Is email dead?

1. Is email dead? Communicating with prospects and supporters in the era of spam control Dr. Bill Pease Chief Technology Officer, GetActive Software

2. Overview • Impact of spam • on the communication efforts of membership-based organizations • Permission-based messaging • what it means & how to do it • when it won’t work • Spam control • trends & technology • what to expect

3. Email at risk as a means of communication • Spam flood triggering rapid adoption of error-prone control measures • 75% of all email traffic in August was spam or virus • Control “at any cost” results in considerable “collateral damage” • Increasing chance that legitimate messaging will be blocked, routed into oblivion, or subjected to resource-intensive validation

4. Non-delivery a growing problem Return Path 2003 Blocking and Filtering Report

5. Impact on non-profits: • Your messages may not get through to your supporters • Your ability to prospect for new recruits via email is diminished • Your organization can be easily stigmatized as a spammer

6. Value of permission • To establish & maintain a trust relationship with supporters • To improve response rates • To defend the legitimacy of your messaging if challenged by ISP blocking, blacklisting, etc.

7. Obtaining permission • Request explicit permission whenever you collect email addresses • link brand or publication name to every opt-in request • document all opt-ins – especially those collected offline • Use double opt-in for online recruitment. Use confirmed opt-in at a minimum.

8. Questionable Opt-in without positive action Pre-checked opt-in Hidden opt-in Auto-adding to other lists – especially independent orgs Transferred opt-in List shares or buys Co-registration Indefensible Opt-out Email harvesting From web pages or directories E-pending To voter registration lists To any list source without permission List-building methods to avoid

9. Limits of permission (1) • Not easily verified • No current certification of organizations with true opt-in lists • Requires case-by-case white list negotiations • Not easily revoked • Opt-in best practices mimicked & contaminated by spammers, and undercut by ISP spam controls

10. Challenges to responsible subscription management

11. Limits of permission (2) • Consent model difficult to apply to prospecting • Messaging outreach to new audiences often must occur without prior consent • Ex: Voter outreach during a political campaign • Recognize that a different consent standard applies to email vs. direct mail or phone

12. Social trends in spam control • Throw the baby out with the bathwater • Benefit of blocking offensive spam outweighs risk of non-delivery of legitimate email • Guilty until proven innocent • No special exemptions for messaging to members, for political or charitable appeals, etc. • Vigilantism • Private action required to stop spam; government action will only make it worse

13. Legal trends in spam control • Pending federal legislation • Define unacceptable practices • No false headers/subjects or email harvesting, must have functioning opt-out • Content labeling • Do-not-email registry • Proliferating state legislation • To date, most include exemptions for non-profit messaging • Debate over federal pre-emption, private right to action

14. Technical trends in spam control • Rapid adoption of client-side spam controls to protect inbox • Difficult to optimize messaging to avoid false stigmatization by different systems • Accessing each subscriber’s inbox requires resource-intensive investigation & negotiation • Increased reliance on distributed spam identification systems • Greater potential for gamed stigmatization

15. By Origin Blacklist of suspect spam sources Whitelist of approved senders Sender authentication Challenge-response Delivery characteristics By Content Key words Tip-off headers, tags, urls Bayesian or adaptive filtering Collaborative filtering How spam is identified

16. Control systems are complex and highly variable: • Identification can involve various parties: • Recipient • Detection services (blocklists, content flagging) • Distributed audiences (subscriber or peer-to-peer voting) • Responses can be applied at different levels in mail transfer: • Internet service provider • Email service provider • Recipient’s email client • Variety of responses can follow spam id: • Accept • Quarantine • Reject • Drop • Label • Challenge • Limit rate • Feedback to detection services • Charge • Legal prosecution • Malicious response

17. No standards available to rationalize spam control • Established email standards flouted to battle spammers • SMTP considered source of problem due to lack of sender authentication and trust framework • No feedback on delivery attempts; gamed use of error codes • Efforts to establish new standards plagued with controversy • Consent-based framework for email exchange • Interoperability standards between different control systems

18. “Solutions” proliferating • Challenge-response systems • prove a human manages the list • Deliverability services • message checker, blacklist detection, and mailbox placement services • Trusted sender programs • certify permission-based lists • Bonded sender programs • back up opt-in claims with monetary bond

19. What to expect (1) • Increasing accountability for your organization’s list building & messaging practices • Reputation based on measurable performance of dedicated mailer IP(s) • Growing threat to brand identity from being stigmatized as a spammer, or “joe jobbed” by a spammer • Increasing costs to use email • Higher costs to acquire opt-in names & manage response to spam controls • Possible costs of third-party certification or authenticated messaging

20. What to expect (2) • Changes to online prospecting practices • Strict limits on epending • Less use of co-registration to build lists • Decline in email viral marketing yields • virus/spam controls pose a serious threat to tell-a-friend email • Expanded use of online prospecting tools like search-keyword ads and interactive banner ads • Experimentation with alternatives to email for newsletter distribution • RSS syndication to news aggregators

21. Links - General • Best Spam Resources • http://spamnews.com/blog/spamNEWS/index.html • http://www.paulgraham.com/antispam.html • http://spam.abuse.net • Spam Legislation & Regulation • http://www.spamlaws.com/us.html • http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/index.html • Anti-Spam Tools in Use • http://spamotomy.com/ • http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detailv2.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=322713&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=162693&bmUID=1057709143469 • Anti-Spam Activism • http://spamlinks.port5.com/spamlinks.htm • http://www.cauce.org/ • http://www.spamhaus.org/ • http://www.mail-abuse.org/

22. Links - Practical • Check Your Spam Status • http://www.senderbase.org/search • http://www.spamvertized.org/ • Avoiding Spam Filters • http://www.emailsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?currentID=2125 • http://www.emailsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?currentID=80 • http://ezine-tips.com/articles/management/20020812.shtml • http://www.newsletterindustry.com/newsletterindustry-57-20021218AvoidingtheSpamTrap.html • Challenge-Response • http://blogs.onenw.org/jon/archives/000450.html • http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1204684,00.asp • http://www.templetons.com/brad/spam/challengeresponse.html • http://kmself.home.netcom.com/Rants/challenge-response.html