E-mail deliverability concern Return Path announced today that it has re-launched its Bonded Sender Program where companies put up a cash bond to have their e-mail practices reviewed and certified as permission-based, and changed the program’s name to Sender Score Certified.
The company said it has also has dropped its requirement for members to post a bond and toughened its compliance standards.
“The standards and metrics are transparent to all involved. Those who don’t comply will be removed from the program swiftly, making the traditional bond aspect of the program an unnecessary step,” said Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path, in a statement. Removing the bond also answers critics and competitors who called bonded sender a paid spam program, he added.
The original Bonded Sender Program admitted applicants after a privacy audit by TRUSTe. The program monitored client’s behavior using Ironport’s Spam Cop system.
Under the new system, clients pay an up-front certification fee to TRUSTe and an annual licensing fee to Return Path, which varies according to mail volume—from $1,000 a year for 500,000 e-mails a month, to $20,000 a year for unlimited usage.
TRUSTe and Ironport are still part of the process for Sender Score Certified, but the program also uses metrics from Return Path’s Sender Score Reputation Monitor database, an e-mail reputation monitoring service the company announced last week.
Using a consumer-credit-like scoring system of zero to 100—zero being terrible and 100 being perfect—the Sender Score Reputation Monitor helps e-mail senders tell how “spammy” they’re perceived by the ISPs receiving their communications.
Return Path claims that as a result of the tougher standards, it has removed a quarter of the IP addresses previously allowed into the program.
