Let's Talk About Spam Complaints

In the world of email marketing, you are bound to run across someone that cries SPAM. However, if you send your e-messages correctly, you can reduce your risk of being marked as a spammer. With that being said, there will still be some people that don’t remember opting into your own personal list and ignore the unsubscribe link that is at the bottom of each email you send to them.

Instead, they will just click the ‘Report As Spam’ button and move on to the next message in their inbox. That’s just so much easier for some, I guess. But it is a terrible thing to happen if you are the message sender.

When this happens, it can cause a lot of problems for the person that sent the email to the opt-in subscriber. Getting a spam complaint is a very serious allegation and can cause email accounts to be terminated, loss of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and can even cause the business you represent (if you are in a home based business) to shut down your ability to earn your income and advertise your website while the complaint is being researched. You can even have to pay very hefty fines.

This is why it is very important to:

1) only email prospects that have specifically requested information from you personally either by an email received from them or due to them opting into your own list – thus giving you permission to send them the information they requested until they request to unsubscribe from your list.

2) If you are not using an opt-in form on your page and you are only responding to an email you received from them, save that email so you can show that they requested the information if you are ever accused of spamming them.

3) When that person requests to no longer receive communication from you… DO NOT send them any more emails.

4) Remember that using an opt-in form / capture form on your personal webpage is the BEST way to protect yourself from spam complaints. Make sure that whatever autoresponder you are using provides an easy way for the subscriber to opt-out of your list. Most of them have this feature and it should be a link at the bottom of the email that they click on and they are unsubscribed immediately without having to go through a lot of hoops to do it.

5) If you want to send ads out to a large group of people at once, only send your ads to what is defined as a SafeList. These are lists that other marketers have joined so they can email their advertisements to all the other people that belong to the list… in exchange for you to also send them your advertisements without crying spam on you. Sending ads to purchased leads is a big no-no.

The definition of Spam is all of the following:

Spam is ANY and ALL unsolicited e-mail or alternative electronic messages. Any promotion, information, or solicitation sent to a person without their DIRECT prior consent is Spam. Examples of Spam (consist of, but are NOT limited to):

1. Any e-message is Spam if sent to a recipient who had previously signed up to receive newsletters, product information, or any other type of e-message, but later opted-out by indicating to the sender they no longer wish to receive additional e-messages.

2. Any e-message sent to recipients that have had no prior association with the sender or did not DIRECTLY agree to be contacted by the sender is Spam.

3. Any e-message sent to recipients obtained from “opt-in” lists with whom the sender has no prior association is Spam.

4. Any e-message sent to a recipient without a clear way for a person to opt-out or request future messages not be sent to them, is Spam.

5. Any e-message sent or posted via chat rooms, instant messaging systems, newsgroups, message boards, or Usenet is Spam.

6. Any e-message that does not have a valid reply-to address is Spam.

So, with all those rules… what can be defined as NOT Spam???

It’s simple:

A message is NOT Spam if the recipient directly requested information be sent to them from the sender or the sender’s organization, and that recipient has not subsequently asked for removal from their list.

Easy enough, right?

Use safe mailing practices to reduce your risk of being identified as a spammer.

Be careful out there….