Getting 'white-listed' in our client's e-mail program

- anyone know an easy way

[Mr Bo Jangles]

Our web-app has the feature of sending out e-mail Alerts to users, but sometimes with new subscribers, these e-mails initially are trapped and identified as spam or junk. This causes us extra work - and some annoyance for the clients, many of whom aren't that computer literate.

So I was wondering if there was a simpler way to get our e-mail address 'whire-listed' by their e-mail client - with all the possible e-mail services and programs out there, to present them with a 'How To' listing is pretty daunting.

So I was wondering, if we just got them to send us an e-mail to the particular address, does the fact that they sent it to us then tell most e-mail programs that anything coming back is 'friendly'?
(I realize that if they put the address in their Contact lists, that helps with many programs, but that is one extra issue that will be one to many for some users.)

Any really simple/clever ideas?

[engine]

I've had this problem occur, sometimes regularly, and sometimes intermittently.

I don't have an easy answer.

[piatkow]

I suspect that your major problem is the big 3 webmail providers. They often take against automatically generated emails and even if the customer has white listed the address they refuse to accept them into their system. As engine says, this isn't necessarily consistent.

[lawman]

I can't even get my own email account to direct emails to the inbox when it determines they should go to spam box.

[Mr Bo Jangles]

Through another Forum I also posted this problem on, I received a couple of replies from people that are using 'ReturnPath'. It's a bit pricey (I have a few domains/servers that I would want covered), and a bit of a process to go through with their application. Has anyone experience with utilizing this service?

[engine]

Well, there are solutions, but, they all require some knowledge, experience, and cost. There are alternatives the the one you mentioned, and it may be worth investigating other providers if that solution is what you seek.

[tangor]

One of the main things to check is that your mail server is not configured for open-reply or pass-thru ... sure sign of potential spam. Also, most user email ISPs subscribe to any number of spamhaus type lists. See if you are listed, find out why, and make the corrections to get OFF their list(s).

[Robert Charlton]

From what I've been able to pick up, sending out mass emails yourself is always going to create problems.

I suspect that your major problem is the big 3 webmail providers. They often take against automatically generated emails and even if the customer has white listed the address they refuse to accept them into their system. As engine says, this isn't necessarily consistent.

All of the above, and perhaps true also about many ISPs. Mass mailings in and off themselves will raise flags of possible spam.

Advice I've gotten is to get a commercial emailing service. These services know what protocols need to be followed and what needs to be cleared in advance with the ISPs/email systems.

The commercial services also have tools and applications for preparing, sending, and tracking emails, and for managing lists and campaigns. As I remember when I looked into it (and that was a while back), there are/were some services that are surprisingly inexpensive.

One possible downside, IMO, is that some services appear to use their own domain names in the return address... at least that happens on many emails I've received... and one wonders if those are phishing emails or really from the sender.