Improving Newsletter Delivery with Certified Opt-In E-Mail An Executive White Paper Coravue, Inc. 7742 Redlands St., #3041 Los Angeles, CA 90293 USA (310) 305-1525 www.coravue.com
Table of Contents Introduction...1 Problems with Spam...1 Spam Filtering A Partial Solution...2 Solving the Problem of False Positives...2 Coravue s Opt-In E-Mail Certificate...3 Benefits of the Coravue Opt-In Certificate...5 Summary...6
Introduction E-mail is a tremendously valuable method of communications. It s quick. It s direct. And it allows anyone to send a message to anyone else. However, it s that ability for anyone in the world to send a message to anyone else that has allowed questionable businesses to send unwanted messages to millions of people. These unwanted messages are technically called unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), but almost everyone knows them as spam. For many people the amount of spam received is several times the amount of mail from friends and business associates. This has generated highly emotional anger at spammers and frustration with e-mail in general. A recent study by Brightmail, a spam filtering software company, found that unsolicited bulk e-mail made up 36 percent of all e-mail transmitted on the Internet, up from 8 percent from a year earlier. While new spam filtering software can eliminate most spam, it also makes delivery difficult for legitimate messages such as e-mail newsletters. Today, opt-in is no longer the ultimate standard in assuring e-mail newsletter delivery for two reasons: Spammers claim their messages are sent to opt-in lists, frequently supplied by third-party partners. Spam filters can misidentify opt-in messages as spam. This white paper describes how newsletter publishers can increase their delivery rate by having a third-party organization insert a certification code for use by spam filtering software to identify and deliver legitimate opt-in e-mail. Coravue s opt-in certification process is described in this white paper to illustrate how this problem can be resolved economically and effectively. Problems with Spam The problem of spam goes beyond the time required to delete unwanted messages from an inbox. In order to entice people to open their spam messages, spammers have taken to making their messages look like legitimate messages, such as customer notices, newsletters, and notes from friends. When legitimate messages are filtered into the same mailbox as spam messages, it becomes very easy for users to delete good messages along with similar looking spam messages. This is causing legitimate marketers and publishers concern because their e-mails to customers and subscribers are being deleted as spam. One way for individuals to deal with spam is to create filters in their e-mail reading software to separate good messages from spam. This requires that 1
users create a filter for practically all of the people, publications, and companies from whom they want to receive messages. Since many users don t want to spend the time learning how to create and administer these filters, other solutions to the problem must be used. Spam Filtering A Partial Solution One increasingly popular approach for individuals is the use of spam filtering programs that examine messages in the mailbox at the ISP to determine which messages are spam. While spam filtering programs are available to individual e-mail users, Internet service providers (ISPs) have been under pressure from their customers to get rid of all spam without users having to purchase additional software. Many ISPs are now using spam filtering software on all messages handled by the ISP. These filtering programs look at the characteristics of each message to decide whether a message is likely to be spam or not. Most spam can be identified by this method because several common attributes are found in most spam messages. Unfortunately, this is not a foolproof method because legitimate messages, such as opt-in newsletters, are frequently misidentified as spam. Solving the Problem of False Positives While spam filtering software solves much of the spam problem, several types of important e-mail messages are being caught in this filtering web and are not reaching users who want to receive them. This is the problem of false positives misidentifying valid e-mail messages as spam, then keeping those messages from being appropriately delivered to e-mail inboxes. A recent study by Osterman Research Inc. found that 16 percent of people who use spam filtering software said they were somewhat to very dissatisfied with the number of false positives. The largest segment of misidentified messages includes e-mail newsletters to opt-in subscribers who have consciously subscribed to these publications. Another type of opt-in e-mail that people have decided to receive are messages that contain a single advertising message, frequently called solo messages or opt-in advertising. While the merits and value of solo advertising e-mail messages can be debated by marketers, there is no debate that if people knowingly subscribe to this type of message, they should be allowed to receive them. The large number of false positive messages caught by spam filters is fueling a debate on how best to fight spam while making sure that legitimate opt-in messages are received. 2
One approach is the use of whitelist filters that identify opt-in messages. These filters override spam filters and let desired messages pass to the recipient. Even within respected brand-name companies there can be exceptions in which customers or prospects can be added to a mailing list which otherwise contains only legitimate opt-in subscribers. What s needed is a method that is 100 percent guaranteed to identify true opt-in messages regardless of their content or sender and allow subscribers to receive these messages. Coravue s Opt-In E-Mail Certificate One solution is to certify true opt-in messages by including a code in e-mail messages identifying recipients who consciously subscribed to an e-mail publication. This provides assured identification of messages that should be delivered without regard to their content. This personalized certification code can be used by spam filtering software, and by filters created by individuals, to precisely identify opt-in messages that should be delivered. Certifying Online Opt-In Subscriptions For the certification process to be effective, these certificates must be issued only to individuals who have completed an online subscription form for the newsletter, customer list, or opt-in advertising list. Coravue has been identifying these opt-in subscriptions for e-mail hosting clients since 1998, and has recently included an encrypted certificate number in each subscriber s profile. Validating Offline Subscriptions In addition to opt-in subscriptions received via a company s Web site, there are a number of other sources of valid opt-in e-mail addresses that need to be certified, too. These requests frequently come from newsletter subscription services, trade shows, responses to print advertising, and over the telephone by call center representatives. While these are valid opt-in subscribers, they cannot be immediately certified because they come through an intermediary and cannot be guaranteed to be opt-in. Coravue s e-mail hosting clients use a variety of techniques to encourage these subscribers to complete an online subscription/profile form and, thus, become certified. Some of the techniques that have been used include offering: Access to additional articles and white papers Gift certificate at online retailers Participation in online advisory group 3
Coravue s Certification Process Coravue s opt-in certification process occurs only when a subscriber completes an online subscription/profile form and opts into a subscription list. At that time a certificate number is calculated for the individual and placed in the subscriber s profile. In order to ensure the validity of each certificate, the certification process uses a mathematical encryption technique that includes a key to authenticate the certificate. To ensure security, this encryption technique is one-way. This means that a spammer who acquires several certificates cannot reverse engineer the process and obtain the original e-mail addresses. Any spam filtering software that includes any part of the decryption technique can authenticate a certificate. Publishers using the Coravue newsletter hosting service do not have access to the process used to create and insert the certificates. In addition, even if a publisher wanted to thwart the certification process by placing their own certificate numbers in the profile database, the Coravue system would detect the forged certificate numbers and not insert a certificate in e-mails to those subscribers. CORAVUE NEWSLETTER HOSTING SUBSCRIBER PROFILE DATABASE CORAVUE CERTIFICATION E-MAIL NEWSLETTER HEADER CERTIFICATE TO: Subscriber FROM: Editor text INTERNET ISP SPAM FILTER E-MAIL INBOX NEWSLETTER CONTENT DATABASE NEWSLETTER CONTENT Figure 1 - Coravue Opt-In Certification Process Authenticating the Certificate Header The Coravue Opt-In Certificate is automatically included in the header of each e-mail sent to a certified opt-in subscriber. The header uses a consistent text format that can be used in a filter. In addition, the certificate contains the personalized certificate number assigned to the individual e-mail address on the To: line of the message. This means that software developers at filtering companies can add the Coravue Opt-in Certificate to their whitelists checking for either the formatted header or also authenticating the certificate. It s also easy for an individual to create a single Coravue Opt-In Certificate filter that passes all newsletters sent from the Coravue system. Since the certificate number for an individual subscriber is the same for all newsletters and mailings that originate from Coravue, a subscriber can create one 4
whitelist filter to handle all subscriptions. This eliminates the need to create a filter for each newsletter just to make sure newsletters are passed to the inbox. Federal Copyright Protection of Encryption Federal copyright law has protected unauthorized copying of intellectual property, such as newsletters, for many years. Recently, the challenges of protecting digital content have resulted in updates to copyright laws that protect encryption methods designed to control access to copyrighted content. This new law provides federal prosecutors with the legal tools needed to protect publishers of copyrighted materials using Coravue s encrypted opt-in certificate. This means that spammers looking to circumvent Coravue s encryption technology face federal prosecution not just civil prosecution by a publisher under traditional copyright laws. Benefits of the Coravue Opt-In Certificate There are important benefits to individuals, marketers, publishers, and ISPs when spam filters include the Coravue Opt-In Certificate in their whitelist of messages to pass. Marketers and publishers whose newsletters are presently considered spam by many of the spam filtering systems benefit by being assured that people who have subscribed to their mailings will actually receive their mailings. This means that spam filtering software companies can now identify legitimate opt-in messages and avoid the problem of false positives using the Coravue Opt-In Certificate. This method has an additional benefit for individuals who subscribe to newsletters from multiple companies hosted at Coravue only one Coravue Opt-In Certificate filter is needed to be assured that newsletters from those companies will be not be filtered out as spam. This is because the same encrypted certificate is used for an individual across multiple profile databases for multiple companies. This means that any newsletter to an individual originating from Coravue s system will automatically pass through the Coravue Opt-In Certificate filter of a subscriber who already subscribes to any other publisher s newsletter hosted at Coravue. For ISPs using any spam filtering software that recognizes the Coravue Opt- In Certificate, they can be assured that all of their customers who subscribe to newsletters hosted at Coravue will receive their issues. This also means that customer service costs are reduced because complaints about missing newsletters are reduced. Individuals benefit, of course, from receiving newsletters and other desired opt-in mailings, including paid subscriptions. 5
Summary The problem of spam is growing at a phenomenal rate. New filtering software applications are successful at keeping a large portion of spam from reaching users inbox. However, current filtering programs are also blocking some desired e-mail, such as opt-in newsletter subscriptions. A practical solution is using the Coravue Opt-In Certificate to identify specific messages to specific individuals that should not be treated as spam. This helps legitimate content providers and marketers, and it helps subscribers. Coravue is working with leading spam filtering software companies to ensure that messages containing a Coravue Opt-In Certificate are delivered to each subscriber. By combining the knowledge found in spam filtering software with Coravue s subscription certification process, subscribers, marketers, and publishers can eliminate disturbing spam while enjoying the tremendous benefits of content available via legitimate opt-in e-mail messages. About the Author Cliff Allen is the author of numerous articles and books about one-to-one marketing. His most recent book is One-to-One Web Marketing: Build a Relationship Marketing Strategy One Customer at a Time, published by John Wiley & Sons. He is also President of Coravue, Inc. About Coravue Coravue provides Internet-based software products and hosting solutions for managing marketing and sales activities. Coravue CRM includes functions for marketing automation, personalized Web and e-mail content management, lead capture and fulfillment, sales force automation, and service automation. For more information about Coravue s software products and hosting solutions, contact: Coravue, Inc. 7742 Redlands St., #3041 Los Angeles, CA 90293 USA (310) 305-1525 www.coravue.com Coravue, Inc. 2002 All rights reserved Coravue is a registered trademark of Coravue, Inc. 6