The Direct Marketing Association is requiring all member companies to use identification and authentication protocols to authenticate their emails because "spam, phishing and other forms of fraudulent email remain an irritant to consumers," the DMA said in a statement released yesterday at the DMA·05 industry conference in Atlanta, reports DM News. DMA members are not required to use a specific provider for email authentication.

Also, the DMA's Council for Responsible Email released "Email Delivery Best Practices for Marketers and List Owners," an update of guidelines introduced two years ago.

Among those best practices: Give recipients specific information about the nature and frequency of emails they will receive; develop flexible online preference centers and registration pages where email subscribers can choose what information they want; obtain permission for wireless domains carefully, based on strict CAN-SPAM guidelines; make emails relevant to the recipient and ensure they contain no objectionable content; ensure the marketer's brand is prominent in the "from" and subject lines.