Whitelisting website email so it is not rejected as spam

Question

What are the processes I need to go through to make sure emails sent from my web server are not rejected as spam? This question is for legitimate site emails that members have requested like a daily newsletter which is generated and run in a nightly process, as well as confirmation emails.

Some of the ideas I've heard are:

1. Making sure the server sending the mail has reverse-dns lookup turned on.
2. Manually submitting a whitelist request to major ISPs.

Answer 1

Ok, I spend a couple hours this morning researching the answer to this question and here's what I discovered.

DNS Setup

1. Ensure forward and reverse DNS lookup is enabled.
2. Ensure web server has a static IP address.
3. Add a SPF Record

Email signing:

1. Sender ID
2. DomainKeys
3. DKIM

Major whitelists

1. ReturnPath.net
2. Goodmail

Conversations with major vendors

1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. AOL: aol.com, cs.com, netscape.net
4. MSN: Hotmail, Live.com, MSN (uses ReturnPath.net certification)
5. United Online: Netzero, Juno
6. Verizon
7. AT&T: att.net

Other helpful information: Deliverability.com

Here's some good info if you're looking to off-load this to a provider:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3746213/sendgrid-vs-postmark

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4798141/sendgrid-vs-postmark-vs-amazon-ses-and-other-email-smtp-api-providers

Answer 2

Take a look at the service these guys offer

Mail Chimp

In most cases it ends up being better to just integrate with their API. I run a website myself and use their services and they are way better than anything i could write myself.

Even if you don't use mailchimp take a look at the contents of one of their emails and pretty much copy it - then it should go through. I think you need to collect a few details about your user such as their name etc and personalise each email.

Also, think carefully about the amount of emails you will be sending. If it's enough for your ISP to blacklist you then you may end up with no Tinterwebbage.

Hope this helps

Answer 3

Google does not permit whitelisting!

Googles' article "Gmail uses Google's innovative technology to keep spam out of your inbox" in its last section "Authentication, for everyone":

• "unlike many other providers that automatically let through all mail from certain senders, making it possible for their messages to bypass spam filters, Gmail puts all senders through the same rigorous checks"

Thanks a lot. At my home I am doomed to recieve my own Emails from my work being always spammed

@Stephan Muller's comment:
I (already) knew it but anyway I need to know how they are being recieved by others. This is the main point of sending Emails to my private gmail from work and checking them at home.
Besides, what is the point of having blacklists only without whitelists?

That is anyone can blacklist competitor by just clicking "Report spam" but there is no way out