Certified Email™ Competitive Comparison

One of the exclusive benefits of CertifiedEmail is the ability to have messages flagged with the unique CertifiedEmail blue trust seal icon, the blue ribbon envelope, within the message list. Only CertifiedEmail messages receive this special distinction, letting the recipient know the message is safe before opening the message.

 

One of the exclusive benefits of CertifiedEmail is the ability to have a special "security strip" above the message, outside of the message content itself (which is not spoofable).

The security strip look and content varies by provider but the CertifiedEmail blue trust seal icon (the blue ribbon envelope) is always shown as shown in this example:

 

One of the exclusive benefits of using CertifiedEmail is the ability to bypass ISP and mailbox provider content filters.

Because of this ability, CertifiedEmail senders can use any language they like in their email messages, including once prohibited words such as "free". Each provider maintains their own secret policies about filtering; what is considered a not-allowed word, like "free", may work at one ISP, but not another.

With CertifiedEmail, you'll be able to use the exact same language in your campaign, regardless of the medium or provider you're sending to without having to check your content against content scoring systems.

One of the exclusive benefits of using CertifiedEmail is the ability to bypass ISP and mailbox provider volume filters, also known as throttling control.

Because of this ability, CertifiedEmail senders can send as many messages at one time as they can. Normally, each ISP and mailbox provider has a limit to the number of messages a particular sender can send within a specific timeframe.

Throttling control is mostly determined by the sender’s reputation level. Because CertifiedEmail messages bypass ISP volume filters, senders don’t have to invest resources on scoring improvement which is not completely predictable and based on a probable (versus deterministic) model.

One of the exclusive benefits of using CertifiedEmail is the ability to have the images visible and links active (and clickable) within your email messages by default, without user interaction.

As shown in this example, all inline HTML images and links are disabled at ISPs and mailbox providers to protect customers from potentially malicious messages and senders.

 

With CertifiedEmail, our ISP and mailbox provider partners know your messages are safe so images are visible and links active by default as shown in this example:

To become a CertifiedEmail sender, your company must be accredited. This involves filling out our application form and providing Goodmail with details about the email you send including, the IP addresses of your mail servers, who your ESP is (if you use one) as well as a background check of your company. Goodmail then checks your reputation and verifies the information you have provided.

Once we have verified the information you have provided and have verified that your reputation is within our acceptable limits, you may be accredited to send CertifiedEmail. For a list of some of the requirements to become accredited, visit the qualifications page.

One of the techniques to verify an email sender is to check the from address in the message, however only the domain name is checked in most systems.
For example, if the "from address" of a message is "example@goodmailsystems.com", only the "goodmailsystems.com" would be verified and not the username (the part before the "@" sign).

In addition to checking the domain name in the from address of a message, CertifiedEmail messages have the entire "from address" verified.
For example, if the "from address" of a message is "example@goodmailsystems.com", the entire address (example@goodmailsystems.com) must match Goodmail's records . Additionally, Goodmail verifies the descriptive text of the message, for example in "Sam's Hardware" <sam@samshardware.com>, "Sam's Hardware" is the descriptive text.

CertifiedEmail is the only solution that verifies the legitimacy of the sender and each individual email message they send. Senders are verified by an extensive accreditation process. Goodmail does real-time message verification on each and every CertifiedEmail message.

Authentication standards such as DKIM simply can't do this because this functionality is not within the scope of the standards. For example, the following excerpt is from the DKIM service overview, section 1.1 ("Scope"):

By itself, a DKIM signature:

• Does not offer any assertions about the behaviors of the identity doing the signing.
• Does not prescribe any specific actions for receivers to take upon successful signature verification.
• Does not provide protection after signature verification.
• Does not protect against re-sending (replay of) a message that already has a verified signature; therefore a transit intermediary or a recipient can re-post the message in such a way that the signature would remain verifiable, although the new recipient(s) would not have been specified by the author.

Goodmail uses several techniques to maintain the security of our systems and the integrity of CertifiedEmail. Some of the techniques include requiring pre-registered "from addresses" to prevent spoofing, per-customer quotas and access control mechanisms.

Unlike other systems such as whitelisting which ISPs consider a "best effort" or "when necessary" service (if at all), CertifiedEmail messages are protected by contractual and SLA-based agreements between Goodmail and the ISP or mailbox provider.

Because of these agreements, only Goodmail is able to offer the exclusive benefits mentioned throughout this page. CertifiedEmail is supported by 7 of the top 10 ISPs and mailbox providers in the US.

One of the exclusive benefits of CertifiedEmail is that we have servers at the ISPs and mailbox providers. Messages identified as CertifiedEmail messages take a different route, a faster route to recipient mailboxes.

One of the exclusive benefits of CertifiedEmail is the ability to receive real-time reputation information. If a consumer marks a message as spam, the ISP or mailbox provider records that information.

Goodmail monitors the reputation scores for all senders and periodically will notify CertifiedEmail senders of changes in their status. If there's a problem, senders must take correct action or risk being dis-accredited to send CertifiedEmail.

One of the exclusive benefits of CertifiedEmail is the ability to see per-message details about delivery providing closed-loop information. CertifiedEmail messages get additional details because of the special arrangements we have with our ISP and mailbox providers. Information such as "not delivered because mailbox is full" is just one of the details available.

With CertifiedEmail, you'll have access to reports showing the complaint rates and delivery details of your campaigns as a whole.

Goodmail's strategic relationships with major ISPs and mailbox providers assures delivery of CertifiedEmail messages. Only Goodmail has such contractual agreements with all of the following ISPs and mailbox providers.

^*100% assured delivery is available at our deployed partner webmail providers: AOL, BT and Yahoo! and will be deployed at AT&T, Comcast, Cox, TimeWarner, Verizon in the coming months.

In one way or another the services mentioned to the right can help you get your email delivered to supporting ISPs and mailbox providers. However, only Goodmail has strategic relationships with the major ISPs and mailbox providers to assure* delivery of CertifiedEmail messages. Only Goodmail has such contractual agreements with all of the following ISPs and mailbox providers.

^*100% assured delivery is available at our deployed partner webmail providers: AOL, BT and Yahoo! and will be deployed at AT&T, Comcast, Cox, TimeWarner, Verizon in the coming months.