ISIPP Teams with Aweber for E-mail Delivery Monitoring

The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) has teamed with Aweber’s Delivery Monitor to add monitoring services to its SuretyMail accreditation service.

Both companies provide services to improve delivery and reduce the amount of legitimate email that is misdirected to spam folders. Delivery Monitor lets senders track in real time whether email they send is getting delivered to the inbox at major and minor ISPs. It does this by maintaining more than 100 “seed” accounts with different ISPs, which it adds to the senders’ mailing lists and monitors. It will also notify senders immediately if they end up on an industry email blacklist.

Once senders discover they have a problem, they can turn to SuretyMail for help with addressing issues that may be causing the negative filtering. SuretyMail will work with senders one-on-one, or they will soon be able to purchase an e-book from ISIPP that addresses do-it-yourself deliverability fixes.

“Today’s email senders need to be keenly aware of whether and where their email is being delivered. They can no longer assume that all of their email is getting through, because it isn’t. That’s where Delivery Monitor comes in,” said Anne Mitchell, CEO of ISIPP. “Then they need to take steps to help get their legitimate email back into the inbox. That’s where SuretyMail email accreditation comes in.”

SuretyMail requires senders to allow ISIPP to audit and monitor their mailing policies, processes and practices. Those senders who meet ISIPP’s requirements are added to its database, which is continually updated. Participating ISPs, spam filtering companies, and receivers can then access information about the sender’s mailing practices to help determine how to filter their messages.

Both SuretyMail and Delivery Monitor make low cost a primary differentiator. According to Mitchell, SuretyMail can cost a sender hundreds to thousands of dollars per month less than other reputation and accreditation programs, such as those of Habeas or Return Path. Pricing is not based on volume, but is tiered based on the sender’s business model. Hobby newsletter publishers can use the service for just $10 a month, while commercial mailers and ESPs pay $200 to $300 per month.

Costs for Delivery Monitor will vary based on the size and complexity of the sender’s email marketing program, but it is possible for even the largest SuretyMail customer to sign up for Delivery Monitor and SuretyMail for less than $360 a month for both services, she said.

At the same time, the service will improve deliverability to the same ISPs and spam filters its competitors partner with, and to others who do not participate in the more expensive programs. Mitchell insists that the lower pricing of SuretyMail is not a reflection of the quality of the service.

“The other services out there are funded by investors. That’s their whole business model, and they need to provide a return on the investment,” she said. “For us, SuretyMail is not our reason to exist. We developed the program because people were coming to us as a neutral party asking us to help. We don’t need to over-capitalize it.”

Besides the SuretyMail accreditation for email senders, the privately-held ISIPP provides anti-spam resources for receivers, and expert analysis and consulting services to legislators, governmental and regulatory agencies, industry leaders, and the press.