Carolyn Gardner over at Sitebrand posted a note today about the issues experienced when switching Email Service Providers and it’s effect on your delivery. She points out that “with an increased rate of deliverability, you may also see an increase in the number of spam or abuse complaints“.

This is very true and having worked with several different marketers in the past that have done just this here are some ideas to help with the pains you may experience;

  • New IPs = New Reputation
    • This is not always a good thing, having no IP reputation is in many cases just as bad as a poor IP reputation. To minimize the impact of this; keep the same mailing address, start with a ramp up program for your emails with your new provider, and consider some of the ideas discussed here for “keeping your list clean“
  • New ESP = New Bounce Processing
    • You may see your bounce rates changing as each ESP interprets inbound bounce messages received from an ISP differently. There are organizations working to correct this behaviour across the industry on both the sending and receiving sides.
  • Different ESP reputation and contacts:
    • Many of the large ESPs employ people to manage relationships with ISPs, Blocklists and mailers to ensure the continuing flow of email traffic from their mailing partners to the consumer.
  • Different Reputation partners
    • Many ESPs have partnered with one specific reputation provider, each of these providers has a different reach. Most ESPs will work with all reputations providers on request.
  • Different campaign metrics:
    • A click is a click right? Sure it should be, but some ESPs a click is also an open, find out how your new provider does this to help with your ongoing program metrics and measurements. Join EMACs to be part of the discussion around standardized reporting.

Switch providers recently and want to share some suggestions or pain points, Share them with us by email at contact or leave a comment.