Hi guys,
We have a web application that relies on email (eg: template@newsletter.com) to deliver the final result (email newsletter template). Now we have some restrictions in place in that you can only send the final newsletter to the email address you sign up with (you look after your own distribution) and you have to click on a confirmation email link the first time you sign up.
Even with this restriction i know at some point someone is going to play silly buggers and report this email address as spam. When this happens it will effectively shut down the application until fixed. So to pre-empt this what are my alternatives? I am actually looking for two options. 1st a cheap temporary solution that we can use until the application is generating revenue and supporting itself. Second a long term strategy that we can use when we have a budget to play with.

Any ideas?

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Toddle.ie - Beautifully Simple Email Marketing.

Spoiltchild Design - Effective business design.

Email addresses don't get blacklisted.

IP addresses, domains and netblocks do.

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Ok, same question

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Toddle.ie - Beautifully Simple Email Marketing.

Spoiltchild Design - Effective business design.

You won't get blocked on one report, it will take a few reports before your ip will get blacklisted. There isn't really all that much you can do to prevent it other than to hunt down the fools who report it.

Make sure that the abuse and postmaster email aliases are setup on the domain you're sending it from, most spam reporting services will send a report to one of those addresses. They will also include an example of the email that was reported. If there's unique items in the template, it might be possible to see who's responsible and sort it out

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Make sure that any mails generated by the system include some basic details of what is generating them and how to stop any future emails from the system.
A lot of spam complaints we get are from people who have forgotten that they actually subscribed to newsletters or simply can't see why they are getting a mail. You'd be amazed at how many people simply get their email address wrong!

hotmail.com - I've seen about 15 derivatives of that on orders and support tickets!!

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Details of what is generating them is a great idea Michele thanks.

Niall, we intend to generate many many users so many reports is very possible There must be some way...
What if we generated the emails from a subdomain? When a domain is blacklisted does it include the top level domain and all subs?
If the IP is banned should we then be trying to send the email from a different server on a different ip? Perhaps long term have a series of these servers that can be quickly switched when needed?

What do you think?

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Toddle.ie - Beautifully Simple Email Marketing.

Spoiltchild Design - Effective business design.

The way most Blacklists work is to gradually blacklist more and more of the subnet that the ip/ips are on is blacklisted. If you manage to blacklist a significant portion of ip space, your ISP won't be happy at all!! Your best bet is to make sure that there is very clear info as to where it came from and how to unsubscribe.

You mentioned in the original post that the user will look after the distribution. If that's the case, the most dangerous part won't be done from your ip space?

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Toddle.ie - Beautifully Simple Email Marketing.

Spoiltchild Design - Effective business design.

Hey Alan, my initial thoughts, if you've given these consideration forgive me if I'm repeating the obvious.

I see two sides to it - there's the technical side of understanding how specific blacklists and filters work. You can find out how they document procedures to get your list cleaned. E.g. are you going to be sending to Yahoo addresses? This post might help getting around blacklists there, and I'm sure each one has lots of docs on this issue.

The other side is user education/interface, where you need to avoid getting your mails flagged in the first place. The normal stuff like having your company name in the Subject:, having a big "You are receiving this because" block up the top and a single simple one-click unsubscribe option that works.

Pull out all the tricks to avoid getting reported and have a strategy in place for the major blacklists to get back online if you are.