Introduction

Shrewd marketers devote a great amount of attention to crafting their email messaging campaign.  They scrutinize the subject line, fuss over the content, and carefully monitor the timing of delivery.

Once the perfect message has been created, it is just as important to focus on its successful delivery to the intended recipients.  Unfortunately, it is likely that your current email address list has a number of significant problems.

Your List Has Inappropriate Addresses

The beauty of the Internet is that it connects you to everyone.  The danger is that there are people out there you would rather not be connected to.  Obviously, you want to keep these people, and their moments of malice, off your list.  Some common situations include:

1. Bogus Addresses

Some of your visitors will never disclose their email address to you.  If an entry is required, they will make something up.  A frequent occurrence is some variation of "asdf@asdf.com", which happens when the user hits random keys.

2. Prank Addresses

An innocent person may be getting added to new lists daily, simply because they made enemies with the wrong person.  Sometimes the abuse is a prank subscription from one friend to another; other times it targets a public figure (e.g. billg@microsoft.com).

3. Malicious Addresses

Another common type of abuse is when someone targets your company.  Without you noticing, your email message is directed to someone who will make your life miserable.  This might be an email address to report spam (e.g.