We just recently setup a dedicated email server for one of our high volume customers. Whenever we setup a new email server, we have a checklist we run through, to make sure everything's setup just right, and to minimize deliverability problems. We thought we'd share that checklist with you, because some of you might be thinking about getting your own email server one day. Even if your list is teeny-tiny, and you'll always use a delivery service like MailChimp, there are still some things on our checklist you can do to help with your own email efforts...

1. Setup dedicated IP address(es)
Most "shared" email marketing services (like MailChimp) send out emails across a big range of IPs. We splice up campaigns and distribute them across different IPs randomly. We have different "tiers" of IPs for new users, trusted users, double-optin-only users, etc. For the majority of users, this is all perfectly fine. But if you get really serious about email marketing, you'll want your own, dedicated IP address to send from. None of that "sharing" stuff for you.

2. Heads-up to your existing list members
If you're already sending emails from another email provider, all your recipients' email programs, spam filters, and corporate firewalls will be "trained" to expect email from that server/IP. So when you switch to a new provider, you will inevitably get some complaints about lost emails. So you'll want to send a "heads up" about the switch to all your members well in advance. Go ahead and ask them to put your "From:" and "Reply-to:" email address in their contacts/friends/buddy/trusted lists "to prevent accidental spam filtering." You can also give them your new IP address, and tell them they might need to ask their company's IT group to whitelist it. This is where you start setting expectations that emails will get lost, and people will complain. Be ready, and have some canned responses in hand to explain how to whitelist your server.

3. Appoint an Abuse Contact person
Setup an abuse@ and postmaster@ email account for your domain. When an anti-spammer, spam filter, or ISP wants to contact you about one of your campaigns, that's where they'll send their complaints. If you don't have that setup, and their warnings bounce back to them, you won't look like a responsible marketer. You should appoint one person in your company to check this account (especially right after every campaign).

4. Authentication
By now, you know that email can be easily "spoofed" so it looks like it came from someone else. Authentication basically adds some extra data in your email headers, so that receiving servers know it's really coming from you. The two prevalent authentication methods are SenderID and DKIM. Note: it's possible to "go overboard" with authentication, and put too much of a load on receiving servers. Then ISPs like MSN/Hotmail will start blocking your emails. Be sure to follow guidelines under RFC 4408.

5. Register with anti-spam authorities
If one of your email campaigns ever got reported as spam, people will try to look up some information about you. So make sure you register your IP address and abuse@ contact information with the proper authorities. Get listed in Abuse.net. Signup for a SpamCop ISP account, so you can get instant email alerts from them.

6. Setup Feedback Loops
If someone gets your email and clicks their "this is spam" button, a note is sent to their ISP. Then, if you're properly registered in their "feedback loop," they'll send you an email alert. You can use these alerts to unsubscribe complaining members (MailChimp does this automatically). Being a part of FBLs is usually a prerequisite for requesting "whitelisted" status. More on feedback loops at Clickz.

7. Warn existing list (again)
It's about to hit the fan. You're going to be switching your email servers, and all your recipients need to know that your emails will be coming from a different place, so their spam filters might accidentally throw your emails into the junk folder. Send them instructions on how to "whitelist" you, and add you to their address books.

8. Send a few campaigns
We'll soon be asking ISPs to white list your IP address. But before they can do that, they'll need to see some example emails, preferably sent to members on their network (exactly as they'd be sent in real life). So you have to send at least one campaign to your list. It helps if you've already been sending campaigns in the past (even if from another server). At least you can provide them with your Unsubscribe rate (should be less than 1%), bounce rate (less than 10%), and abuse complaint data (less than 0.2%).

9. Whitelisting
When you have your own IP address for your email server, and you've setup authentication, and you have an abuse contact address, and you're on a bunch of feeedback loops, and you've sent a few campaigns, you can finally ask some ISPs to "white list" you. They all have an application and human approval process, where they ask you tons of questions about your list collection process, privacy policy, bounce handling process, how members can unsubscribe, and more. Yahoo and Netzero/Juno have whitelists. AOL is supposedly retiring theirs (now that they're partnering w/Goodmail) but we hear they're offering whitelisted status to non-profits.

10. Brace Yourself
When you switch, you'll get a ton of problems. It always happens. You *will* have problems. Have some help files ready. Stuff like, "If you're not receiving our emails, it might be because we've recently switched email servers. Here's our new IP address. Please ask your ISP or IT guy to whitelist it. Add our email address to your address book." When we made the switch for our client, we experienced a mysterious delivery problem with AOL a couple weeks after launch. Luckily, his member list is fiercely loyal, so we got them all to send complaints to AOL's postmaster. Even luckier, AOL's postmaster actually listens to complaints, and they got our emails through within a couple hours. You might want to plan for this, too.

11. Monitor Deliverability
On average, about 15% - 19% of emails get lost (according to studies from Pivotal Veracity and ReturnPath). Consider some 3rd party deliverability monitoring services, so you can make sure your emails are making it all the way to the inbox, instead of getting stopped by some spam filter along the way. Here's a recent review we did on DeliveryMonitor.com, and how it can help you.

Background Information:
This checklist is part of a new service we're offering at MailChimp, called "OutBox Server." It's basically a "Dedicated MailChimp" for high-volume senders. It's ideal for people who have their own CMS and content publishing tools, but just need a way to outsource delivery. So they assemble their content on their server, then drop it in their MailChimp OutBox.

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