Content Check
“Return Path manages all aspects of our deliverability. We rely on Return Path to protect our email revenue by keeping our reputation intact and our inbox delivery rates high. You can't argue with a 22% increase and that translates directly into sales for us.”
Chris Woodward,
Manager E-commerce Content & Email - Orvis
Content Check includes two components: Content Scoring and Content Rendering. Content Scoring allows senders to test email message content for words or formatting that may inadvertantly trigger spam filters, before it is sent. Content Scoring uses Brightmail and SpamAssassin to evaluate and score messages. Content Rendering allows senders to see how their messages would be viewed by recipients at five service providers: AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, MSN/Hotmail and Yahoo! The Content Rendering application sends a test message to each of these ISPs and then retrieves a copy for viewing. Content Rendering also shows how a message would appear to a Lotus Notes user.
The Content Check application may be accessed by clicking on the "Content" tab on the navigation bar which appears on each screen of all Email Monitor applications.
Message scoring is a component of Content Check which allows senders to test message content for words or formatting that may inadvertently trigger spam filters, before it is sent. The Content Check message scoring feature uses SpamAssassin and Brightmail to evaluate and score messages.
Content Scoring is a component of Content Check which allows senders to test message content for words or formatting that may inadvertently trigger spam filters before it is sent. The Content Scoring feature uses SpamAssassin and Brightmail to evaluate and score messages.
Content Rendering is a component of Content Check which allows senders to see how their messages would be viewed by customers at five service providers: AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, MSN/Hotmail and Yahoo! The rendering application sends a test message to each of these ISPs and then retrieves a copy for viewing. Content Rendering also will show how a message will be displayed in Lotus Notes, Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2007.
Content Rendering enables you to identify issues before you send an email by showing you what will appear above the fold, a full size view, the header details, and the content layout. Quickly and easily resolve problems to increase your campaign's visual impact and effectiveness.
Content Check can render your email messages just as they would appear to recipients at AOL, EarthLink, Gmail, MSN and Yahoo!.
An email message must be sent to a special Habeas address in order to use the features of Content Check. This address is created when a user account is created in the Email Monitor Dashboard. A different address is created for each user.
In order to identify the address to be used for Content Check, click the "Content" tab on the navigation bar which appears on each page near the top of the window. Return to this same page in order to review the results by clicking the "Content" tab on the navigation bar again. Results will be available in approximately five minutes. Please note that results from Content Check are held for five days only.
In order to view the results of the Content Scoring of a message, click the "Content" tab on the navigation bar which appears on each page near the top of the window. Be sure to allow approximately five minutes after the test message has been sent in order for the Content Scoring application to receive and analyze the message.
When the analysis is completed, Content Check displays an Email Message List window which displays a table with four columns. The first column contains the subject line of the message analyzed by Content Check, the second column contains the date on which the analysis took place, the third column displays the Spam Risk Level, and the fourth column contains a hyperlink which leads to Content Rendering results.
The Spam Risk Level is indicated by a color-coded bar and can be High, Medium or Low. The color-coded bars are active hyperlinks; clicking on the hyperlink causes a Content Scoring window to open with additional information about the analysis.
The Content Scoring results are divided into three sections. The first section assigns the message an overall Spam Risk Rating of High, Medium or Low based upon the results of the Brightmail and SpamAssassin analyses. At the left margin of this section the subject line of the analyzed message is repeated along with the date and time of the analysis. A hyperlink to the full text of the analyzed message also is included.
The field containing the subject of the test message is a drop-down menu which allows you to select other messages for review if any are available. Select the desired message and click the button labeled "Go" in order to see the Content Check results for other messages.
The second section displays the results of the Brightmail analysis, and the result will be either "Not Spam" or "Spam". Messages marked as "Spam" indicate possible delivery problems at ISPs using Brightmail. Unfortunately, Brightmail does not provide any additional information about the basis for its rating.
The third section presents the results of the SpamAssassin analysis of the message. A box at the top of this section shows the total score SpamAssassin assigned to the message. A detailed list of the reasons why SpamAssassin produced its final score appears below the box. If the analysis resulted in a Spam Risk Level of High, reviewing this list is extremely important because it will provide suggestions for modifications to the message which are likely to result in a lower Spam Risk Rating and better delivery rates.
Please note that in some cases the results of the Brightmail and SpamAssassin tests may be dissimilar.
The lowest possible Spam Assassin score is desirable, although reaching a score of zero should not be expected. However, a score of 5 or higher often triggers a receiver's anti-spam filters, so the goal should be to obtain a score less than 5.
If the SpamAssassin score of your message is greater than 5, review the report for ideas about how to modify the message so that it will result in a lower score. Consider using one of the recommended alternative spam content checkers for additional information. If, after making the recommended changes, the message still generates a score greater than 5, Email Monitor customers should contact the Habeas Customer Service department by calling 650-694-3397 or by sending an email to support@habeas.com. One of our customer service representatives will review your message and the Content Scoring report with you and offer suggestions for obtaining a lower score.
The presence of a "Waiting for Delivery" icon means that the rendered message has not yet been retrieved from the receiving provider. Please allow up to one hour for the rendered message to become available. Refreshing the page will cause results to appear as they become available. If the "Waiting for Delivery" icon persists, please notify the Habeas Customer Support department by calling 650-694-3397 or by writing to support@habeas.com.
No, the intent of rendering is to show how the email will look in an email service. This is not indicative of delivery success.
Content Rendering shows how your messages will appear to users at AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, MSN/Hotmail and Yahoo! Content Rendering also will show how your messages will appear to Lotus Notes users.
Any user on a customer's Email Monitor account may view the Content Check results for messages submitted by any other user on that account. In order to see the Content Scoring results, click on the label in the color-coded bar in the Spam Risk Level column on the row with the subject of the message in which you are interested. In order to see the Content Rendering results, click on the "View" hyperlink in the Rendering column on the line containing the subject of the message in which you are interested.
Content Rendering can display your email messages just as they would appear to recipients at AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, MSN/Hotmail and Yahoo!
MSN/Hotmail evaluates SenderID Framework (SIDF) records as part of its reputation assessment process in order to determine whether to accept a message, route it to the junk folder, or reject it. See the knowledge base entry on What is SenderID? for additional information about SIDF. Because messages that utilize the Content Rendering feature of Email Monitor are transmitted to MSN/Hotmail from a Habeas email server, these messages will generate an SIDF authentication error unless the sender includes the Habeas email server in its SIDF record. Habeas is, in effect, relaying messages on behalf of its customers, and therefore this error is legitimate and expected SIDF behavior. Habeas Email Monitor customers may choose to ignore the error message because only messages sent through Content Rendering will generate this error. If a valid SIDF record is published, then messages sent directly from a customer's email servers will not be effected. Alternatively, the error can be eliminated by including the Habeas email servers in the SIDF record.
In addition to the Brightmail and SpamAssassin Content Check included with the Habeas Email Monitor service, you may submit message content to the following web sites which will then evaluate your message at no charge to determine the likelihood of it being identified as spam:
Please note that both of these content checkers, like the Habeas Content Check, are based on the SpamAssassin filtering rules. In addition, several commercial products are available, including Turboziner, Get Response, and e-filtrate.
