I run a number of mail servers -- my own (for myself, friends, and family) and for my employer (an ISP/hosting provider) and just wanted to mention something.
If you are sending out "legitimate" bulk mail, one of the best things I think you could do is use one of these E-mail Service Providers that will use a dedicated IP address for your email. That is, all mail you -- and only you -- send via Mailchimp/SES/etc. will always be sent from IP address a.b.c.d.
Everyday, I see many IP's belonging to these ESPs that end up blacklisted (either on public blacklists or our own, internal, automated blacklists). If you're using a service that sends out mail from multiple customers from a "shared" IP address, you WILL have delivery problems WHEN (not if) that IP address gets blacklisted or flagged.
I've managed and ran my own servers for years, including mail servers. I've never ran into any issues that so many others seem to when doing this, but I always make sure that I follow best practices and do things The Right Way(TM). This includes, nowadays, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, DNSWL, and so on.
We're fairly small and yet I can detect and put a stop to "spam outbreaks" quickly when they happen (such as when an e-mail user responds to a phishing e-mail, gives out their credentials, and their account is hijacked to send out spam), so these other providers (especially those who provide/specialize in e-mail services) certainly should be able to as well.
If you are sending out "legitimate" bulk mail, one of the best things I think you could do is use one of these E-mail Service Providers that will use a dedicated IP address for your email. That is, all mail you -- and only you -- send via Mailchimp/SES/etc. will always be sent from IP address a.b.c.d.
Everyday, I see many IP's belonging to these ESPs that end up blacklisted (either on public blacklists or our own, internal, automated blacklists). If you're using a service that sends out mail from multiple customers from a "shared" IP address, you WILL have delivery problems WHEN (not if) that IP address gets blacklisted or flagged.
I've managed and ran my own servers for years, including mail servers. I've never ran into any issues that so many others seem to when doing this, but I always make sure that I follow best practices and do things The Right Way(TM). This includes, nowadays, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, DNSWL, and so on.
We're fairly small and yet I can detect and put a stop to "spam outbreaks" quickly when they happen (such as when an e-mail user responds to a phishing e-mail, gives out their credentials, and their account is hijacked to send out spam), so these other providers (especially those who provide/specialize in e-mail services) certainly should be able to as well.