July 2015 Summaries

With the launch of Google Postmaster Tools, users can now monitor their email delivery for messages sent to Gmail and Google Apps, gaining detailed insights into domain and IP reputation, spam rates, encryption usage, and more. This tool provides actionable feedback on areas for improvement, such as supporting DKIM, SPF, and encryption, helping users become better senders. By placing control back in the hands of domain owners, Postmaster Tools offers a valuable resource to enhance email delivery, complementing other tools like Postmark's DMARC Digests, Spam Check, Delivery Confirmations, and Open Tracking.

The Postmark team has announced a major update to their message activity feature, introducing "Delivery Confirmations" which provides more transparency and visibility into email delivery. With this new feature, users will now see a "Delivered" record for every message in activity, showing the actual server and IP that accepted it, allowing for better troubleshooting of delivery problems and improved control over email delivery. This update aims to increase transparency and accountability, enabling Postmark customers to identify potential issues and improve their overall email delivery experience.

Transactional email subject lines can significantly reduce the time users spend reading emails by providing all necessary information in a concise manner. For example, receipts from services or digital products should include the product name and price in the subject line to eliminate the need for users to open the email. Similarly, shipping notification emails can be simplified by including an estimate of delivery date and a brief description of the contents in the subject line. Refund notification emails should only provide the company name, refund amount, and confirmation of the refund, as customers can infer additional information from the price. By implementing these strategies, businesses can save their users time and improve overall user experience.

Inboxtrail is an email deliverability tool that helps organizations manage email deliverability by providing a platform to test and analyze deliverability rates, identify issues, and improve inbox placement. The company was created to address the lack of transparency in email deliverability, which can be complex and difficult for many businesses to understand. Inboxtrail's ESP Comparison Center provides daily delivery tests from various ESPs, publishing data that helps users gauge their email deliverability. The tool measures deliverability across top ISPs, including Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook, Yahoo, and AOL, and also tracks differences between marketing emails and transactional emails. Deliverability issues are more common with Hotmail and AOL, but can be mitigated by modifying content or waiting a few days to see if the problem improves on its own. Inboxtrail recommends using shared IPs for sending transactional email due to their ease of management and lower risk of IP reputation issues. The company also plans to expand its ESP Center to include analysis of other metrics such as speed, quality control, integrations, and customer support.