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BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

• The Domain-based Message Authentication, Re-
porting, and Conformance (DMARC) standard is
increasing the interest of mailbox providers in the
DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) test. And if
DKIM checks are carried out anyway, the domain
reputation continues to gain in importance.

• Mailbox providers face the fact of emails with IPv6
addresses. IPv4 blacklists and reputation services
are very effective, but in a world determined by
IPv6, senders can hide more easily, so that IP-
based blacklists are no longer an effective means.
The reputation of domains, however (just like
whitelists with IPv6 addresses and domain white-
lists) can work in the IPv6 world. 5. If you send emails through domains of service
providers, you must also track the performance of
Of course, IPv6 will only be introduced gradually and the email campaigns and email streams running
the merging to the "Internet of Things" is no small mat- from these domains. You may unwittingly identify
ter, so you can most probably still use your current IP yourself as a potential spammer if such domains
addresses for quite some time. In the foreseeable fu- appear on blacklists or are associated with spam.
ture, mailbox providers will continue to use a combina-
tion of IP and domain reputation as a basis for decision- 6. Check domain blacklists such as SURBL, URIBL
making. Spoofing is also still a weak point of domains, and Spamhaus DBL regularly to make sure your
and it will take time for more effective domain reputa- domains are not listed there. If one of your do-
tion protocols to be developed and implemented. To mains is listed, determine the cause as soon as
protect your own reputation as a sender in this transi- possible so that you can fix the problem and do
tion situation, the following measures are recommend- not appear on these lists again.
ed:
7. It is advisable to refrain from affiliate marketing. A
1. Track your IP reputation using, for instance, tools partner who uses your domain to send emails can
like Sender Score and Inbox Monitor from Return cause your domain to be blacklisted and damage
Path. You can also initiate monitoring of your do- your reputation as a sender, which can lead to
main(s). Start by applying complaint rates, un- delivery problems for your own e-mails.
known user rates and other metrics that you use
to control your IP address(es) to your domain(s). If The fact is that the reputation of your domain is already
some of your sending IPs have bad reputations an indicator of filter decisions for mailbox providers.
you should be careful, as this could damage your And the more computing devices are connected to the
entire domain reputation. “Internet of Things”, the more important the domain's
reputation becomes. With billions of other devices con-
2. Make sure you authenticate using SPF and DKIM. nected via the Internet in the next 5 years, the chances
If you haven't already, get started right away. of misuse increase immeasurably.◊

3. Consider using DMARC. By Daniela La Marca

4. Keep the number of your domains as low as pos-
sible, considering the requirements of your email
program. Having many domains makes it easier
for spammers and phishers to pass off fraudulent
emails as originating from your brand. At the same
time, it makes it difficult for you to track down
these attackers to stop them.

October 2021: IoT in Marketing 17