A recent magazine headline declared "E-mail Is Dead." The article decried the deplorable state of the inbox and commented on the ways that large employers are stepping up to this problem. What does that have to do with surveys, tests, and assessments? From the standpoint of an employer's spam blocker, survey invitations can look just like another source of cyber junk.
PPI is being asked more and more often to comply with the internal e-mail standards set by IT departments so that our invitations to complete surveys are not blocked. If your survey plan requires you to send e-mail invitations to respondents, we have a few bits of advice:
1. If you're going to use e-mail announcements and invitations, find a contact in the IT department who is willing to help.
2. Ask your IT contact for their internal e-mail standards. You may need technical help implementing their requirements.
3. Become aware of the vocabulary of spam prevention. For instance, see the "best practice" fact sheet on Sender Policy Framework (SPF), a popular standard for spam prevention. The site provides a plain-language introduction to the problem of sender address forgery and other malicious e-mail uses, as well as solutions.
By becoming aware of this problem ahead of time, you'll streamline the survey process and impress your clients with your planning.
