Esp standards

What makes an ESP a good ESP?

In late 2009, there was a lot of discussion about Good ESPs vs. Bad ESPs. On twitter one day someone brought up the idea of setting up standards for what made a good ESP.

This is a list of standards that good ESPs should adhere to, and force their customers to adhere to.

= Set clear standards for customers =

Complaints

 * Complaint rates for ongoing mailings
 * Average complaint rates less that 0.1%
 * Maximum complaint rates never higher than 0.4%
 * Bounce rates for ongoing mailings
 * Average 5xx bounce rate <1%
 * Maximum bounce rate never higher than 3%
 * Complaint rate for new addresses
 * Average complaint rates less than 0.3%
 * Maximum complaint rates never higher than 0.6%
 * Bounce rate for new addresses
 * Average user unknown bounce rate <3%
 * Maximum user unknown bounce rate <5%

Filtering

 * Temp failures <1% for any one mailing
 * Bulk foldering rare (some bulk foldering is content based and can happen occasionally even with cleanest senders)

Identification

 * Customers have valid contact information on webpages, in email footers and in whois records
 * Customers use authentication whenever possible

Address acquisition

 * Customers not allowed to purchase or rent address lists.
 * Customers required to have clear signup page that provides:
 * Frequency of mailing
 * Examples of mailings
 * Customers required to provide welcome messages to new subscribers

Engagement

 * Open rates >30%
 * Click through rates >10%

= Clear enforcement polices =
 * Customers are suspended for violation of any standards.
 * Suspensions can be punitive (e.g. no mail for 3 days) or rehabilitative (no mail until customer fixes problem)
 * More than 1 suspension in any rolling 3 month period, customer is disconnected completely