The Email Swamp: Don’t Go Bayou-self!

swamp monster climbing out of swamp and scaring man

Let’s not beat around the bush: As an email service provider (ESP), you probably (definitely) have an IP or pool that looks more like a swamp than, well…a pool you actually want to use.  There is nothing wrong with having an Email Swamp! There is, however, a big risk in not watching the swamp like […]

Build, Buy…Diversify!

Build buy or diversify with a mailbox with 3 types of mail going in.

By now, after reading our Build or Buy eBook, which you most certainly did (right?), you likely have a good understanding of the nuance between building or buying your email infrastructure.  If you didn’t read it, it’s no biggie – we’ll give you a quick primer here but strongly encourage you get the full run-down […]

Subdomain Squatters are Threatening Your Email Sender Reputation

A bad actor is using the sender reputation of other brands to send their spam.

Update 2/26/2024: Research published this week from Guardio Labs sheds additional detail on the pervasiveness of the subdomain hijacking attacks we wrote about in this article. The research also performs a more detailed technical analysis along with a tool for checking a database of known compromised domains: https://guard.io/subdomailing. An unfortunate reality of email sender reputation […]

Ducking and Dodging Spam Traps

Email and spam traps have an “It’s Complicated” relationship status on Facebook. Or at least they would if Facebook still had that option.  If you’re here, you likely know enough about spam traps to be dangerous. If not, here is a little quick info to keep you up to speed on what they are and […]

Avoid Santa’s Blocklists This Holiday Season

Ho ho hold on there. Your holiday email program may be running a little behind, but you still can’t run amok.  While Santa’s sleigh is still parked in the hangar, you’ve got some work to do before you can make it rain — er, snow — email. If you don’t, you might find yourself on […]

How To Know You’re Hitting Spam Traps

There are only a few things you can count on in life:  Death  Taxes  Spam traps  I’m serious.  Spam traps are simply a fact of life for email marketers and really, anyone sending email at all. There are a bunch of types with different uses and they’re sprinkled out there in the world waiting to […]

Leaving the Choir: Shared IPs vs. Dedicated IPs

When I was in middle school, I joined a musical theater class. Of course, first year students were always relegated to the choir. It made sense: Most first-time performers were new to singing and performing and it’s risky to trust a rookie. Most organizations starting an email program are also put into the “choir.” Instead […]

On the Record: Spamhaus and Informational SBLs

Last week, I sat down with Matthew Stith, industry liaison at Spamhaus, to discuss the recent uptick in informational SBLs. My mission was to find out what’s going on, why the recent change, and what it means for the future of email service providers (ESPs) and senders alike.   I’ve structured this as simply and […]

This is Your Email on Burnout

We are all exhausted   Burnout: the word of the year   Well….multiple years.  I had the pleasure of talking about two of my favorite topics at UNSPAM in Chicago: burnout and recovering from an email disaster. The experiences of discovering you’re burned out and finding yourself on a blocklist are extremely similar, and so is the […]