Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
An Email Retrospective
As a new year begins, many take time for retrospection of the highs and lows of the past year. What a year 2009 was. We had economic turmoil, bailouts, the inauguration of a new President, the death of Michael Jackson and even the balloon boy - 2009 sure kept us on our toes! Of course at Return Path we live and breathe email. Our strong relationships built through our daily work with the worlds leading email marketers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) puts us right at the center of the email universe. As the custodian of the center of the email universe, we strive to make inbox placement more fair, more predictable and easier to understand for everyone. So, as 2009 closes, what about email and deliverability changed during the year? Take a look back with us as we review the top 10 email trends that caught our attention in the industry and fueled our passions during 2009, a very exciting year indeed.
2009 BROUGHT MORE SPAM, BIGGER PHISH AND BETTER TOOLS TO BRAVE THE WATERS
1. Spam Keeps Growing and Growing WHATS INSIDE: The Latest on Phishing
- See Page 2 - See Page 3 - See Page 4
Beginning early in 2009, we saw a flurry of articles publishing metrics on spam volumes reporting the increase of spam as a percentage of all email. All Spammed Up reported that Spam has increased over 141% since March and also found that spam volumes grow by over 117 billion e-mails a day. [1] McAfee reported that in less than five months there was a 140% increase in total spam volume. Reported causes were a 16% rise in botnet infections from Q1 2009 to Q2 2009. Many also pointed a finger at the exploitation of social-networking sites for sending spam. [2] MX Logic released their July 2009 Threat Forecast report claiming that spam as a percentage of overall mail had reached its highest point ever, currently accounting for 94.6 percent of all e-mail. [3]
Is Email Dying?
- See Page 5
If you have questions or would like to hear how Return Path can help, please call 1-866-362-4577, or email rpinfo@returnpath.net. 2010 Return Path, Inc. www.returnpath.net v033010
The Q3 2009 Spam & Virus Trends report from Google Postini reported that Q2 and Q3 of 2009 saw some of the largest surges in payload spam activity in the past two years. Postini reported blocking more than 100 million viruses every day during the height of the spamming activity. [4] In particular, early in 2009, image spam came back with a vengeance, as the bad guys deployed new methods to sidestep detection. In its latest guise, image spam can cause problems for outdated email defenses. Software engineers reveal that some spam-producing and sending software is able to modify each image so that no two images are ever exactly alike. And it points to the dangers of remote image spam where the email contains a link to a remote URL. According to Computer World, image-based spam first hit 5 to 10 percent of all spam in March of 2009 before skyrocketing to 15-22 percent in April. [5] Unlike a couple of years ago when stock trading and financial subject matter were more prevalent in image spam (most likely due to the recent financial crisis) 2009 seemed to be the year of pharmaceutical spam.
Over the past year, receivers have increased and improved the methodologies used to determine legitimate email.
For senders who appear on a whitelist that is used by the most important ISPs relative to their list, images and other enhanced features are enabled which maximize inbox placement rates and positively affect response rates for senders. And with good deliverability comes higher response rates.
If you have questions or would like to hear how Return Path can help, please call 1-866-362-4577, or email rpinfo@returnpath.net. 2010 Return Path, Inc. www.returnpath.net v033010
Page 2 of 6
messages and took over some of the sites online groups. The damage caused by phishing ranges from the inability to access accounts to significant financial loss. While the most common approach to combat phishing is by correctly authenticating your email, another key strategy is to educate your team on how to recognize phishing attempts and how to deal with them. It is imperative that senders participate at the highest levels in the conversations around phishing. The criminals threatening to take over the internet can be deterred but only with participation by all stakeholders. All sectors - government (policy and enforcement), educational, infrastructure operators, financial institutions, and more - must actively participate in coordinated efforts towards a solution.
Return Path provides complaint feedback loops for more than 75% of the worlds largest internet service providers.
This powerful feedback data gives commercial email senders the ability to identify the messages users are complaining about and better understand why recipients are marking their email as spam. With this information, senders can fix the problems that are causing the complaints and improve their own inbox placement rates while reducing spam complaints.
If you have questions or would like to hear how Return Path can help, please call 1-866-362-4577, or email rpinfo@returnpath.net. 2010 Return Path, Inc. www.returnpath.net v033010
Page 3 of 6
Gmail climbs to the 3rd most popular web based email application by increasing its user base by 45%.
While other email providers offer feedback loops or whitelisting program, Gmail does not. According to their website, the two most important factors to help messages arrive to Gmail users are ensuring that the From: address is listed in the users contact list and having users clicks Not Spam to alert Gmail that messages sent from that address are solicited.
If you have questions or would like to hear how Return Path can help, please call 1-866-362-4577, or email rpinfo@returnpath.net. 2010 Return Path, Inc. www.returnpath.net v033010
Page 4 of 6
Conclusion:
All of us in email marketing would do well to remind our marketing colleagues and executives about the staying power of the email channel. We can be even more successful if we combine that reminder with suggestions on how to adapt our email marketing programs to emerging trends in the industry. By following best practices and continuing to create relevant messages, you have an opportunity to engage with subscribers and get your email delivered straight to the inbox. This evolution of email marketing strategy will strengthen the channel, no matter what or who the next new cool thing is in 2010.
If you have questions or would like to hear how Return Path can help, please call 1-866-362-4577, or email rpinfo@returnpath.net. 2010 Return Path, Inc. www.returnpath.net v033010
Page 5 of 6
Resources Cited:
1. Walsh, Sue. Spam Volumes Shoot Up 141%. All Spammed Up July 30, 2009 2. Q2 2009 Threats Report. McAfee. Second Quarter 2009 <http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/reports/6623rpt_ avert_threat_0709.pdf>. 3. MX Logic Threat Forecast and Report. MX Logic. August 2009 <http://www.mxlogic.com/pdf/forecast/ threatforecast0809.pdf>. 4. Q309 Spam and Virus Trends. Google Postini. October 2009 <http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/10/q309spam-virus-trends-from-postini.html>. 5. Keizer, Gregg. Image spam returns with a vengeance. Computer World May 6, 2009 6. Facebook Press Room Statistics. Facebook . December 2009 <http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics>. 7. Schonfeld, Erick . Gmail Nudges Past AOL Email In The U.S. To Take No. 3 Spot. Tech Crunch August 14, 2009 8. Della Penna, Michael . Gen Y Would Abandon Social Networks Before Email or Texting. Participatory Marketing Network November 11, 2009
If you have questions or would like to hear how Return Path can help, please call 1-866-362-4577, or email rpinfo@returnpath.net. 2010 Return Path, Inc. www.returnpath.net v033010
Page 6 of 6