Lyris Introduces EmailAdvisor Deliverability Monitoring Service

• February 12, 1998

Lyris Introduces EmailAdvisor

Hosted Suite Audits Message Appearance, Content, Junk Mailbox Delivery, Blacklisting and ISP Status to Minimize Undeliverable or Ineffective Email

BERKELEY, CA – December 16, 2004 – Lyris Technologies has introduced a hosted email deliverability monitoring system called EmailAdvisor consisting of five interrelated components that help marketers minimize the amount of money wasted on email messages that will be blocked, blacklisted, held up by ISP delivery problems, or display incorrectly in certain email clients.

Developed by new Lyris subsidiary Piper Software, the system addresses the rising challenges faced by marketers in generating sufficient returns on their permission-based email campaigns in the face of aggressive anti-spam efforts and other activities that can interfere with the delivery of legitimate opt-in messages.

Industry analyst Jupiter Research has estimated that the cost of emails that are sent but not delivered will nearly double from $230 million in 2003 to $419 million in 2008. That forecast has prompted Jupiter research director David Daniels to call for marketers to use independent services that measure delivery rates across ISPs.

"Marketers are starting to realize that about 20% of their 'delivered' mail is actually being routed to bulk mail folders, where it's as good as dead," said Steven Brown, vice president of marketing at Lyris. "EmailAdvisor helps them combat that problem, and also makes them the smartest people in the room when it comes to explaining their campaign results."

Five Services in One

EmailAdvisor encompasses five component services that include the market's only automated proofing system to display HTML message appearance in all major email programs before a campaign begins, as well as the only real-world message testing system for accurately flagging messages destined for junk mail or spam folders. The service includes:

• Inbox Snapshot, a first-of-its-kind system that automatically tests and shows how each HTML message will appear in 40 different email clients so that problems with a given client can be fixed before launching a campaign. This service provides images for each email client in minutes and also checks spelling, detects broken links, and identifies missing HTML tags that can adversely affect delivery.

   

• Delivery Monitor, a service that tests 25 U.S. and 12 international email providers in advance to determine whether a given message will be delivered to recipients' inboxes, routed to junk mailboxes, or not delivered at all. Reports are based on "audit" email addresses (also called "seed" or "test" addresses) and actual results from Web mail clients – not POP mail servers that lack complete information – and itemize the results for each ISP or mail provider individually. The same information can also be gathered for the entire campaign in real time.

   

• Content Analyzer, a system that analyzes email messages against 30 different spam filters to show whether a given email may be incorrectly flagged as spam. Test results include an aggregate spam score and more granular information for selected email filters, enabling marketers to adjust their messages before sending the live campaign.

   

• Blacklist Monitor, a report that checks all domains and IP addresses in an email message — including those that may be embedded in the message body — against various Domain Name System blacklist services. This enables marketers to take appropriate steps to clear their names if their domains have been inadvertently and incorrectly blacklisted, or remove links to blacklisted URLs.

   

• ISP Monitor, a status report that alerts marketers when any of 30 different ISPs are experiencing email delivery or throughput problems. With this information, EmailAdvisor clients may elect to delay sending time-sensitive campaigns to certain ISPs until their difficulties are resolved, or use the data to explain apparent decreases in message open rates.

  Specifications, Pricing, and Availability

  EmailAdvisor is a hosted service that is compatible with all commercial email marketing software and hosted solutions. All functions and reports are accessible online, and Lyris also offers professional services for clients requiring email deliverability assistance. EmailAdvisor subscriptions start at $200/month for five audits, and a variety of packages are available for different mailing volumes and consulting needs. For more information, visit About Lyris Technologies Inc. http://www.lyris.com

  Lyris Technologies is the developer of Lyris ListManager, the world's best-selling email marketing software. Over 4,000 businesses — from Fortune 500 corporations to fast-growing startups — rely on ListManager for high-performance email campaign management and analytics. Lyris also offers Lyris ListHosting for outsourced email campaigns, the Lyris MailShield software suite for spam protection, and Lyris MailEngine for fast, efficient email delivery. Founded in 1994, Lyris was recently named by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the fastest growing companies in the San Francisco Bay area. For more information, visit