New Pivotal Veracity Report Outlines Major Changes in ISP Spam Filtering Technology

Authentication, Domain-Level Reputation, and Customer-Level Engagement Metrics Fundamentally Transforming the Email Deliverability Landscape

Sept. 22, 2009, PHOENIX, Ariz. — Pivotal Veracity, the industry leader in cross-platform email deliverability and optimization solutions, today released a new report detailing radical changes in the filtering processes of major consumer email account providers/ISPs. “What’s in Store at the ISPs: 2009 – 2010” reveals that the rising importance of sender authentication, the introduction of domain-level reputation scoring, and the incorporation of individual-level engagement metrics into spam filtering systems will force senders to adjust their mailing strategies to ensure inbox delivery.

“A revolution is going on in spam filtering that has significant consequences for all email senders,” said Deirdre Baird, Founder & CEO, Pivotal Veracity.  “We are witnessing the emergence of a whole new era, where reputation is being assessed at the domain- and even individual-levels, and traditional email marketing metrics such as click-through rates are having an impact on whether your mail is being placed in the inbox or spam folder.”

Pivotal Veracity’s ISP relations team regularly meets with postmasters at the top ISPs and spam filtering companies to provide insight into where they are heading technologically and their evolving expectations for high volume mailers. “What’s in Store at the ISPs,” documents the latest changes at the top ISPs in order to help senders successfully deliver email for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010. 

Key findings highlighted in the report include:

• Domain-based reputation has arrived. A number of top ISPs including Yahoo and AOL are moving to augment IP-based reputation systems with portable domain-based reputation systems for those mailers using DomainKeys/DKIM authentication.
• DomainKeys/DKIM a necessity for maximizing inbox placement. With the exception of Hotmail, which uses its own “Sender ID” authentication model, the most widely used authentication method is DomainKeys/DKIM. Senders need to implement these solutions in order to take advantage of domain-based reputation and other ISP services such as Yahoo’s feedback loop. 
• Customer-level response more consequential than ever. Major ISPs are increasingly incorporating metrics into the spam filtering process that they hadn’t previously, such as opens, click-throughs and even add to address book and forward rates. Understanding what is happening at the customer-level and recipient engagement has become a primary driver of deliverability.

To access the full report – which includes in-depth information about specific changes taking place at AOL, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Comcast, Road Runner, Verizon, Bell Canada and Cloudmark – please visit Pivotal Veracity's White Paper Archive.

About Pivotal Veracity

Pivotal Veracity is the number one ranked independent email delivery auditing and optimization company. The company provides a suite of solutions that empower permission-based enterprises with tools and expertise to improve the credibility, deliverability and effectiveness of their online communications. Pivotal Veracity’s solutions are offered directly to businesses as well as through a network of more than forty leading email deployment platforms, service providers and agencies worldwide. For more information, visit www.pivotalveracity.com.