Is Email Marketing Right For Your Business?

Email marketing is the most common method that businesses use to spread the word about new products, services, and developments. Therefore, most hosting providers expect their customers to be sending large amounts of email and often offer more sophisticated platforms to accommodate their more active clients.

Learning about email limitations is vital when shopping for a hosting provider. Not all web hosts are open to their customers sending large amounts of email, and may require prior authorization or impose mailing limits to help prevent abuse. This tends to be for the following reasons: 

• Resource usage
  Specifically on shared hosting platforms, sending large amounts of email (especially during a short period of time) can be taxing on the server and affect the performance of the server itself as well as the deliver-ability of other customers’ email.
• SPAM
  Many companies that use email marketing are unsure or inconsiderate of the fine line between email marketing and SPAM. Hosting providers often have varying criteria on what they consider to be SPAM, and will have low tolerance for any activity suspected as such. When it comes down to it, the hosting provider will usually have discretion over what is SPAM and what isn’t.
• Reputation
  Mail servers that are flagged for sending large amounts of email, whether the email is considered SPAM or not, will generally have a lower email “reputation” that others. Email reputation is often expressed in the form of blacklisting or other scores that are polled by receiving mail servers prior to delivering email. Therefore, if a mail server has a poor reputation, email from that server or others within a similar IP address range may have trouble with their emails being received.

If you have the intention of sending out large amounts of commercial email, you should always discuss the details of your mailing activities with your potential hosting provider prior to entering into a service agreement, to make sure that you are operating within their Terms of Service.