The New Battle on Spam

The New Battle on Spam

By Staff Writer

Ferris Research estimates that spam cost U.S. organizations $10 billion in 2003.

Spam, or unsolicited email, is a growing problem for both individuals and businesses. Ferris Research estimates that spam cost U.S. organizations $10 billion in 2003—and totaled up to 20% of all inbound email to U.S. businesses—as many as 110 unwanted messages per person each week.

To halt the tide, President Bush signed into law the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act) on December 16, 2003. Effective January 1, 2004 consumers will have new, wide-ranging support in combating unsolicited email. State officials, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be enforcing the law in 2004 and both civil and criminal charges will be levied against perpetrators.

This is great news for lightening the load of unwanted email in your own inbox, but how will it affect you as an email marketer?

Are You Spamming Without Knowing It?

As you know, emailing your clients and customers is the easiest and fastest way to announce new products, promote savings offers and let people know about changes to your Web site. It’s also rapidly growing as the marketing option of choice: 32% of businesses rank email as their most effective marketing tool and 82% rank it in their top three (e-Dialog, 2002 survey). In order to adhere to the new spam legislation and maintain sales from email marketing, you first need to understand what spam is and learn how to avoid being deemed a spammer yourself. Here are the basic kinds of marketing mails:

Opt-in email: Also known as “permission-based email,” this is the email that clients and customers have chosen to receive. You’ve already built a relationship with the customers and they can unsubscribe from your list at any time.
Confirmed opt-in: This type of email adds another level of “checks” to your list. Once customers subscribe, they receive a confirmation message that gives them the option to unsubscribe.
Double confirmed opt-in: The highest level of permission-based email, double confirmed opt-in mail is sent only after a customer subscribes to your list and then confirms that they want your messages by clicking on a link in the sent email. This type of list may be smaller since recipients need to take an action, but the recipients will be more qualified—and more eager to get your email.
False positive: As you might guess from the name, false positives are legitimate messages to subscribers that are erroneously filtered as spam.
Spam: Spam is unwanted email sent without any prior contact or relationship—and without an option to unsubscribe from receiving future messages.

To make sure you're not spamming:

Always get permission to email people on your list. This may mean constructing your own list from scratch. By extension, if you rent lists, do your homework to make sure that the members have given permission to receive unsolicited email.
In every single message you send, include clear, simple instructions on how to unsubscribe. Honor all requests to be removed—immediately.
Never send out fraudulent messages or use deceptive subject lines or offers.
Use your company’s name or email address as the “From.” Using non-existent or fake names makes a message spam.

Protection Against False Accusations

AOL reported that they had blocked over a billion spam messages in one day, and Yahoo! is stopping 500 percent more spam than they were a year ago.

Even if you’re not technically spamming your customers, you’re still at risk for recipients thinking you are. They might not remember signing up to receive your email or newsletters, and they might just lump your email with all the hundreds of messages they get each month that they delete. Additionally, ISP filters may trap your messages—just because you look like spam. (AOL reported that they had blocked over a billion spam messages in one day, and Yahoo! is stopping 500 percent more spam than they were a year ago.) If this happens, your message won’t even get in front of the customer. In either case, you’re likely to lose revenue, lose your good reputation, and in the worst-case scenario, even lose your Web site! Follow the tips below to avoid becoming a “false positive” statistic.

Remember Me?

Start by reminding them that they subscribed to receive email from you.

To avoid having customers report you as spam marketer or delete your message because they think it’s spam, start by reminding them that they subscribed to receive email from you. People do forget! So add a simple sentence at the top of your message, such as, “You’re receiving this message because you subscribed to email saving alerts from yoursite.com.”

Protect Your Good Name With a Good Product
Delivering a quality product is the most obvious place to start, but fatal if overlooked. Produce good content and offer a good value. Make sure that your customers retain their trust in you and they’ll be more likely to continue the relationship.

In the Details
You can also make minor changes to your messages so ISP filters don’t mistake them for spam. Most spam or bulk mail filters apply a laundry list of rules to every email that goes into inboxes, and because spammers keep finding ways around them, ISPs keep changing their rules. You’ll never be able to keep up with them all, but there are a few easy steps you can take to lessen your chances of being filtered.

Watch your emailing frequency—send too often and you’ll annoy customers, send too rarely and they’ll forget you.

Avoid excessive punctuation. Using more than one exclamation point is a red flag to filters.

Avoid using all capital letters in your subject line. Rely on a compelling offer and good copy instead.
Avoid peppering your message with dollar signs and “FREE.”
Watch your emailing frequency—send too often and you’ll annoy customers, send too rarely and they’ll forget you.
Include your privacy policy on your site and stick by it. Not only ethical, it will also foster trust from your customers.

According to a DoubleClick report, 78% of users want more email from their favorite online retailers.

Email marketing budgets totaled $1.3 billion in 2002, and according to a DoubleClick report, 78% of users want more email from their favorite online retailers. This means people want marketing email and it works, despite the increase in spam and the necessity of spam legislation. As a small business owner, you’ll be more likely to feel the crunch of these clamp downs and will need to be more careful. Keep your ear to the ground, keep yourself educated on email issues in the news, and always air on the side of caution.