Recently Return Path announced that they will no longer be certifying mail streams from "third party marketing" mailers. While this announcement should come as no great surprise to the industry it does highlight, in my opinion, a very decisive shift in the email marketplace regarding the acceptance of these types of mailings. (Read: Changes to Return Path Certification Standards)

A third party mailer is an organization that sends email marketing that promotes the products or services of another company. As a result, these mail streams have always had an identity crisis and suffer from reputation issues as they pertain to the ISPs. Using liberal methods of data collection, transparency and permission practices, third party mailers generally suffer from greater data integrity issues compared to one-to-one email marketing organizations.

This announcement is yet another indication that the ISPs are clamping down on these types of email messaging options which generate more complaints and deliverability challenges for these mailers.

The path to the inbox is getting even more complex and challenging, so be sure to consider all your options when deploying your email marketing communications. Proactive data integrity management is a major key to successful consumer engagement, and managing your campaigns to your subscribers' preferences will prove fruitful for your ongoing email marketing efforts.

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About the Author

David Fowler is the director of email strategy, deliverability and privacy compliance for Lyris. He consults with email marketers to help them get better results from their email programs.

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