email. To provide further clarity, the FTC has defined three types of information that is sent in emails: • Commercial Content advertises or promotes a commercial product or service, including content on a website operated for a commercial purpose • Transactional or Relationship Content facilitates an already agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer about an ongoing transaction • Other Content is neither commercial nor transactional or relationship Compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act is required if an email’s primary purpose is commercial and if it contains primarily commercial content. In the case that an email contains primarily transactional or relationship content, it may not contain false or misleading routing information, but is otherwise exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act. Looking for more information about CAN-SPAM requirements? Visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website page on the topic. 6 DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICE GUIDE - 2019 CANADA’S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL) So how about emails from Canada or to Canada, eeh? We knew you’d ask. Enacted in July 2014, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) differs from the U.S. version (CAN-SPAM), by penalizing noncompliance ranging from $1 to $10 million per violation. Email senders in Canada as well as sending emails to Canada are required to comply with CASL. Unlike CAN-SPAM, CASL goes beyond the traditional scope of email and applies to any “Commercial Electronic Message” (CEM), including Short Message Service (SMS), sent from or destined to a Canadian computer or device in Canada. Messages from another country routed through computers in Canada are not subject to this legislation. What Is Considered A CEM Fair question, here’s the scoop: • Any message that is in an electronic format. For example, emails, instant messages, text messages, and even some social media communications, such as Twitter and Facebook. • Any message that is sent to an electronic address, including email addresses, instant messenger accounts, phone numbers, and social media.