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These email newsletter services probably send millions of emails per day.

How do they successfully do this without having their system black listed?

Don't services like otmail/gmail block emails if they reach a certain threshold from a single domain?

I'm interested in running a service that will be sending a lot of emails on behalf of other companies, so just want some tips/ideas on how they do it at such a large scale. (I might not be admining the box, but want an idea of what is involved technically)

John Gardeniers
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Blankman
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  • I recommend you refine your question. There are many ways to increase deliverability; and any company in the business of providing this service should resolve that problem for you. Are you interested in sending your own newsletter or are you just curious as to how they do it? What is your specific need in this regard. I believe if you add a little more detail you will likely get more help faster. Good luck. – qxotk Aug 23 '10 at 20:04
  • arrochar updated.... – Blankman Aug 23 '10 at 20:23
  • "These email newsletter services"? What "these" are you referring to? – John Gardeniers Aug 24 '10 at 01:12

2 Answers2

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An engineer at MailChimp has written a comprehensive document titled "Email Delivery for IT Professionals" that touches all the points that you mention, and much more. You can download the document from http://static.mailchimp.com/web/guides/email-delivery-for-it-professionals/package/email-delivery-for-it-professionals.pdf.

sentenza
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Sebastiano Pilla
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There are a variety of methods these bulk mail houses use to prevent being caught by spam systems.

  • Scrupulous SPF records
  • Correct use of DKIM
  • Inclusion of a variety of mail-header items to indicate:
    • Abuse report location
    • Unsubscribe information
    • Bulk status
  • Strong attention to language to ensure it isn't spammy

And most importantly:

  • Actively work with webmail and spam-service providers to certify themselves as perfectly legitimate mailers. The process varies with each vendor, and not all do it.

And even that isn't enough to be 100%, but it'll get most places.

sysadmin1138
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  • One other mechanism many public email providers (e.g. AOL, HotMail, etc.) use is generally called a "Feedback Loop" - they will notify you at a specific email address every time one of their clients marks your email as SPAM. You then monitor these notifications, and unsubscribe those members, ensuring that you never send them email again. If the email provider see too many and/or multiple SPAM complaints about your email, they will usually cut you off, then notify you that they cut you off. You then work with them to resolve the situation. This is all in addition to the other stuff above. – qxotk Sep 09 '10 at 02:02
  • These steps are all tedious (I've been there) - so, it makes more sense to use an EMail Service Provider (like MailChimp, etc.) - since they will manage the relationships with all the main ISPs and email services. – qxotk Sep 09 '10 at 02:04