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How to be Opt-in Compliant
Introduction
Sending volume mail is one of the most powerful
marketing tools available, but like all powerful tools it
has the potential for abuse or even the perception of
abuse. The following are several guidelines to follow in
order to keep your opt-in list happy, and to make sure
that the recipients of your email never think of your mail
as spam.
Definition of Spam
Spam is any unsolicited email. Any promotion,
information or solicitation that is sent to a person, via
email, without their prior consent is spam.
Examples of Spam
Any email message that is sent to a recipient who had
previously signed up to receive newsletters, product
information or any other type of bulk email, but later
Opted-out by indicating to the sender that they did not
want to receive additional email would be considered
spam.
Any email message that is sent to recipients that have
had no prior association with the organization or did not
agree to be emailed by the organization is spam.
Any email message that is sent to a recipient without a
way for a person to Opt-out or request that future
mailings be discontinued, is spam.
Any email message that does not have a valid email
address in the reply-to line is spam.
Any email that says you can earn $1000s each week
from home is spam.
Any email message that promotes an adult web site is
spam, unless the recipient has specifically requested
information from that web site.
Any message that contains "ADV ADLT", or "ADV ADULT"
in the subject is spam.
Any message that the recipient feels was sent to them
unsolicited is spam.
What is not Spam
An email message is NOT spam if the recipient in any
way has requested email to be sent to them from the
sender or the sender's organization. However, be
warned, that just because someone has signed up to
receive information on "product A" via email, it does not
mean that you can send them information on "product
B". If you do, it's spam.
An email message is NOT spam when sent to recipients
who have agreed to receive information or promotions
from a partner organization (as long as there is a clear
Opt-out option).
Unfortunately, spam isn't as black and white as we have
laid it out here. Most of the pieces that get sent out
don't fall into any of the categories outlined above,
rather they fall into the gray area of spam where one
person may consider the message to be spam while
another may not. What it comes down to is that if the
recipient says it's spam, it is.
Why you don't want to Spam
If you or your organization sends out spam and/or are
labeled as an organization that spams, you will run into
some, if not all, of the following problems:
Upset customers – Many people get extremely angry
about spam and will probably stop conducting business
with your organization.
Listed on anti-spam blacklists – Anti-spam blacklists list
various organizations that have been labeled as
spammers. Many ISPs block all incoming mail from the
companies that are listed on anti-spam blacklists. If your
company gets listed on anti-spam blacklists, your email
can and will be blocked by ISP sites, never to reach its
destination.
Loss of Internet access – If just a few of your recipients
complain to your ISP, your ISP can, and often will, shut
down your Internet access, web site and all.
Lawsuits – Some recipients may even go as far as to sue
you for your unsolicited email.
1. Keep an opt-in only list
Make sure that your OPT-IN email list consists solely of
subscribers that have explicitly given you permission to
send them the type of message that you will be sending
them. If possible, you should keep a record of how and
when people opted-in to your list, so that if someone
ever accuses you of sending spam you can easily point
to the time and date that they requested to be added to
your list.
2. Make your opt-out clause obvious
In every email that you send out, make sure that the
customer knows how to get off your list. There should be
a URL and/or email instructions included at the top or
bottom of each message.
If you only send email to your list occasionally, people
may forget that they opted-in to your list. In this case, it
is best to state how they got on your list within your
opt-out clause.
Example: You are receiving this email because you
opted-in on our web site. If you do not wish to receive
any additional messages from us, please unsubscribe by
visiting www.myco.com or by replying to this email with
the word "unsubscribe" in the message body.
3. Use your company name in headers
Make sure that your company name is listed in the
"subject" or the "from" header. This way the recipient
will recognize who the mail is from before they open the
message. Legitimate businesses identify themselves
clearly in the email headers.
Also, make sure that your "From" and "reply-to" address
is VALID. spammers commonly send email with invalid
"From" and/or "reply-to" addresses. If you use an invalid
email address, your subscribers may consider you a
spammer and complain to your ISP.
4. Create aliases for complaints
Make sure you have set up abuse@myco.com (where
myco is the domain name for your company) to receive
email. The "abuse" alias has become the standard alias
for people to complain about spamming. By creating this
alias and giving your readers a place to be heard, you
can often resolve your subscriber problems before they
report you to your ISP.
5. Use a warm list
Make sure your list is fairly recent. After time, people
tend to forget that they opted-in to a list and can easily
mistake a message they opted to receive for spam. As a
general rule, you should send them something within a
week or so of opting-in and at regular intervals
afterwards.
6. Coordinate your mailings with your ISP
Contact your ISP before you send out a large mailing so
that they will understand what's happening when they
see the burst of email traffic from your site. If you don't,
you run the risk of your ISP assuming something's wrong
and cutting off your email traffic.
What to do if you are labeled as a Spammer
In spite of all your best efforts, you may make a mistake
and end up being labeled a spammer. This can happen,
for example, if you forget to include an opt-out clause. If
you do get any angry email, be sure to address it
immediately by taking the following measures:
Apologize to the recipient(s) regardless of whether you
think they are right
Call your ISP and tell them about the situation
Contact their ISP and let them know what happened
Contact various anti-spam organizations, including
http://www.cauce.org and http://maps.vix.com.
_____________________________________________
This article has been re-printed by
with permission from BoldFish, Inc.
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