In case you missed our recent deliverability-focused webinar presented in partnership with NGP VAN, “Increasing deliverability in the political and advocacy spaces,” never fear! We’ve got a recap and recording for you right here.
The webinar was presented by Al Iverson, Industry Research and Community Engagement Lead at Valimail, along with Sandro Cocito, Deliverability Manager at NGP VAN, and Craig Grella, Program Director at NGP VAN. We started by explaining the basics of deliverability and reputation, followed by the specifics of how deliverability and reputation differ (and don’t differ) when it comes to political and advocacy mail. See some of the highlights below.
CAN-SPAM applies, but in a unique way
A common misconception is that because CAN-SPAM (the US Federal anti-spam law) exempts political emails from regulation, political and advocacy senders should send email messages that don’t comply with common bulk email permission practices. Truth be told, CAN-SPAM sets two things in play that have a very important impact on this and almost any other type of bulk email communication. First, the affirmative consent standard, the commonly used definition of opt-in across much of the email industry, and second, the law provides freedom for inbox providers (like Gmail and Yahoo) to set their own policies with regard to what mail they want to accept or reject.
The net here is that the inbox providers are quite clearly allowed to filter or reject mail that doesn’t make their users happy. Recipients make it clear that unsolicited and uninteresting messages are not wanted and not welcome; inbox providers hear this loud and clear and block political mail when it doesn’t comply with these common best practices.
You can try to send lots of unwanted and unsolicited political messages, but they won’t deliver well, won’t get solid inbox placement, and won’t be a part of a campaign’s winning digital strategy.
Domain security: More important than ever in the political realm
With news like North Korea targeting domains with poor DMARC security for intelligence gathering, we are reminded that political email senders can be just as easily targeted for phishing and spoofing and need to be protected. Proper email authentication of email sent through platforms such as NGP VAN is key, with the added security available courtesy of DMARC through our tools like Valimail Monitor and Enforce.
We also work closely with Defending Digital Campaigns, a nonprofit C4, nonpartisan, and non-aligned organization that provides access to cybersecurity products, services, and information regardless of party affiliation. The goal is to help protect the digital assets of our democracy. We encourage all political senders to explore DDC eligibility, and we’re proud that our DMARC monitoring and protection is one of the services that DDC can help provide at low or no cost.
Watch the recorded webinar
If you’d like to dive into these points in more detail and listen to the Q&A session that followed, you can find the webinar recording here:
And don’t forget to reach out to Valimail today for help implementing proper DMARC monitoring and enforcement. Our advanced anti-phishing solutions are designed to protect your brand, organizations and campaigns from phishing threats by securing your communication channels and preventing email impersonation.
