A statement on the future of trust, deliverability, and self-regulation in commercial emailing

Looking Back on 2025: Setting the Course Together

When I look back on the year 2025, I do so with pride and satisfaction – but also with a clear view of the challenges that lie ahead.

For the Certified Senders Alliance, 2025 was an eventful and groundbreaking year.

A central focus of our work was to significantly increase the added value of our existing IP certification. We succeeded in doing so by gaining new partners and thus tapping into additional, relevant data sources. We make the data available to certified senders via an intelligent and attractively designed tool. Deliverability issues are thus immediately visible and can not only be resolved, but also avoided in the future. This data is highly relevant for us, for certified senders and thus for the email ecosystem. It is real data, not seed lists, which can be provided as part of a self-regulatory system and has not been manipulated – in other words, it is highly valuable.

Last year, the continuous and personal exchange with mailbox providers, email service providers and brands was particularly important to me personally. At conferences, trade fairs and in numerous discussions, we ensured that the CSA always remains close to practice and can quickly assess new developments.

In 2025, I found the cooperation in the relevant committees and associations to be particularly valuable, especially with the German Dialogue Marketing Association (DDV) and the email community of eco – Association of the Internet Industry. Communication was consistently trusting, cooperative and professional. As a result, we were able to effectively help shape the regulatory basis for the further development of the CSA.

And yes, the complexity of these regulations was challenging at times. At the same time, I am convinced that our concretely formulated, coordinated and practical standards will benefit the entire email ecosystem in the long term.

2025 has clearly shown that email security is no longer a marginal issue in the national context. This has been demonstrated, among other things, by the consistent enforcement of sender requirements by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other mailbox providers. At the same time, national initiatives – such as the Email Security Year of the German Federal Office for Information Security – have pursued the same approach:

The email channel should be actively protected.

What makes email particularly worthy of protection, in my view, is its character as a decentralised system based on open standards. Users remain independent of individual providers and retain control – right down to operating their own infrastructures. At a time when security, data protection and digital autonomy are becoming increasingly important, email remains a central pillar of global communication.

I firmly believe that national and international regulation will continue along this path. For senders, this means that requirements are increasing and becoming more binding. As an email sender, you might think that you can simply switch to another channel, but anyone with relevant experience knows that platform-specific challenges and high costs await there.

Email remains highly effective in commercial communication. It has survived countless trends and proven its relevance time and again – and will continue to do so.

Outlook for 2026: Gaining momentum together

With its self-regulatory approach, the CSA steps in exactly where legal regulations are either lacking or insufficiently formulated or ineffective in practice. The CSA will continue to build on this in the future.

Certified senders commit to adhering to clear criteria and thus make an active contribution to protecting the entire email ecosystem. In return, they will experience even greater transparency, trust and benefits in terms of deliverability.

At the same time, the issue of trust is becoming increasingly important. Do mailbox providers know the sending domain? Has it proven itself over time?

A trusted IP and a trustworthy domain are now the basis for a successful delivery decision on the part of mailbox providers. Increasing hyper-personalisation through artificial intelligence further reinforces this development, because even if the filter mechanisms of mailbox providers adapt, abusive emails will become increasingly difficult to detect. It’s a classic game of cat and mouse.

Key figures such as open or click rates must be viewed more critically, as they can be manipulated technically and are known to lose their significance when used as the sole control variable. For 2026, I believe there are two key questions that will be decisive for senders:

1. Did the email actually land in the inbox?
2. Did the email contribute measurably to sales and achieve a positive ROI?

In future, brands will no longer be able to pass on email deliverability problems to their ESP alone. Mailbox providers expect them to take responsibility for their own sending domain – technically, organisationally and strategically. In future, we will formulate our understanding of a healthy email ecosystem separately for email sending platforms and brands, and expand our offering towards brands.

For 2026, we have defined the following key criteria categories in both areas of responsibility:

1. Trust and transparency
2. Abuse prevention
3. Authentication
4. List hygiene
5. Reputation and performance indicators

CSA senders will thus be very well positioned to meet the requirements of mailbox providers and continue to achieve a stable ROI from commercial emailing. We will provide additional data and hold brands even more directly accountable if they want to optimise their deliverability.

My conclusion

Not only the course, but also the sails are set. With the backing of two strong associations, a large network, a neutral market position and a dedicated team, the CSA will actively work to improve the email ecosystem in 2026.

I am convinced that self-regulation remains a highly effective tool for sustainable strengthening of security, standards and consumer protection in commercial emailing.

Stay tuned 😊