Emailing list issues with a particular AOL email

[fearmydesign]

Hi, I am new here...I had no idea that you could find help on emailing! Great Forum.

I manage an emailing list for a particular customer. I send out about 600 emails every week for him, but for some reason he doesn't get the email!! He is on the list, but doesn't receive it. This makes him think that other people are not getting the email. He has an AOL account and I can't figure out why he doesn't get it. I have about 10 email addresses of mine, and they all go through. His email doesn't come back either, it may be going to his junk mail, but I don't know why! I even downloaded a program that let's you check your email and gives you a score so that ISP's won't recognize it as spam. The emails are only going to subscribers of his website.

Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Hello,

Welcome to Email questions!

There are many factors that can have an impact on how a large mail provider such as AOL will treat an individual email or mailing list message.

Everything from the reputation of the IP address sending the mailing list to the content of the email itself play a role in the messages overall score.

Some steps that you can take to improve your inbox delivery rates include:

• Always send the mailing list from the same email address
• Only send the mailing list to members who want to receive the email
• Ask the members of the list to add the From: address of the list to their whitelist and/or address books
• Do not send regular emails and mailing lists from the same IP address
• Immediately remove any list subscribers whose email address bounces with a permanent error indicating the address no longer exists
• Create and monitor an AOL feedback loop for abuse complaints

A lot of information specific to AOL and tools including the AOL feedback loop are available at the AOL Postmaster web site:

Also, AOL is partnered with a company called Goodmail. Email delivered to AOL from Goodmail is guaranteed to be delivered to AOL inboxes and not the members junk folders. If you would like to guarantee delivery of the mailing list messages directly to the inbox of several large email providers including AOL, Comcast, Road Runner, Verizon, and Yahoo then you may want to spend a few minutes checking to see if the Goodmail service will benefit your client.

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Popowich, thank you for your response. I looked into the Goodmail service, but unfortunatley I don't qualify just yet due to my company not being in business for over a year and because I have or don't send over 50,000 emails every month! But I will have to wait for a while, but it sounds interesting.

Now I have a hosting-reseller plan, do you think this has anything to do with how my emails are treated? For example today I sent a regular email to a potential customer, and she called back 2 hours later saying she never recevied the email, and it turns out it went to her junk mail! why does this happen, this could potentially hurt my business. Any other suggestions? thank you

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Hello,

You mentioned that you are on the mailing list and can receive the emails OK.

Can you post the message including the full email headers as a reply?

I'd be more than happy to help check the IP for reputation, blacklisting, and DNS problems.

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Popowich, I am using Sendblaster program to manage my lists and send out the emails. Please let me know if you need anything else, thanks for your help. (Below is the rest of info. )

BWX Lounge
[CENTER][CENTER]Baltimore-Washington's Premiere Lounge[/CENTER]
[CENTER]
Lounging Beds + Table Reservations
CALL: 240-464-3090[/CENTER]
[CENTER]Live Broadcast every Saturday starting this valentine's day February 14, 2009 Hosted by Konan from 92-Q[/CENTER][/CENTER]
Dear Exclusive Guest,

You are cordially invited to join us for a Special Edition of Xclusive Saturdays "Xclusive Fire for your Heart Desire". We are offering Complimentary wine and chocolate covered strawberries to our Xclusive guests. This event should not be missed. I'm sure you don't want to hear about it but be a part of it. Doors open @ 9PM, Ladies free before 10PM and Gentlemen $10 before 10PM.Live Broadcast on 92Q DJ Rod Mad Flava hosted by Konan. 

This event is Xclusive and the dress is to impress, therefore NO JEANS PLEASE!!!. We have the right to refuse admission due to dress, so please come prepared to party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  21+ Ladies, Gentlemen 25+....if you're a Gentlemen that is 21+ and part of the Xclusive crowd come dressed in your Valentine best so we can make an exception.

Sincerely,

BWX Lounge 

[CENTER][CENTER]Please visit www.bwxlounge.com for more info or write us at bwxlounge@gmail.com[/CENTER][/CENTER]

FROM: Baltimore Washington's Premiere Lounge [info@bwxlounge.com]
SUBJECT: Baltimore Washington's Premiere Lounge - Bwx
SMTP: mail.bwxlounge.com
Sender: info@bwxlounge.com
website: www.bwxlounge.com

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Hello,

What is the IP address that sends the email mailing lists?

If you click this link for full email headers you should be able to find the directions for your email service provider.

If not please let me know and I'll get the directions created.

-Raymond

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Hello,

A second thing worth noting is that there does not seem to be an unsubscribe link included in the messages.

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

this is the ip address 67.18.221.34. Thank you very much for your help.

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Hello,

I've been watching the reputation of your IP address and monitoring for blacklisting and you do not seem to have any problems in those areas.

Companies such as senderbase.org rate your reputation as neutral:

SenderBase The IronPort Security Network

Did you sign up for the AOL feedback loop?

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Raymond, thank you.

A second thing worth noting is that there does not seem to be an unsubscribe link included in the messages.

How do I create an unsubscribe link?

I have not signed up for the AOL feedback group yet, I did look around briefly but didn't find the group you are talking about. Thanks for your help once again.

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Hello,

Here is the link to the AOL Feedback Loop Request Form

It does not need to be a working link. The unsubscribe link can link to a web page where they type in their email address and you (or the list owner) get a notification to update the list in the background. As long as you have an easy to understand unsubscribe mechanism and it's clearly identified in the emails you should be OK.

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Thanks Raymond, I already signed up for the feedback, hope it helps! I will be adding an unsubscribe link to my emails which will give me a better score I hope.

One more question, do you think that it has anything to do at all with the program that I use to send out these hundreds of messages? The program is Sendblaster they have a free trial, but I bought the program.

Thanks for your help and feedback once again.

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Possibly. It likely identifies itself in the email headers.

Try sending a batch from Outlook or Thunderbird and see if you have better results.

Depending on your email hosting you may need to break up that list of 600 into a couple smaller batches such as 3 x 200 or 12 x 50.

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

I will try with my outlook, just use the BCC option to place all the email addresses correct? I've never done it this way before.

Thanks

 

[popowich]

Re: Emailing list issues with a particular email

Yes, sending the email To: yourself or the list address and then using BCC: for the rest of the recipients is a valid way to send to a mailing list.

-Raymond

 

[fearmydesign]

Raymond, the program has something called Charset: and it's set to Western European (ISO) (iso-8859-1) : There are other options but I have no idea what this is or what it does, would you be able to tell me if this is correct? Thanks so much for your help

Rod

 

[popowich]

Hi Rod,

Yes, that setting is OK.

-Raymond