Some time ago, I wrote a blog about the risks associated with third party content, where I included some information on IP and domain reputation and how that might impact treatment of your messages upon delivery.
I’m bringing this topic back up because I’ve seen a few senders using shortened URLs, in the form of “bit.ly” links, in recent email campaigns. This has been problematic as the bit.ly domain is listed on the Spamhaus DBL right now, having been abused by spammers. If you are sending messages using bit.ly links, you’ve probably had some delivery issues to some domains, whether you know it or not. It may not have gotten you blocked altogether (for some, it has), but it may simply increase your spam scoring by the receiving filters, and perhaps your messages were placed in the junk folder.
If you suspect your mailing may have been rejected due to inclusion of a bit.ly link, you can do a simple test by identifying a subscriber who normally receives your messages, but had it blocked this time around (perhaps with an error that references content or even blacklisting). Make a copy of your mailing, remove or alter any links that went to bit.ly, instead simply pointing them to the ultimate destination URL. Resend the mailing to just the subscriber in question and see if there is a different outcome.
Stay off the naughty list this year!
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