Hold The Spam, Please

You just finished composing your first email marketing campaign and are ready to hit the send button.

WAIT. Hold on a minute. Are you SURE you have permission to email these contacts?


What's the big deal, anyway. If they don't want to keep getting your emails, they'll just unsubscribe, right? WRONG. You may be a SPAMMER.

A spammer is defined as anyone who sends unsolicited email. If you didn't get permission to email that contact, (we're not talking about one-to-one messages here, we're talking about sending bulk messages) you are a spammer.  It has nothing to do with the content of your message, it only applies to whether that person gave you permission. So, let's break it down further.

If you bulk email using your ISP (Internet Service Provider, ie. Gmail, AOL, MSN, etc.) and send your commercial message to a bunch of contacts through BCC who have not given you permission, you are a spammer. 

If you bulk email using your ESP (Email Service Provider, ie. Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp, Vertical Response) who have not given you permission, you are a spammer.

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Spam costs society over $20 Billion dollars a year (Source:  2012 research by Hotmail & Google researchers

What goes on behind the scenes?

When you hit the "send" button, your message travels through your ESP's servers on it's way to your recipient's inbox.  Their ISP is constantly monitoring ESPs to make sure they are not sending spam. They monitor complaints, non-existent addresses, spam traps, engagement metrics (did the recipient open the mail? How long did it sit in the inbox?) They look at content and subject lines often associated with spam.

They also look at the sender's reputation.  
If you send unsolicited email, or spam, your recipient's ISP (Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) may block your ESP (Constant Contact, iContact, etc.) and can report the abuse to a 3rd party Block Listing Agency and share results with other ISPs. Getting unblocked takes time and costs money.

Companies like Constant Contact who have a very good reputation as an ESP, invest a lot of money making sure we all "play nice" and follow the rules. New customers with large lists and certain industries who are often responsible for spam may have their lists vetted.  Customer support may ask your email collection practices.  If you come to an educational workshop, you will receive "best practices" in how to grow a great mailing list. After all, we're all in this together. 

So, how can you NOT be a spammer?

1. Always get permission before you add someone to your email list. 
2. Never use your personal email client (Outlook, AOL, etc.) to send bulk commercial messages
3. Monitor your bounce reports regularly and remove non-existent addresses, suspended addresses
4. Review lists older than 5 years and clean them up 
5. Ask subscribers to use a personal email address (avoid corporate fire walls)
6. Watch your list for "role" addresses (info@, sales@, etc.) and request the subscriber use another address as these are considered unmonitored and the deliverability rates are low.

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