We are very fortunate to have a wonderful relationship with Rackspace. We recently had a very large joint win supplied from them so as a kind gesture we put together a short video thanking the Racker’s for their continued support and efforts. I thought I would share so enjoy!

I read an article today about how email addiction can be a sign of mental illness. This was certainly an interesting article that I enjoyed for several reasons:

1. It shows that people are relying more on email communications than ever before as a means of keeping in touch
2. It showcases the importance of the right message at the right time (quality of the message not quantity of messages)
3. I think Frank and I picked the right business to be in!

In all seriousness, mental illness of any kind is tragic. However, the article does demonstrate the impact the email has on our everyday lives. I can tell you first hand that email is addictive. While I don’t personally experience withdrawal symptoms when I'm away from email, I am usually glued to my mobile device, and I am always online. Mental illness aside, the article reinforced my belief that email is never a game of “more is better.” Content is king, but it has to be meaningful and sent to the right audience. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of data moving from one hard drive to another.

I read an article the other day that referenced StrongMail, and the topic was around sending speed. While it is true that you can send over 1 million messages per hour with StrongMail, you also have to realize that with great speed comes great responsibility. I’ll get to this last point in a second.

First, I agree with many of the points in the article. It is very important to have an email platform in place that is capable of not only sending but generating millions of dynamic and personalized messages for rapid-response situations such as alerts, quotes, notifications, reminders, ecommerce, etc. For those applications, you need to have a system that will allow rapid and dynamic scale when needed without having to add a lot of extra iron in the data center.

On the other hand, if you’re sending millions of messages really fast, you need to understand that your delivery is largely (if not solely) based on your sender reputation and how the ISPs view you at the time of send. This is why it is critical to have a Message Transfer Agent (or MTA) that gives you the ability to adhere to the sending rules the ISP’s have in place at any given moment in time.

When we built the StrongMail platform, we knew that in addition to speed, we needed to build in the control to follow best practices and send email in the way ISPs like to receive it. Offering both together allowed us to provide companies with the flexibility, control and visibility they need to see in real-time what is happening to their email streams and act accordingly.

Let’s face it; the reason companies send email is because, when done properly, it is a very effective and immediate communications medium that can create valuable customer relationships. However, when done improperly, email can cause brand degradation and reduce customer loyalty.

That’s why when it comes to email, it’s important to act responsibly. Just because you can send a million messages an hour, doesn’t mean you should.

It has been great times over the past 5+ years since founding StrongMail. I found out that Frank is now an aspiring actor. I often wonder “is there anything he can’t do?” so I thought I would share this great little vignette about his new company called The Rubicon Project. Enjoy.