Self Assessment

The Sender Score Certified application asks extensive questions about your email program and infrastructure.  This document is provided as a resource so that you have an understanding of the type of information you will need to complete the online application.  This document is not to be used for submitting an application. 

The following information is required to complete the Sender Score Certified online application.

Company Information

  1. Please select the category of business that most closely matches your Organization
    • Commercial Sender
    • Email Service Provider
    • Non-Profit Organization
    • Social/Peer Network
    • Third Party Marketer
    • Co-Registration Marketer
    • ISP
    • Consumer/Individual
    Note:  We currently do not certify ISP Relay Mail or Consumer/Individual Mail.
    Note:  If you are an ESP, please contact us at customercare@senderscorecertified.com
  2. Applicant Information
    • First Name / Last Name
    • Email Address
    • Phone Number
    • Company Name
    • Account Name
  3. Billing Information
    • Billing Contact First Name / Last Name
    • Billing Contact Email Address
    • Billing Contact Address
  4. Physical Mailing Address
    Note: This can not be a Post Office Box.
  5. Provide the URL of your company home page
  6. Provide a description of your business using a minimum of 175 characters
  7. Have you ever applied to Sender Score Certified before?
    • Yes
    • No
  8. How did you hear about Sender Score Certified?
    • Return Path
    • Search Engine/Internet
    • Sender Score Certified Reseller
    • Email Service Provider
    • Internet Service Provider
    • Microsoft
    • Trade Show

Delivery Performance

  1. Do you send mail from:
    • Shared IP(s) 
    • Dedicated IP(s)
    Note: At this time, Sender Score Certified does not certify shared IP addresses.  Please check back with us at a later time.
  2. Please list the IP addresses you would like us to evaluate for inclusion in Sender Score Certified.
  3. What are the mailing domains your organization uses for sending mail for which you are applying for certification?

System Information

  1. What is the estimated number of email messages your organization sends on average each month?
    • Unknown
    • to  500,000
    • 500,000  to  5,000,000
    • 5,000,000  to  50,000,000
    • 50,000,000  or More
  2. Do you operate abuse@ and postmaster@ role email addresses?
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Are you registered with abuse.net?
    • Yes
    • No
  4. Do the IP addresses provided for certification have valid Fully Qualified Reverse DNS entries?
    • Yes
    • No
  5. Does your email list maintenance system reliably receive and process bounces and other replies from receiving networks including removing permanent delivery errors?
    • Yes
    • No
  6. Have you published a Sender ID compliance SPF record for all domains from which you send mail?
    Note that this record must include the addresses and domains for which you are requesting certification.  Records using “+all”, “?all” or PTR records are not considered compliant with the Standard.
    • Yes
    • No
  7. Is your delivery environment protected from open proxies, open relays, and the dissemination of computer viruses, worms or Trojans?
    • Yes
    • No

Policies and Practices

  1. Does your disclosure statement indicate the nature of Commercial or Promotional email messages to be sent, as well as, clearly identifying the types of entities that will be sending email?
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Does your disclosure statement clearly indicate whether you share or rent the subscriber’s email address and personal information?
    • Yes
    • No
  3. What types of consent are obtained for messaging from your organization?
    • Double Opt-In
    • Opt-In with Verification
    • Opt-In
    • Pre-selected Option with Verification
    • Pre-selected Option
    • Other (explain)
  4. Through which channels do you collect consent to add a subscriber to your email program?
    • Online / Electronic
    • Offline / Written
    • Verbal
    • Through Third Parties or Affiliates (list brokers, third party marketing lists, co-reg)
    • Other (explain)
  5. Please provide the URLs that you use for collecting email addresses. 
    We are specifically looking for the exact location that a subscriber to your service would enter their email address on your website, and agree to your terms of service. 
  6. Please provide the URL(s) of your company privacy policy. 
    Include any/all privacy policies relevant to the email programs you are attempting to certify.
  7. Does your privacy policy clearly indicate how a subscriber’s information, including email address, is stored, used and shared?
    • Yes
    • No
  8. Does your privacy policy clearly indicate the kind of email a subscriber should expect to receive?
    • Yes
    • No
  9. Does your privacy policy clearly indicate how a subscriber can access and opt-out of your email program?
    • Yes
    • No
  10. Does your privacy policy include a valid mailing address?
    • Yes
    • No
  11. Is your privacy policy clearly and conspicuously linked from both your home page and the points of collection for email addresses?
    • Yes
    • No
  12. Do you provide an easy to access and easy to use process for unsubscribing, and do you honor unsubscribe requests in a timely fashion?
    • Yes
    • No

Program Standards
You will be asked to agree to the following statements:

Participating Sender License Agreement
You will be asked to accept the Participating Sender License Agreement.

Payment
Processing of your application will not begin until payment for the application fee has been received.  You can expedite the processing of your application by making payment with a credit card.

Note:  If you are a social/peer network, non-profit organization, or third party/co-registration marketer, you will be asked additional questions.  These are provided below based on your organization type.

Additional Questions for Social/Peer Networks

  1. Certified Senders operating a social/peer network are only allowed to send one automated follow-up invitation by email to an individual.  Does your program meet this Standard?
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Non-response to any email invitation is not consent to add the individual to your list.  Does your program meet this Standard?
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Certified Senders operating a social/peer network must provide a global unsubscribe in every email.  Does your program meet this Standard?
    • Yes
    • No

Additional Questions for Non-Profit Organizations

  1. Please provide your non-profit tax registration number.

Additional Questions for Third Party and Co-Registration Marketers

  1. If you receive subscriber email addresses from third parties, affiliates, or co-registration partners, please provide the URLs that these parties use to collect subscriber email addresses.
  2. What types of consent do these partners use to obtain consent for messaging from your organization?
    • Double Opt-In
    • Opt-In with Verification
    • Opt-In
    • Pre-selected Option with Verification
    • Pre-selected Option
  3. What due diligence does your organization perform to verify that appropriate consent is provided?