MailChimp Email Marketing Blog » dkim

AOL to Begin Checking for DKIM

Ben — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:46:31 +0000

Word-to-the-wise reports that AOL will begin checking for DKIM Authentication sometime in 2009, as discussed in a recent ESPC call. They’re using DKIM to evaluate your overall “IP reputation” (check out the AOL blog for more on that). MailChimp customers, no need to worry. DKIM Authentication is included by default (and is free) in all MailChimp campaigns (that’s what this box means, in case you were wondering):

Will Yahoo block messages that aren’t authenticated?

Ben — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:01:00 +0000

Here’s an interesting article about email authentication over at NetworkWorld: Will Yahoo block messages that aren’t signed?

For years, ISPs have been a little vague about how they’re going to handle authentication. Will it be used to block email? Does every legit email marketer need to authenticate their messages? Do ESPs need to offer it to all our clients?

Network World Senior Editor Carolyn Duffy Marsan interviewed Mark Risher, anti-abuse product manager for Yahoo Mail, and asked some blunt questions, like:

What benefits does DKIM provide?
A year from now, will you be stopping a lot of mail at the front gate because of DKIM?
Will you send non-authenticated email through more filtering?

Risher also shared the following:“We have seen aggressive uptake of DomainKeys. More than 40% of our inbound traffic to Yahoo Mail is using DomainKeys. That’s more than 1 billion messages a day with the open source version. DKIM is its successor. …Within 18 months, all of the top financial institutions will use DKIM.”

FYI, MailChimp offers both DKIM and Domain Keys (along with SPF and SenderID) for free. Just check a box, and bam—you’re authenticated.

Email Authentication Hits Tipping Point

Ben — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:05:00 +0000

Got this message from the ESPC.

“The adoption of e-mail and domain authentication has reached its tipping point, exceeding 50% in several key metrics, according to the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance. The report found that 51% of the Fortune 500′s consumer-facing brands, 52% of the Fortune 500′s consumer-facing financial service brands and 54% of the top 300 brands in the Internet retailer segment are all using some form of e-mail authentication.”

You can read more about Authentication and how it affects consumer trust over at DMNews.

If you’re a MailChimp customer, you can authenticate all your email campaigns, just like the Fortune 500 brands do. It’ll make your emails look more trustworthy, and it’ll sometimes help you get through corporate email firewalls. And you can do this with one simple click. Here’s how to activate it (it’s free for all MailChimp customers).