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In the modern lexicon of text and IM, the abbreviation YMMV stands for "your mileage may vary."  It's a shorthand way of saying, "this was my experience or opinion, but yours may differ."

Before its widespread use as an acronym in e-conversation, the phrase became well known after the Environmental Protection Agency began performing tests to estimate the fuel economy of new cars offered for sale in the U.S.  The EPA methods could only approximate the fuel efficiency for a certain model of vehicle, since the actual mileage attained by any particular car or truck depends on a number of factors related to how and where it is used.  Therefore, automakers who wanted to advertise their EPA fuel efficiency numbers were careful to add a standard disclaimer: "Your Mileage May Vary."

We often find ourselves talking with prospective clients who, having experienced poor email delivery results (either with another email service provider, or by trying to send bulk mail on their own), are shopping for the best deliverability rate.  We have to be careful to explain that, while we have some clients whose delivery rates are as high as 98-99%, YDMV: Your Deliverability May Vary.  Like automobile mileage, email delivery rates are affected by a number of factors, too.

There are many things that an ESP can do to affect deliverability, and Delivra is not alone in doing them.  Any responsible ESP will do things like setting up feedback loops with the major ISPs; throttling number of connections and emails-per-connection to domains that limit these; and monitoring reputation of IP addresses under their control.  But many other factors affecting deliverability have nothing to do with the technology used by the ESP, and everything to do with the reputation and practices of the sender.  For example, if you insist on sending to a stale mailing list containing invalid addresses, then switching ESPs isn't likely to improve your results.  Does your content generate spam complaints from recipients who don't recognize it as what they signed up for?  Then changing vendors is likely not going to be as helpful as changing your practices.

If so much of deliverability depends on behavior of the sender, and if all legitimate ESPs have similar technical controls in place to hold up their end of deliverability, then what's the difference among email vendors, anyway?  In Delivra's case, the difference is experience.  As one of the original email companies, going back to 1999, we have the expertise to diagnose your deliverability concerns.  And our high standards cause us to turn away questionable clients whose sending practices--while they may be perfectly legal--are so poorly advised that they impact our ability to deliver mail on behalf of our customers who are committed to doing it right.

Our clients whose deliverability rate reaches 99%, those who place the highest proportion of their mailings into the inbox folder, are those who are serious about following the best practices we recommend.  Don't keep hiring and firing ESPs in a vain attempt to find a deliverability "magic bullet."  Look at your sending practices, and if you're not sure what needs to change first, select an ESP like Delivra that has the insight to help you improve.  But if you struggle with deliverability and aren't willing to re-examine your sending habit, Your Mileage Will Vary.

Chris Broshears | Product Development