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Gmail Tabs: Friend, Not Foe

The scene: One of your senders calls your customer service team and starts complaining.   What’s the complaint? Oh, just a common one we hear all the time as not just an email service provider (ESP), but as members of the email community at large.  They’re upset their mail is being delivered…to the Promotions tab.  Gasp! […]

Gmail Tabs: Friend, Not Foe

The scene: One of your senders calls your customer service team and starts complaining.   What’s the complaint? Oh, just a common one we hear all the time as not just an email service provider (ESP), but as members of the email community at large.  They’re upset their mail is being delivered…to the Promotions tab.  Gasp! […]

by Lauren Meyer - February 21, 2023
swamp monster climbing out of swamp and scaring man

The Email Swamp: Don’t Go Bayou-self!

Let’s not beat around the bush: As an email service provider (ESP), you probably (definitely) have an IP or pool that looks more like a swamp than, well…a pool you actually want to use.  There is nothing wrong with having an Email Swamp! There is, however, a big risk in not watching the swamp like […]

by Nicky Copland - January 17, 2023
Build buy or diversify with a mailbox with 3 types of mail going in.

Build, Buy…Diversify!

By now, after reading our Build or Buy eBook, which you most certainly did (right?), you likely have a good understanding of the nuance between building or buying your email infrastructure.  If you didn’t read it, it’s no biggie – we’ll give you a quick primer here but strongly encourage you get the full run-down […]

by Tim Moore - January 10, 2023
A bad actor is using the sender reputation of other brands to send their spam.

Subdomain Squatters are Threatening Your Email Sender Reputation

An unfortunate reality of email sender reputation is the ability for it to be weaponized. Of course, as senders you can do a whole bunch of things to protect yourself from malicious activity, and the effect is not only protection, but a positive sender reputation. Mailbox providers (MBPs) use reputation information to protect their own […]

by Brian Godiksen - October 26, 2022

Ducking and Dodging Spam Traps

Email and spam traps have an “It’s Complicated” relationship status on Facebook. Or at least they would if Facebook still had that option.  If you’re here, you likely know enough about spam traps to be dangerous. If not, here is a little quick info to keep you up to speed on what they are and […]

by Lauren Meyer - October 12, 2022

Avoid Santa’s Blocklists This Holiday Season

Ho ho hold on there. Your holiday email program may be running a little behind, but you still can’t run amok.  While Santa’s sleigh is still parked in the hangar, you’ve got some work to do before you can make it rain — er, snow — email. If you don’t, you might find yourself on […]

by Skyler Holobach - October 5, 2022

The True Cost of Missing the Inbox

Let’s set the scene for the true cost of missing the inbox. You’re sending email from your preferred email service provider (ESP) but something changes. Your delivery rate drops at Yahoo or your customers are complaining about finding emails in their Gmail spam folder, but you have no idea how to investigate deliverability issues.   […]

by Lauren Meyer - September 8, 2022

On the Record: Spamhaus and Informational SBLs

Last week, I sat down with Matthew Stith, industry liaison at Spamhaus, to discuss the recent uptick in informational SBLs. My mission was to find out what’s going on, why the recent change, and what it means for the future of email service providers (ESPs) and senders alike.   I’ve structured this as simply and […]

by Lauren Meyer - September 1, 2022

This is Your Email on Burnout

We are all exhausted   Burnout: the word of the year   Well….multiple years.  I had the pleasure of talking about two of my favorite topics at UNSPAM in Chicago: burnout and recovering from an email disaster. The experiences of discovering you’re burned out and finding yourself on a blocklist are extremely similar, and so is the […]

by Skyler Holobach - August 24, 2022
A blog cover with moving boxes and a moving truck, showing someone moving on to a new email delivery provider.

Moving On: Your Essential Email Delivery Migration Guide

Today you’re gonna learn how an email vendor migration is a lot like moving to a new home—including the reasons for moving, as well as the pains and frustrations that come along with it. In this article, we’ll help you understand the benefits of email migration from one email delivery vendor to another. We’ll also […]

by David Mozeleski - April 12, 2022
scale email delivery

Scaling Up: Growing Your Email Program the Smarter Way with SocketLabs’ Concierge

Work smarter, not harder with email expertise and strategic guidance from SocketLabs Concierge Email Solution.

by Lauren Meyer - March 7, 2022
Members of the SocketLabs concierge team ready to assist you in finding context so you can send email the smart way.

Finding Context: Send Email the Smart Way With SocketLabs’ Concierge

In over your head managing your email program? Get professional expertise and strategic guidance with SocketLabs Concierge Email Delivery Solution.

by Lauren Meyer - February 15, 2022
DKIM Replay Attacks

DKIM Replay Attacks: Preventive Measures to Protect Email Deliverability

Old spamming techniques are making a comeback. See how bad actors are stealing sender reputation to send spam, and what you can do about it.

by Brian Godiksen - February 14, 2022
socketlabs concierge

Introducing SocketLabs Concierge

The SocketLabs Concierge Package makes email at scale easy with personalized expertise and intelligent reporting focused around your unique needs.

by SocketLabs - February 7, 2022
top ten email best practices

Top 10 Resolutions for Email Success in 2022!

Get the new year started off right with our top ten resolutions for a successful email program in 2022!

by Lauren Meyer - January 7, 2022
top level dontmains

Top-Level Do(n’t)mains: A Cautionary Tale About Choosing the Right Sending Domain for Your Email Program

SocketLabs’ Brian Godiksen and Campaign Monitor’s Travis Hazlewood look into the increasingly prevalent issue of top-level domains causing major deliverability issues.

by Brian Godiksen - December 10, 2021
why your holiday email campaigns are already late

Your Holiday Email Campaigns are Already Late: How to Get Caught Up

Holiday email campaigns not started yet? You’re late! Don’t panic, check out what our email experts have to say about the do’s and don’ts of holiday email this year.

by SocketLabs - October 12, 2021
email deliverability do and dont best practices

Email Deliverability Best Practice Guide: Hot or Not

Hitting the inbox can be challenging, we cover the top hot, and not-so-hot email deliverability best practices that will help get you to the inbox.

by SocketLabs - September 20, 2021
email open rates

Email Open Rates are (Mostly) Dead: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Care

Are email open rates really dying? Here’s what’s really happening with email open rates and why you’ll be just fine!

by Lauren Meyer - September 15, 2021
How to Fix WordPress When It’s Not Sending Email

WordPress Not Sending Emails? Here’s the Easy Way to Fix

Is your Wordpress not sending emails? Find out what’s likely causing your WP email delivery issues and discover a fast and easy solution.

by John Porrini - September 13, 2021
types of email infrastructure

How to Choose the Right Email Infrastructure for Your Business

On-Premises, cloud, hybrid…email infrastructure can be a complex topic. We put together a guide (along with a handy comparison chart) of the main types of email infrastructure that exist today and the benefits and challenges that come with each option.

by Lauren Meyer - August 20, 2021

How to Check Your Domain Reputation with Google Postmaster Tools

Learn how to use Google Postmaster Tools to check your domain reputation and other valuable email metrics to help stay on top of your email and improve your deliverability

by Brian Godiksen - August 17, 2021
email data

Turning Email Data into Intelligent Insight: Interview with Louis Driving Hawk, Director of Product Management

SocketLabs’ Director of Product Management, Louis Driving Hawk explains the SocketLabs’ methodology on email data and how its being used to change the way businesses manage email delivery

by Lauren Meyer - August 10, 2021
hosted email infrastructure

Email Infrastructure Landscape: Your Guide to Email Delivery in 2021

Using a hosted email infrastructure solution is one of the best ways to send your transactional and marketing email…

by Lauren Meyer - July 23, 2021
email deliverability expert

10 Ways to Unlock More Value From Your Email Program

Trying to convey the importance doing email the right way to various departments at your company (or customers) can be a challenge, here are 10 tips to share to help everyone unlock more value from email.

by Lauren Meyer - June 11, 2021

5 Reasons Why Your Email Goes to Spam Instead of the Inbox

…email keeps getting stuck in the spam folder? We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 reasons your emails goes to the spam folder instead of the inbox…

by Jarred Injaian - June 9, 2021
importance of email

The Importance of Email in Modern Business: Interview with SocketLabs’ CRO Brandon Dingae

SocketLabs’ CRO Brandon Dingae explains the relevance of email in the business world, and shares insights about how SocketLabs is meeting the challenges of high-volume senders with unique email needs.

by Lauren Meyer - June 8, 2021
email deliverability terms

Email Deliverability Cheat Sheet

Getting started in the complex world of high-volume email deliverability? Here’s a quick guide on the most important email deliverability terms to know!

by Lauren Meyer - June 7, 2021

What is My IP Reputation? [3 Ways to Improve]

Find answers to all your questions on IP reputation and how it can affect your email deliverability. Read more on SocketLabs’ blog!

by Jarred Injaian - May 20, 2021
avoid email blocklists

How to Avoid Email Blocklists: 7 Tips from Leading Blocklist Providers

Learn how to stay off of email blocklists and improve your deliverability with 7 tips from the industry’s leading blocklist providers.

by Lauren Meyer - May 17, 2021

What is a Spam Filter and How Does it Work?

A spam filter can be your worst enemy as a bulk email sender, or it can be a powerful tool used to out-perform your competition…

by Jarred Injaian - May 3, 2021
What’s An SMTP Relay? [A Brief Crash Course]

What Is an SMTP Relay [A Brief Crash Course]

Wondering what is an SMTP Relay? In this article, you’ll get a brief crash course on SMTP. So what does SMTP stand for? It means Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and it is…

by John Porrini - February 15, 2021
how to warm up an ip address

How to Warm up an IP Address

IP warming is the process of warming up a new IP address by gradually increasing the volume of emails sent through it over a period of time…

by Jarred Injaian - January 22, 2021
how to send confirmation emails

How to Send Confirmation Emails: 5 Tips with Examples

In today’s day and age, confirmation emails are extremely important. Find out how to send confirmation emails that hit the inbox and make happy customers…

by SocketLabs - December 15, 2020
what is dkim

What is DKIM?

DKIM is an email authentication mechanism that helps ensure an email has not been altered in transit using custom signatures in…

by SocketLabs - June 11, 2020
what is transactional email

What is Transactional Email? [With Examples]

What is transactional email and how can it help generate revenue? Transactional email is an email that is prompted by the…

by Jarred Injaian - May 29, 2020
email authentication

Why Microsoft’s Changes will Cause a Ripple Effect in Email Authentication

While it is widely known that Microsoft has been working on the logic around email authentication….

by Brian Godiksen - April 24, 2020
email authentication

Email Authentication In 2020

Through the first quarter of 2020 there have been several developments in the email world that impact email authentication

by Brian Godiksen - April 24, 2020
domain level reporting

New Domain-Level Reporting From SocketLabs

Socketlabs is pleased to introduce advanced sending domain and recipient filtering to help customers more deeply analyze the performance of their mail streams.

by SocketLabs - March 8, 2020
recipient report

New Recipient Activity Report From SocketLabs

Socketlabs is excited to introduce new reporting features that provides customers with email performance history and engagement data down the individual level!

by SocketLabs - March 7, 2020
reduce email bounce rates

How To Reduce Email Bounce Rates [4 Easy Steps]

Learn how to reduce email bounce rates in 4 easy steps to get your emails to the inbox on, time every time…

by Jarred Injaian - January 20, 2020
troubleshooting email delivery issues

Troubleshooting Email Delivery Issues: 4 Tips To Get Back On Track, Fast

Troubleshoting email delivery issues can be a real headache…Luckily we’ve made it super easy with this four part checklist….

by Jarred Injaian - December 19, 2019
what is ccpa

What is CCPA: Everything You Need to Know

With January 1, 2020 approaching quickly, its important to know what is CCPA and how it will impact your business moving forward…

by SocketLabs - December 16, 2019
sparkpost alternative

SparkPost to SocketLabs: Your Guide to Easy Migration

SocketLabs makes an easy SparkPost alternative for those looking to get more from their email service provider…

by SocketLabs - December 2, 2019
azure email

How To Send Email From an Azure Web App

Sending email from your Azure web application just got easier with the SocketLabs Email Service listed in the Azure App Center…

by Jarred Injaian - November 22, 2019
email campaign analyitics

Email Campaign Analytics That Make a Difference

How can you determine the effectivness of your high volume email without the proper email campaign analytics to guide your…

by Jarred Injaian - November 12, 2019
email marketing still effective

Is Email Marketing Effective?

Bad email practices have left businesses and consumers wondering if email marketing is still effective. The simple answer is…

by Jarred Injaian - November 2, 2019
how to use email data analytics

5 Interesting Ways to Use Email Data Analytics

Check out these 5 interesting ways you can use email data analytics to transform the way you send high volume email….

by Jarred Injaian - November 1, 2019
future of email

The Future of Email: Is Email Still Relevant?

Advancements in modern communication technology have left people questioning the relevance of email. In this blog we will cover what the future of email actually looks like…

by Jarred Injaian - October 24, 2019
customer experience email

Using Email to Drive a Better Customer Experience [With Real Examples]

Most people wouldnt consider email a part of their customer experience strategy, those people should think again…

by SocketLabs - October 21, 2019
Email Analytics Best Practices

Email Analytics Best Practices: Using Analytics to Optimize Email Deliverability

Improving your email deliverability comes down to one thing: email analytics. Are you following email analytics best practices? Find out…

by Jarred Injaian - October 11, 2019

Understanding DMARC: Your Guide to Powerful Email Authentication

DMARC is not the be-all/end-all solution of email deliverability issues, and it is not for everyone. DMARC is only a concern for domains that are trying to eventually move to a “reject policy”, and for organizations who care about their domain’s branding being used without permission. What is DMARC? DMARC, which stands for “Domain-based Message […]

by SocketLabs - September 12, 2019
what is email analytics

What is Email Analytics: How to Use Email Analytics Best Practices to Improve Email Performance

Learn how to improve your email performance by answering this simple question: What are email analytics and how do you ise them?

by Jarred Injaian - August 29, 2019
importance of email authentication

The Importance of Email Authentication

After two exciting days at Digital Summit Philadelphia, marketers from around the globe learned the importance of email authentication and how it works…

by SocketLabs - July 29, 2019
Dyn Alternative

Oracle Users Seek Dyn Alternative: Here’s What You Need to Know

With Oracle’s recent annoucement of the discontinuation of Dyn Email Services and DNS, customers are left looking for a Dyn alternative

by SocketLabs - July 18, 2019
socketlabs email tools

New SocketLabs Email Tools

SocketLabs is excited to introduce four new email tools that will simplify the tedious and complicated tasks associated with email platform management…

by Jarred Injaian - June 27, 2019
how to improve email deliverability

7 Ways to Improve Your Email Deliverability

Email deliverability can make or break your application. Here are 7 best practices on how to improve your email deliverability.

by SocketLabs - June 13, 2019
email blast

How to Send Bulk Email Without Using an Email Blast

Here is why you should avoid sending your high volume email through an email blast campaign…

by Jarred Injaian - June 10, 2019
What is a Smart Host?

What is a Smart Host Service?

At a very high level, an SMTP Smart Host is a server that sits between an email sender’s server and an email recipient’s server that can…

by Jarred Injaian - May 1, 2019
SMTP Monitoring

SMTP Monitoring: How to Monitor Delivery Errors with Email Monitoring Tools

What is SMTP Monitoring? Learn all you need to know about how to specifically monitor your email delivery errors and message failures.

by John Porrini - April 29, 2019
what is email throttling

What is Email Throttling?

Trying to improve your email deliverability? Learn what is email throttling and how it will get more emails to the inbox…

by Jarred Injaian - April 29, 2019
best bulk email service

8 Things to Look for When Choosing the Best Bulk Email Service Provider

When looking for the best bulk email service for your business, follow these 8 tips to get the most success from your email…

by Jarred Injaian - April 26, 2019
how to improve email open rates

How to Improve Email Open Rates [Top 4 Tips and Tricks]

Learn how to improve email open rates with these four steps to get your important emails to the inbox on time…

by Jarred Injaian - April 24, 2019

Top 3 Benefits of DMARC

Today we’re going to talk a little about the benefits of DMARC. What is DMARC? DMARC is an email technology that is really cool. It’s essentially an email authentication protocol that is designed to give email domain owners the ability to protect their domain from unauthorized use. DMARC email authentication is really valuable to companies […]

by Brian Godiksen - April 23, 2019
What is an email bounce?

What is a Email Bounce? [Three Ways to Lower Your Bounce Rate]

A bounced email is an email that makes it to the recipient server but encounters an error before making it to the….

by Jarred Injaian - April 18, 2019
What does smtp error mean

SMPT Error Codes: What They Mean

…this SMTP response code can be good, like 250 (the requested action was taken) or it can be bad, an error code like 550, that indicates the end of…

by Jarred Injaian - April 11, 2019
smtp email delivery

SMTP Email Delivery 101: When Is An Email Actually Considered Delivered?

Today you’re going to learn about SMTP and email delivery — exactly when an email is actually considered delivered. Ready? Let’s go…

by John Porrini - April 11, 2019
what is my ip reputation

What is My IP Reputation? [3 Ways to Improve]

…have noticed a decrease in your email engagement and deliverability, it may be time to start thinking about your IP reputation.

by Jarred Injaian - April 10, 2019

Effective Transactional Email Design: The Anatomy of a Receipt Email

What does an effective transactional email design look like? In this post, you’ll learn how to create an an effective transactional receipt email that…

by John Porrini - April 4, 2019
what effects email deliverability

What Affects Email Deliverability: Top 3 Best Practices

Let’s dive a little deeper into what affects your email deliverability and how you can maximize the potential of your email sending

by SocketLabs - April 4, 2019
setup smtp gmail

How to Setup SMTP in Gmail: Do You Know the Limits?

Looking to setup SMTP in Gmail? For most small senders, Gmail SMTP is a quick setup. However, Gmail’s SMTP server comes with serious limitations…

by John Porrini - March 28, 2019
what is telnet

How to Test SMTP Relay Server Connection Issues With This Powerful Telnet Alternative

Get step by step instructions on how to test your SMTP relay connection with SocketLabs’ telnet alternative.

by John Porrini - March 28, 2019

What is an SMTP Server?

An SMTP server is a lot like any other server but it is highly specialized in the ability to process and deliver outbound email.

by Jarred Injaian - March 28, 2019

Email Whitelisting: A Dying Practice

What are email whitelists and are they still relevant to you in todays highly technical email industry? An email whitelist is a…

by Jarred Injaian - March 25, 2019
powershell automation

Making the Most of PowerShell Automation – More than Just Sending Email

If you are an IT administrator and want to learn more about how you can use PowerShell automation to simplify administrative duties…

by SocketLabs - March 11, 2019
Get Server Id

How To Configure The SocketLabs WordPress Plugin For Optimized Email Delivery

The SocketLabs WordPress Plugin allows you to easily route email generated by WordPress through SocketLabs for improved deliverability.

by John Porrini - December 14, 2017
5 List Segmentation Ideas

5 List Segmentation Ideas For More Targeted Email Marketing

77% of email marketing ROI comes from segmented and targeted campaigns. In this article, we give you 5 of our a favorite email list segmentation ideas.

by John Porrini - November 8, 2017
6 ways to plan ahead for the holidays

6 Ways to Plan Ahead for Holiday Email Sending

The holiday season is quickly approaching and if you have been paying attention to your inbox, then you may have already noticed some holiday emails rolling in, signaling that it’s time to start planning ahead for your own email sending over the holidays. In this article, we’ll give you six ways that you can start […]

by John Porrini - October 25, 2017

Best Practices with Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

What is SPF? Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is one of the primary means of authenticating email messages as they transit the Internet. The importance of SPF is growing as additional technologies, such as DMARC, are built on top of the standard. As more domains implement SPF records, greater value is derived from the framework for anti-spam […]

by Brian Godiksen - September 14, 2017
Verb Address

Big Improvements to Our Custom Bounce Domain Feature

We have made yet another huge update to the SocketLabs On-Demand platform. Now you can add Multiple Custom Bounce Domains to your SocketLabs account for a fully white-labeled experience and other benefits such as: More control and flexibility over your messages. Improved branding of your emails. Put SocketLabs deeper in the background of your email […]

by John Porrini - July 28, 2017

How to Ensure That Forwarded Messages Arrive at the Destination Mailbox

Auto-Forwarding is a frequently used mailbox rule to move messages along from a secondary mailbox to a primary mailbox. But, this in itself has some shortcomings, such as forwarding spam messages along or failing to forward messages along due to security policies put in place by the original sender of the message. We have in […]

by Brian Godiksen - June 15, 2017
How subscription bombing works

Are You Aware of This Hidden Danger of Collecting Email Addresses on Your Website?

Subscription bombing, also known as mail bombing, is an internet-wide trend where malicious bots attack a person via their email address, ultimately rendering the address and email account useless for a period of time. In this article, we’ll discuss how you – the sender, can be compromised by an attack if the forms on your […]

by John Porrini - June 8, 2017
Open Loop Example

9 Ways to Improve Your Email Open Rate

SocketLabs processes millions of emails, so we know what it takes to get emails opened. Here are 9 actionable tips to help improve your email open rate.

by John Porrini - January 16, 2017

Do You Know the History of Spam?

This article will get you up to speed on the history of spam. But first, let’s quickly define what spam is. There are many definitions of spam but for the sake of simplicity lets define spam as the mass transmission of unwanted messages. Though it wasn’t called spam until the early 1990s – The term […]

by Scott Figario - October 17, 2016
Holidays

Are You Prepared for the Holidays?

Are You Ready to Send More Email over the Holiday Season? Did you know that during the holidays we tend to see email traffic increase by up to 30% platform wide? Well, the holidays are fast approaching and if you’re planning to send more email during the holiday season then now is the perfect time […]

by John Porrini - September 29, 2016

Engagement is More Than Just Opens & Clicks

In our last blog article we discussed how recipient engagement is becoming the cornerstone of modern anti-spam systems. We took an in-depth look at open and click data from our customers and explained how this can be used to correlate the perceived desirability of messages to recipients. The article brought out a lot of questions […]

by Brian Godiksen - July 19, 2016

Understanding Modern Spam Filters

Spam filtering used to be a cut and dry affair, very binary, black and white. Mail was either spam or it was not spam. Analyzing a message and deciding the bucket for each was also a simple process. For the most part filtering technology scaled well along with the rise of the internet. DNS blacklists, the […]

by Brian Godiksen - July 7, 2016

Today Google Announced Their DMARC Plan, and It May Affect Your Email

Google’s DMARC implementation plan may affect your outbound email. Discover what you need to know online here at SocketLabs, and try us for Free!

by Brian Godiksen - October 20, 2015

Is Poor Message Formatting Hurting Your Inbox Placement?

Is poor message formatting hurting your inbox placement? Find out now at SocketLabs! Read about error codes now to discover if your messages are compliant.

by Brian Godiksen - February 12, 2015

Protecting Your Email From Abuse

SocketLabs goes to great lengths to ensure your email server is protected from abuse. Learn about the techniques we use to maintain your email reputation!

by Bill Volz - January 13, 2015

The Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Email Results in 2015

Increase your email results in 2015 by following these 5 simple recommendations.

by John Alessi - December 23, 2014

The Importance of WHOIS Data for Email Senders

WHOIS data plays an important role in the deliverability of your email messages. Come to SocketLabs, and learn how concealing your identity may hurt you.

by Brian Godiksen - November 6, 2014

How the Suppression List Feature Improves Deliverability

SMTP server deliverability can be affected by a number of factors. By using suppression list technology our hosted service protects IP reputation.

by John Alessi - August 26, 2014
bot spam

Preventing Bot Spam From Damaging Your Sender Reputation

Left unchecked, bot spam can quickly damage your sender reputation with ISPs and cause delivery problems with all of your email. Learn more at SocketLabs.

by Brian Godiksen - July 14, 2014

Everything You Need to Know About Cloudmark

Cloudmark is among the largest providers of content reputation analysis. Discover everything you need to know about Cloudmark online today at SocketLabs!

by Brian Godiksen - May 16, 2014

Yahoo Speaks Out About Recent Policy Changes

Last week we published an article about security policy changes at Yahoo Mail that are affecting email senders. The change implemented by Yahoo was an email security protocol called DMARC. DMARC, which stands for “Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance” is a technology that aims to prevent spoofing of from addresses. The changes implemented by […]

by Brian Godiksen - April 14, 2014

GMail Adds New Unsubscribe Option

Find out the latest on the new GMail unsubscribe feature to understand the impact on your email campaigns. Check out this blog today at SocketLabs!

by Brian Godiksen - February 24, 2014

5 Common From Address Mistakes You Should Correct Now!

The From Address is a Critical Component of any Email Message. When was the last time you put some thought into the address you are using in the from field of your messages? Between anti-spam analysis and brand identification, the from address is one of the most critical components of an email message. It is […]

by Brian Godiksen - February 18, 2014

The Effects of Changes at Gmail on Engagement Tracking

Changes to Gmail have some effect on engagement tracking metrics. This article explains what google is doing and how SocketLabs is handling it.

by Brian Godiksen - December 6, 2013

Increase Deliverability By Separating Your Mail Streams

Transactional and Marketing email messages are looked at differently by ISPs. This article focuses on increasing deliverability by separating mail streams.

by John Alessi - November 11, 2013

The Danger of Auto-Forward Rules

Use SocketLabs smarthost smtp service to help you easily find & solve email delivery issues associated with auto-forwarding rules. Read today at SocketLabs!

by Brian Godiksen - October 21, 2013

Has Your Email Exchange Server Been Blacklisted?

SocketLabs helps companies using Microsoft Exchange Servers overcome problems with blacklisting that prevent email from getting delivered. Learn more today.

by John Alessi - October 11, 2013

How Can An SMTP Smart Host Helps Solve Your Email Deliverability Issues?

SocketLabs Email On-Demand system acts as an effective SMTP smart host to deliver corporate email when your email platform falls short. Learn more today!

by John Alessi - October 7, 2013

Mailbox Providers 101 – Part 5 The Big ISPs

SocketLabs On-Demand service provides an optimized SMTP server infrastructure to send your email more effectively to the large MSO ISP service providers.

by Brian Godiksen - September 24, 2013

Mailbox Providers 101 – Part 4 Outlook

At SocketLabs we have customers asking us questions every day about the big mailbox providers.  These providers run a significant percentage of consumer inboxes and some also offer corporate and private domain mailbox solutions. Through years of delivering billions of messages to these organizations, we’ve gained great insights which we will share over the next […]

by Brian Godiksen - September 19, 2013
AOL

Mailbox Providers 101 – Part 3 AOL Mail

Mailbox Providers 101 – A five part series about the industry’s biggest email domains. Here at SocketLabs we have customers ask us questions everyday about the big mailbox providers.  These providers run a significant percentage of the consumer inboxes and some also offer corporate and private domain mailbox solutions.  Through the years of delivering billions […]

by Brian Godiksen - September 18, 2013

Mailbox Providers 101 – Part 2 Yahoo! Mail

Mailbox Providers 101 – A five part series about the industry’s biggest email domains. Here at SocketLabs we have customers ask us questions every day about the big mailbox providers.  These providers run a significant percentage of consumer inboxes and some also offer corporate and private domain mailbox solutions. Through the years of delivering billions […]

by Brian Godiksen - September 17, 2013

Mailbox Providers 101 – Part 1 GMail and Google Apps

Here at SocketLabs we have customers asking us questions every day about the big mailbox providers.  These providers run a significant percentage of consumer inboxes and some also offer corporate and private domain mailbox solutions. Through years of delivering billions of messages to these organizations, we’ve gained great insights which we will share over the […]

by Brian Godiksen - September 16, 2013

8 Easy Ways to Improve Your Transactional Email Messages

Discover these 8 easy ways to improve your transactional email messages! Come to SocketLabs, and learn how to create a positive customer experience.

by John Alessi - September 4, 2013

Best Practices Using Custom DKIM Signatures

Interested in using custom DKIM signatures? We have the information you are looking for! Discover the best practices using custom DKIM signatures.

by Brian Godiksen - August 5, 2013

Engage Your List: The Importance of Customer Engagement

Discover a list of tips to help increase your customer engagement. Our tools make it easy to track! Find out the importance of customer engagement here.

by John Alessi - July 22, 2013

Feature Highlight: Engagement Tracking

This week we’re going to look at all of Engagement Tracking, discuss its benefits, and show how to use and manage this feature.

by John Alessi - July 8, 2013

AOL Postmaster Changes Spam Filtering

A recent AOL Postmaster blog article which was reported more widely through the Word to the Wise blog outlines some vague new changes to the way AOL is handling certain email messages that are identified as spam.  The result of customer feedback, AOL states that they will be returning more CON:B1 Refuses errors to mailers sending these […]

by SocketLabs - May 8, 2013

Best Practices for Using Custom MailingIDs and MessageIDs

Socket Labs provides information on the best practices for using custom MailingIDs and MessageIDs. Find email delivery solutions at SocketLabs.com!

by Brian Godiksen - January 24, 2013

Don’t Let Blacklisted Domains Affect Your Deliverability

Over the past few months, we have been working on designing and implementing a new ultra-efficient spam detection system across our entire outbound email delivery infrastructure.  Processing billions of messages a year through our SMTP servers makes it difficult to scrutinize each and every message to the level of detail we desire.  As we have incrementally […]

by Brian Godiksen - January 15, 2013

Hurricane MTA Server 2.0 Feature Highlight – HTTP Event Engine

One of the cool new features of the Hurricane MTA Server 2.0 release is the new HTTP Event Engine.  What’s cool about the Event Engine is that you can now have Hurricane MTA Server send your application delivery events like sent, bounced, failed and feedback loops directly, in real-time without having to parse log files […]

by John Alessi - November 6, 2012

When Using a Smart Host is the Smart Choice

A smart host server or SMTP relay server can provide enhanced email delivery services. Read more about when a smart host is the smart choice at SocketLabs!

by John Alessi - June 26, 2012

All new Suppression List management features now available!

SocketLabs is excited to announce some great new features to help you manage your Suppression List! If you are unfamiliar with the Suppression List page, it can be found in the Control Panel. Once you’ve selected a Server to manage just click on Configuration menu in the top menu bar and then select “View Suppression List”. Upon […]

by Brian Godiksen - October 11, 2011

360 Degree Monitoring

I am happy to announce that we have launched our 360 Degree Email Monitoring project. What is 360 Degree Email Monitoring? This is an aggressive monitoring system that we developed to help us instantly detect and correct any bottlenecks that may occur in our outbound email delivery network, and measure real outbound email delivery performance every […]

by John Alessi - May 19, 2011

Keeping Your Mail out of the Spam Folder

Laura at Word to the Wise has posted an excellent article on how to keep your mail out of the bulk folder. In it she also references another great article: 10 Things you can do if your email campaign is going to the junk folder At SocketLabs, we put all the technology and management in […]

by John Alessi - January 7, 2011

Some Updates to SocketLabs On-Demand

Failure Report and API Now Show Suppressed Items The SocketLabs On-Demand Failure Report which shows all delivery failures, now includes messages which have been suppressed. If you are unfamilliar with our suppression system, follow this link to learn more. Suppressed items show up on the report with the Failure Type set to “Suppressed”. In addition, […]

by John Alessi - December 21, 2010

Suppression Lists Fire up Deliverability in SocketLabs On-Demand

A few weeks ago we quietly rolled out a great new feature to the SocketLabs On-Demand Control Panel. The new interactive Suppression List report allows you to view and manage your suppression lists. We have been using an automatic suppression list for all SocketLabs On-Demand accounts since day one, but until now it was hidden […]

by John Alessi - October 19, 2010

The 5 Key Components to Email Deliverability

I often get asked as I am talking to perspective customers, “What do you do to make sure our email goes into the inbox?”.  It’s a valid question and really the number one concern for the people who are coming to us looking for help.  It isn’t until they start experiencing deliverability problems that they […]

by John Alessi - June 9, 2010

Top Ten Indications that Someone Might be a Spammer

Running an email delivery service keeps us constantly on the alert for people trying send spam. I have been figuring out that I can pretty much tell if someone is going to be trouble with their first sentence or two. Here are the top 10 indications that someone might be a spammer: 10. They refer […]

by John Alessi - June 3, 2010

New Deliverability Boosting Suppression List Feature Now In Beta

(UPDATE 2009-12-16: This feature is now in the production release.) I am very excited to announce that our new suppression list feature is currently in beta. This new feature goes way beyond what is normally thought of when we think of suppression lists. Typically, suppression lists are used to prevent future outbound messages to addresses […]

by John Alessi - October 2, 2009

Bounce Codes for Major ISPs

There are so many bounce codes used by the various ISPs and receivers that it’s hard to keep them all straight. Now there is a great resource for most of the known bounce codes to help simplify your tracking and processing. The eec’s Deliverability Roundtable has put together a repository of common and available bounce […]

by John Alessi - August 14, 2009

Over 17% of Email is Sucked into the Black Hole

According to a Return Path’s latest Deliverability Benchmark Report, of the 21% of email that is not delivered to the inbox, only 3.3% is sent to a “junk mail” folder and 17.4% is not delivered at all – it just vanishes! Return Path did not state where they believe the email to be, but we […]

by John Alessi - July 30, 2009

Bounce and Feedback Loop Test Addresses

Test your bounce and feedback loop processing systems with our auto-responder email addresses. Check out SocketLabs, and try our services for Free!

by John Alessi - July 24, 2009

New Smart Delivery Rule Update

We just released a new production release of Hurricane MTA Server and there are two things you should know about it: First, now our new Dynamic Block Rules are a part of the Smart Delivery Rules. Now, protecting your reputation is automatic. You can read more about Dynamic Block Rules here. Second, Smart Delivery Rules […]

by John Alessi - July 21, 2009

Protect your Email Reputation with New Dynamic Block Rules

Protecting your email reputation is getting harder, yet it’s critical to successful delivery of marketing or transactional email. Protect your email reputation.

by John Alessi - July 10, 2009

Feedback Loop Processing and Reporting in Hurricane MTA Server

One of the biggest updates in the new release of Hurricane MTA Server is built in feedback loop report processing. Learn about feedback loops at Socket Labs.

by John Alessi - July 9, 2009

Feedback Loop Signup Links

Here is a handy list of feedback loop signup links.

by John Alessi - July 8, 2009

Handling Feedback Loop Reports with a Plugin

One of the cool new events supported by the new IDynamic plugin API interface is OnFeedbackLoopParsed which can be fired each time a feedback loop report is received and processed by Hurricane MTA Server. The following code illustrates how the event can be handled by your code. If you have not read about the new […]

by John Alessi - July 8, 2009

Email Open Rates

Are you interested in learning how email open rates are calculated? We’ve got you covered! Check out the SocketLabs blog online today, and learn more.

by John Alessi - March 22, 2009

IP Tagging / Warmup

The latest Hurricane MTA Server beta build includes exciting new deliverability increasing features. Each IP on Hurricane MTA Server can now be tagged with a user defined id which can be used to classify IP addresses. Delivery rules can then be tagged to restrict them to IPs with the same tag. To tag a delivery […]

by John Alessi - March 19, 2009

Do your customers need a dedicated IP address for sending email?

Do your customers need a dedicated IP address for sending email? There is not one answer to this question. Discover the methods online today at SocketLabs!

by Bill Volz - January 22, 2009

Enable your Recipients to Determine Email Frequency

Determine email marketing frequency with SocketLabs email delivery service! Give your subscribers control over the frequency and content of your messages.

by John Alessi - December 22, 2008

Spam Volume Rises at an Alarming Rate

A new security study by Cisco found that the volume and frequency of spam is growing… quickly, the study says.  Nearly 200 billion spam messages were sent each day in 2008.  That is nearly double what was sent in 2007.  That number is simply staggering.  Not only is the volume growing, but the messages are […]

by John Alessi - December 18, 2008

Return Path Acquires Habeas

Return Path has signed a deal to acquire Habeas and it is expected to close within a couple of weeks. According to Return Path CEO and Chairman, Matt Blumberg, “The one thing we do know at this point is that we will be maintaining both Sender Score Certified and the Habeas SafeList as separate and […]

by John Alessi - August 13, 2008

Improperly Configured MTAs Don’t Deliver

According to ReturnPath’s newly released Q2 2008 reputation benchmark report, properly configured MTAs are over 200% more successful at delivering messages. The report studies a significant sample of email messages received by ISPs and their ultimate outcome i.e. delivered, filtered, rejected, etc. The report underlines how important it is to have a properly configured mail […]

by John Alessi - August 10, 2008

How To Troubleshoot Hotmail Delivery Issues

Experiencing Hotmail delivery issues? Learn how to detect and troubleshoot the most common Hotmail deliverability problems.

by John Alessi - July 16, 2008

Increasing Deliverability by Reducing Complaint Rates

Most, if not all, of the large ISPs judge your reputation largely based on the feedback they receive from their users regarding your mail. Generating too many complaints over a period of time puts you on the fast track to getting blacklisted. Let’s look at Yahoo. Getting email to Yahoo recipients is always challenging. If […]

by John Alessi - November 17, 2007