Is M3AAWG membership worth it for networking and insights on email deliverability and compliance, especially regarding cold emailing practices?

Key findings

• M3AAWG's core mission: The organization focuses on addressing messaging, mobile, and malware abuse, serving as a working group for industry collaboration.
• Evolving benefits: The main advantage of membership is no longer direct access to mailbox providers for assistance. Instead, it's about gaining insights and collaborating on industry-wide solutions for abuse mitigation.
• Networking with peers: A key benefit is the opportunity to connect with other deliverability professionals. This allows for crowdsourced troubleshooting and sharing data, such as for issues where emails are going to spam.
• Membership criteria: Not all applicants are accepted. M3AAWG's underlying ethos is 'permission first' email sending, which can pose challenges for businesses primarily engaged in cold emailing or email appending, even if such practices are legally compliant in some jurisdictions. You can learn more about their stance on email appending directly from their documentation.

Key considerations

• Return on investment: The value derived from M3AAWG membership heavily depends on the individual's or company's willingness to actively participate in working groups and contribute to published articles.
• Cold emailing challenges: M3AAWG generally does not support cold emailing or email appending, viewing them as contrary to their anti-abuse values, which prioritize explicit consent from recipients. This can affect application success and alignment with the group's mission, even if your practices are legally sound.
• Compliance vs. inbox acceptance: Local regulations for cold emailing are distinct from what mailbox providers decide to accept in their inboxes. M3AAWG insights help with compliance but not necessarily direct inbox placement for unconsented mail. For broader advice on ensuring your emails reach the inbox, consider exploring email deliverability issues.
• Virtual vs. physical meetings: While guest passes might be available for meetings, the experience during virtual-only periods might not fully convey the networking potential of physical events.

Key opinions

• Desire for direct access: Some marketers seek M3AAWG membership primarily to gain direct access to Google, Microsoft, and other major mailbox provider spam filter and deliverability teams. This is a common misunderstanding of the group's function.
• Compliance focus: Marketers who aim to make their senders compliant with regulations see potential benefits in joining an anti-spam group like M3AAWG.
• Cold email legitimacy: There's a marketing perspective that cold emailing can be compliant if leads are sourced correctly and best practices are followed. This often conflicts with M3AAWG's 'permission first' stance.
• Perceived value vs. effort: Some marketers find the 'cringe vs. value ratio' of M3AAWG to be unfavorable, suggesting that the benefits don't always outweigh the perceived negative aspects or the effort required for participation. This is why it's important to understand the different types of certifications, like those discussed in our article on the benefits and costs of email certifications.

Key considerations

• Misaligned expectations: Marketers need to understand that M3AAWG does not serve as a direct channel for individual issue resolution with MBPs. Its role is to foster industry-wide best practices.
• Stance on unconsented email: The organization's strong stance against email appending and unconsented messages means that companies heavily reliant on these practices may find it challenging to align with or join M3AAWG. Further insights on this can be found in our discussion about consultants for cold email deliverability from harvested addresses.
• Ethical vs. legal compliance: Marketers should be aware that while their cold email practices might be legally compliant, they may not align with the ethical guidelines promoted by M3AAWG and other anti-abuse organizations, impacting their perceived sender reputation.
• Impact on reputation: Engaging in practices that M3AAWG considers abusive (like cold emailing without explicit consent) can negatively impact a sender's overall reputation, even if they aren't directly blocklisted by the organization itself. You can find more information on how buying email lists destroys deliverability.

Key opinions

• Working group dynamics: M3AAWG functions as a working group, meaning members gain value proportionate to their active participation and contribution to published articles and discussions. The organization's official stance is that M3AAWG provides important best practices.
• No direct MBP access: Experts clarify that M3AAWG does not serve as a conduit for senders to request data from or seek unblocking assistance from mailbox providers. That direct access model is no longer applicable.
• Peer relationship building: The true benefit lies in building relationships with other deliverability professionals, enabling valuable peer-to-peer troubleshooting and data sharing, particularly in invite-only forums. This kind of collaboration is critical for understanding and fixing email deliverability rates.
• Opposition to cold emailing: M3AAWG's core values strongly oppose sending email without explicit, informed consent from the recipient. This includes practices like email appending and most forms of cold emailing, which are often considered violations of their anti-abuse principles.
• Ethical considerations: For cold emails, the issue extends beyond legal compliance to ethical considerations. Mailbox providers often view any unsolicited bulk email as spam, even if it adheres to local regulations. Learn more about how to navigate these challenges by understanding cold email outreach best practices.

Key considerations

• Membership feasibility: Companies whose primary business model is perceived as 'spamming' (e.g., extensive unconsented cold emailing) will likely face significant challenges in joining M3AAWG, as their practices directly contradict the organization's core values.
• Types of MBPs: Some mailbox providers actively engage with the community through M3AAWG and other forums, while others are more reclusive and may not be approachable through any group.
• Mobile and malware focus: The 'mobile' aspect of M3AAWG addresses abuse from sources like botted cell carriers or consumer ISPs, indicating a broader scope than just traditional email spam.
• Value of physical meetings: While virtual meetings offer some insights, the full networking and collaborative benefits of M3AAWG are often best realized through physical conferences, fostering deeper relationships.

Key findings

• Primary rule for sending: M3AAWG's primary rule for sending bulk and marketing-related email is that senders must have explicit consent from the recipient before sending messages or adding them to ongoing communications. This is a core tenet of their Sender Best Current Practices.
• Email appending violation: The practice of 'email appending' (correlating demographic data to an assumed email address for sending) is explicitly stated to be in direct violation of M3AAWG's core values, as detailed in their appending position update.
• Unacceptable unconsented email: Sending email to individuals who have not explicitly provided informed consent for their email address to be used is deemed 'never acceptable' by M3AAWG. This reinforces their strict anti-abuse stance.
• Focus on abuse mitigation: M3AAWG's guidelines are designed to mitigate abuse across messaging platforms, including traditional email and mobile, addressing issues like spam, malware, and other forms of cybercrime, as highlighted in various reports like those seen in An Introduction to IG 7th Edition.

Key considerations

• Defining consent: Documentation emphasizes 'explicit' and 'informed' consent, setting a high bar for email acquisition practices, which contrasts sharply with typical cold emailing strategies.
• Distinguishing cold email: M3AAWG likely views cold emailing as akin to 'taking known or assumed demographic data and correlating it to an email address assumed to be owned by the individual,' placing it outside their accepted practices.
• Industry best practices: Adhering to M3AAWG's best practices is crucial for maintaining good sender reputation and avoiding potential blocklisting or filtering by mailbox providers that align with these standards. Understanding what leads to email address blocklisting is important.
• Reputation impact: Failure to align with M3AAWG's documented principles, particularly on consent, can lead to negative sender reputation impacting deliverability, even if not directly leading to formal penalties from the organization. The principles are designed to reduce overall spam and improve the email ecosystem.