[November 17, 2003] Blacklists and Spam Filters Hurting Permission-Based Email Marketers Hoopla and headlines aside, permission-based email marketers say they are less concerned with legislation aimed at stopping spam than they are with technology and practices of ISPs that inadvertently block legitimate, permission-based email. That's the primary finding of a survey conducted during a recent Jupiter Research webinar, sponsored by EmailLabs, a provider of email marketing automation solutions. When asked to identify their biggest concern, nearly a third of the email marketers surveyed (31 percent) mentioned blacklists and spam filters implemented by ISPs and corporate IT departments. Some 22 percent put bounces and email address changes as their biggest email delivery issue. A like number cited inbox clutter – and the toll that takes on open rates – as their top email delivery concern. A scant 8 percent called anti-spam legislation their number one concern, while 9 percent put email client-level filters first and 8 percent said obtaining accurate delivery statistics was their most pressing challenge. In response, email marketers are taking a number of concrete steps to address these concerns – foremost of which is increasing or dedicating internal resources to email marketing (27 percent). Another 24.5 percent are deploying ISP-specific strategies (message format changes and buddy lists), 22 percent plan to outsource email delivery and 13.5 percent are looking to switch email marketing technology service providers. Relatively few are switching to a double opt-in subscription process (8 percent) and even fewer plan to use a sender certification program (5 percent). In an additional sign of the growing sophistication of email marketers, 27 percent identified in-depth reporting as the single most important feature or service they seek when selecting an email marketing solution/provider, followed by customization and CRM integration/API at 21 percent. Nineteen percent cited advanced features (triggers, dynamic message assembly, etc.), followed by dedicated ISP relations/high deliverability, at 18 percent. The types of email marketing solutions currently used varied widely across companies, however with ASP/Hosted software the top choice at 30 percent followed by installed software (licensed) at 23 percent. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]