What is ASP Certification?
Application Service Provider (ASP) Certification certifies entities who are contracted to send transactional mail from dedicated IPs on behalf of their clients to get the benefits of (IP) Certification.
What is an Application Service Provider (ASP)?
Application Service Provider (ASP) is an entity contracted to send transactional emails on behalf of third-party companies.
ASPs typically support communications for businesses in a specific industry or vertical (finance, insurance, healthcare, etc.) and send email content that is similar in scope for all their clients.
How do we define transactional email?
A transactional email’s purpose or intent is not to sell or drive a recipient to some type of commercial action.
We’ve defined the 3 types of transactional messages that are eligible to be ASP Certified as:
- Action Validation—Automated, real-time messages sent to users after a specific action is performed
- Obligatory Notifications—Involuntary notifications required to be sent by law or regulation and advise or alert users about essential information
- Transaction Completion—Messages directly related to a recent transaction’s life cycle
Please refer to our ASP Certification Requirements for additional details about the types of transactional mail allowed.
Which types of mail will not qualify for ASP Certification?
At this time, the following mail types are not eligible for ASP Certification:
- Commercial, marketing, or promotional emails
- Transactional emails that include commercial components
- Some conditionally triggered emails do not qualify
- While many transactional emails are "triggered," not all "triggered" emails are considered transactional for the purpose of ASP Certification.
| Message Type | Qualifies for ASP Cert |
| Birthday messages sent annually on a subscriber's birthday | No |
| Abandoned cart | No |
| Payment reminders | Yes |
| Receipts | Yes |
| Shipping confirmation | Yes |
| Address change confirmation | Yes |
Which types of clients will not qualify for ASP Certification?
At this time, the following are not eligible for ASP Certification:
- Anyone sending first-party or promotional mail
- Market research and/or survey companies
- Aggregators
Please refer to our ASP Certification Requirements for a full list of ineligible business models.
How do ASP and IP Certification compare?
| ASP Certification | IP Certification |
| Third-party mailer | First-party mailer |
| Transactional mail only | Marketing and transactional mail allowed |
| ASP Certification Requirements | IP Certification Requirements |
| ASP-specific pricing, SKU, and contracts | IP Cert-specific pricing, SKU, and contracts |
| Same for both ASP and IP Certification | |
| IPs dedicated to the Certified entity | |
| Certification benefits | |
| Performance thresholds and requirements | |
| Vetting process | |
Can a client be in both the ASP and IP Certification programs?
No. At this time the ASP and IP Certification programs are mutually exclusive, so clients are only accepted into one or the other.
Where can I find a copy of the ASP Certification Requirements?
You can always reference the ASP Certification Requirements in the Help Center.
Who can I contact for specific questions about ASP Certification?
Please write to the Certification Support Alias via certification@validity.com if you have additional questions about ASP Certification, and someone from the Certification team will be happy to assist you.
