(UPDATE 2009-12-16: This feature is now in the production release.)

I am very excited to announce that our new suppression list feature is currently in beta. This new feature goes way beyond what is normally thought of when we think of suppression lists. Typically, suppression lists are used to prevent future outbound messages to addresses that have unsubscribed. Our suppression lists can do that, but also much, much more. Please read on.

This feature will skyrocket your deliverability, and cut loads of administrative work out of the process.

It Will Dramatically Increase Deliverability

How will it increase deliverability? Because this new functionality, in addition to giving you the ability to specify and block addresses which have unsubscribed, will do the following:

• Automatically block outbound email to addresses which have previously hard bounced
• Automatically block outbound email to any recipient who has previously complained about one of your mailings

Two things which will kill your deliverability are 1) repeatedly sending to invalid addresses and 2) sending to people who have complained about your email. Imagine how deliverability will soar when Hurricane MTA Server takes charge and ensures that neither of these things will ever happen again!

This is a really monumental release for us because it is the cumulation of so many things we have worked towards over the years. We have had cutting edge bounce handling in Hurricane MTA Server for years. (BTW, it is going to get even better soon, but you didn’t hear that from me.) Earlier this year we rolled out automatic feedback loop report processing. Now the new suppression list feature harnesses the power of bounce processing and feedback loop handling to protect your reputation and catapult your deliverability to new heights.

By maintaining lists of all hard bounce addresses and addresses associated with feedback loop complaints, Hurricane MTA Server can automatically suppress redelivery to those same addresses.

It Will Reduce Development and Administration

How will it reduce development and administration?

It will no longer be necessary for you to do your own list hygiene – Hurricane MTA Server will do it for you – automatically and accurately.

That’s right. This is fully automatic suppression lists on steroids!

Suppression lists can be set at the account level, globally, shared between accounts, etc. It is all very flexible and very automatic. Suppression lists are stored as standard CSV files so it is easy to interface them with your existing data. Our suppression lists support both plain text and MD5 encoded addresses for extra security.

This new feature is currently available in our latest beta build.

If you are a SocketLabs customer and would like to participate in our beta program, please log into your support console and create a ticket requesting beta access.

If you are not a SocketLabs customer but would like to be, please contact us to discuss it.

Be sure to check out the video above for a walkthrough.