Last time, I gave a quick reference version of a report I put together for myself and my clients based on my reading of the CAN-SPAM Act. Today, tips for the unsubscribe process.

Having a working unsubscribe mechanism in your e-mail is not only a key provision of CAN-SPAM, it's always been a best practice in e-mail marketing. Are you taking full advantage of the opportunity? Some marketers view unsubscribe as their nemesis. But if you optimize the process, you can not only make leaving easy for readers, you can gain valuable feedback and possibly get them to opt-in for different e-mail communications, or plant a seed for them to resubscribe.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:28 PM  |  Permalink

Methods to authenticate e-mail senders will finally be in widespread testing, thanks to initiatives from Microsoft, Yahoo! and their partners.

Testing programs are intended to modify the sending and receiving e-mail infrastructure so sender identity can be confirmed. Such systems are thought to be the first step to solving the spam problem, and offer more immediate relief to issues like spoofing and phishing .
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:27 PM  |  Permalink

If you're a marketer, your organization probably sends a lot of e-mail. Even if you're not using it as an acquisition tool, you might employ newsletters, order confirmations, and shipping notifications. Even the sheer weight of employee e-mail sent out over the course of a day can stack up pretty high.

Why does this matter? Well, your company can play a role in testing anti-spam solutions that add an identity element to e-mail. This week marked the beginning of the first end-to-end testing of proposals being considered by the major ISPs. You can help.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:26 PM  |  Permalink

A MoveOn.Org email campaign moved 4,000 people nationwide to deliver sections of a petition to censure President George W. Bush to their respective congressmen.

How they did it: Email was sent a few days before to two million members, asking them to fill in a form with time slots in which they could visit a Congressman or Senator's office. They were given links to newspaper articles with background and possible talking points. The next day, they got an email asking members to go to a particular office at a very specific time - for instance 12:55 p.m. at Senator Schumer's office. An hour or so after members got back from that appointment, they got an email asking how it went.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:32 PM  |  Permalink

As consumers become more selective about who they accept e-mail from, simply sending broad-based mailings to your list increases the odds they'll unsubscribe and decreases response rates. Database segmentation is one of the best ways to grow your business. Many e-mail advertisers once resisted this process. Now's the time to do it if you aren't already.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:31 PM  |  Permalink

Public relations is the cornerstone of any comprehensive marketing strategy. People may be skeptical about a message coming from your firm, but they believe what they read, see, or hear in the press, television, or radio. The right mention in the right place will maximize all your marketing efforts and do wonders for your business.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:30 PM  |  Permalink

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a request for information (RFI) on a do-not-spam registry, asking vendors for input on how such a program might be implemented. The RFI is aimed at exploring the feasibility of such a list.

An agency representative said the FTC is looking for information including: what kinds of data might be collected, types of models vendors would provide and whether adequate, enforceable security and privacy protections could be created.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:29 PM  |  Permalink

You may have heard a lot recently about the process of 'double opt-in' email campaigns. Here's a brief look at what double-opt in actually means and the pros and cons.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:28 PM  |  Permalink

A recent study reported that 40% of Internet users in the US changed their opinions of brands due to information they gathered online. This data is reinforcement that it's more important than ever to make sure that the image you are portraying online, and especially in your email marketing, is an accurate reflection of your brand. Here are a few areas to consider when analyzing your brand reflection in your email marketing?
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:27 PM  |  Permalink

CAN-SPAM is driving email marketers nuts. With scary penalties, confusing interpretations, and an expert around every corner telling you what to do, you can't blame them.

Pay attention to CAN-SPAM, but stop worrying. You're going to be just fine.

The legitimate email marketer has nothing to worry about with this new legislation. All the stipulations that are included in the CAN-SPAM law are basic best practices for email marketing. In effect, the government has made rules to make everyone a better email marketer.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:26 PM  |  Permalink

A new global anti-spam organization is creating an international "do not spam" list that debuted in China Friday.

The International Anti Spam Council (iASC), founded in Singapore in May 2003, is a group of marketers, ISPs and government and industry entities using technology, best practices and financial incentives to fight spam.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:31 PM  |  Permalink

As most of you know, e-mail newsletters can be an important customer communication component -- as long as they're done right. Today, let's look at what makes one newsletter successful.

Farm Boy Inc. is a specialty grocer with six stores in eastern Ontario, serving a regional population of 1 million people. Known for its loyal following, internal surveys show Farm Boy customers rarely shop elsewhere. To encourage this trend and attract new customers, the grocer engages in a variety of marketing tactics, including radio ads and newspaper flyers. In addition, it sends e-mail newsletters to its opt-in customer list, which numbers about 4,000 subscribers.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:04 PM  |  Permalink

Date.com didn't know it had a drastic e-mail problem until October 2002, when AOL began blocking the company's messages.

Puzzled, executives at the online personals service started an investigation. They quickly made some frightening discoveries. They found Date.com's alias for complaints related to e-mail had never been checked. They found its affiliate program completely unregulated and running amok. They even found the company was on a watch list the Federal Trade Commission had set up to address deceptive unsubscribe practices.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:00 PM  |  Permalink

Using economics to stop spam is a great idea that's getting a very bad rap. The problem lies in the stump speeches of a major software executive and the press coverage of some very prestigious newspapers.

The method getting a lot of news coverage is to charge for e-mail through some form of digital postage: a penny, a nickel, or an amount chosen by the recipient. The effect, say proponents, is that spammers will run when it gets too expensive to blast half the world's population with offers to improve a body part or refinance a home.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:59 PM  |  Permalink

How much would it have cost legitimate e-mailers and marketers had they paid "postage" to send the tens of thousands of unsolicited messages I received from them this month?

Most messages weren't, strictly speaking, what many would define as spam. Torrents of virus warnings and other autoresponders were triggered by the MyDoom virus, which (like most contemporary viruses) spoofs messages from everyone in an infected PC's Outlook contact list. Roughly half my mail consisted of automatic responses to e-mail I never sent.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:56 PM  |  Permalink

In its new report "Overcoming the Spam Effect: Maximizing E-Mail Marketing Message Delivery", Jupiter Research finds that the cost to online marketers of permission e-mail messages, being erroneously blocked as spam, will balloon from $230 million in 2003 to $419 million in 2008. With the increase in protection spending, and the overall increase in email volume, the research reports that permission e-mail being erroneously blocked will decline from 17% today to just under 10% in 2008. The decline in percentage of e-mail blocked will result from new ISP efforts to shift from filtering to identity and authentication systems.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:04 AM  |  Permalink

Spam-savvy subscribers have learned to distinguish newsletters from unwanted e-mail, but they've also learned to delete such missives if they lack specific information and timeliness, a survey finds.

"In my 2002 e-mail usability study, users had problems distinguishing between newsletters and unsolicited e-mail. So I concluded e-mail newsletters would drown in a sea of spam. But this recent report shows users now can tell the difference," said Jakob Nielsen of "E-Mail Newsletter Usability, 2nd Edition."
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:42 PM  |  Permalink

The Federal Trade Commission warned consumers yesterday not to register with a Web site that claims to be the "National Do Not E-Mail Registry" and mimics the style of the national no-call Web site.
The site at unsub.us asks consumers to enter their e-mail addresses and promises that "E-Mail Marketers which use the Registry should not send offers to your E-mail address once it has been in the Registry for more than 48 hours." It also offers consumers a link to a complaint form should they get e-mails after the 48-hour period.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:26 PM  |  Permalink

Up to 10% of the names on your list are using a challenge- response system to block incoming mail. Unfortunately your standard delivery report won't show you how many or who they are. (In fact, it looks like your mail was delivered.) Our new article explains for emailers:

How Does Challenge-response Work?
How Many Email Addresses are Using Challenge-response?
4 Steps Emailers Should Take to Handle Challenge-response
Read Article >>
(Open access until Feb 21st) Posted by: DTB at 12:24 PM  |  Permalink

As the popular media chatters about Can Spam not making e-mail inboxes any thinner, e-mail marketers are telling a different story. Can Spam has turned their industry on its ear. But that's not their only difficulty.

E-marketers' central burning problem is still how to get their e-mail delivered.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:07 PM  |  Permalink

Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management is set to further fine-tune and expand its direct marketing, which it began overhauling last year. The efforts more than quadrupled enrollments in Kellogg's executive education program.

Later this year the Evanston, IL graduate school plans to send its first-ever targeted e-mails to promote its courses, which larger companies use to supplement their training programs.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:06 PM  |  Permalink

PartyLite, a firm that sells candles through a vast network of women, has found a way to reach out to both buyers and sellers: An e-mail newsletter.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:05 PM  |  Permalink

If you are looking for a company that builds great viral campaign tools, games, contests, etc... Look no farther than to Seattle. A company that we recently met with is doing just that. Wild Tangent works with large brands to develop games that bring more visits, can collect leads and a virally spred via email to grow huge buzz and almost a cult following.
Check out Wild Tangent Posted by: DTB at 9:02 PM  |  Permalink

Only three percent of spam received by MX Logic, a mail filtering company, complies with the new Can-Spam Act provisions, such as including an unsubscribe link and a valid postal address. And the act didn't seem to have any effect on the continuing rise in quantity of spam sent. The act will not prove useful without a vigorous enforcement regime, but to date the U.S. government has been satisfied collecting data.
What are you doing to comply?

Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:00 PM  |  Permalink

With Wesley Clark and other Democratic Presidential candidates dropping like flies, the question arises: what are they going to do with their lists of supporters email addresses? Former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi warns against the release of Dean's list if the Vermont governor topples.

Trippi suggested Dean might write supporters on behalf of the Democratic nominee to urge support, but he advised against turning over the e-mail addresses. The privacy policy on the Dean for America blog says "We do not share our mailing lists with non-political third parties; however, we may share your information with other like-minded Democratic candidates and organizations." No word yet about what Lieberman or Clark will do with their supporters' information. Looks like supporters of former candidates may be able to expect a dose of donkey spam in the coming months. Posted by: DTB at 8:57 PM  |  Permalink

Not long ago, media outlets and advertisers exercised almost complete control over TV, radio, magazine, and newspaper content. Before the birth of the remote, consumers were too lazy to get off the couch to change the channel (and there weren't many of them back then). So they watched programs and ads they may not have had much interest in.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:54 PM  |  Permalink

Forty-three days into CAN-SPAM, and results are highly predictable. Law-abiding marketers have worked overtime to ensure all their messages comply with the new law. The dark side: pornographers, deceitful Viagra cloners, and get-rich schemers have lost not one wink of sleep. Regular readers know I supported CAN-SPAM all along but cautioned those with expectations that the law alone would expel all spam from the inbox.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:45 PM  |  Permalink

America Online is quietly floating the idea of a premium report service that would let bulk senders know whether and why e-mail did or didn't make it to users' inboxes, according to several e-mail marketing players.

While officials from the giant ISP wouldn't comment, executives at several e-mail marketing firms said AOL had been trying to determine whether they'd be willing to pay for such a service. Getting through to AOL members has long been one of e-mail marketers' biggest frustrations. It's not a problem that can easily be ignored, either, considering the online service had 24.3 million members at the end of 2003. AOL officials say its aggressive efforts to fight spam lead it to block up to 80 percent of incoming mail.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:43 PM  |  Permalink

A company called Goodmail may just have figured out how to actually thwart spammers: charge money to send email. Sounds like wishful thinking? Well, Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon are actually taking the idea fairly seriously.

The basic premise is that mass emailers would have to pay a penny per message for their emails to clear across large ISPs that opt into the system. The penny would be split between the ISPs and Goodmail, which would use an encryption algorithm to validate the messages. Goodmail would, presumably, verify that all the senders are good guys not pushing penis pills and the other scams. Individuals sending emails to their friends and family would not be affected. But who knows what would happen if you try to CC 20 friends about a party, or colleagues about a work event.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 5:22 PM  |  Permalink

Thinking about a sweepstakes to generate a bigger e-mail list? Wonder if it's worth upping the stakes by going from an instant-win to a daily instant-win campaign?

If United Air Lines' (UAL's) experience is any indicator, the idea is definitely worth considering. (It's been true with our work for a leading toy company, too.)
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 5:19 PM  |  Permalink

Yahoo! and Microsoft are giving serious thought to the idea of e-mail "postage" that costs senders a small fee, company officials said.

The admissions come in the wake of Microsoft founder Bill Gates' January comments in Davos, Switzerland suggesting the spam problem will be defeated by a number of different solutions, but "in the long run, the monetary method will be dominant."

The monetary approach, known as "sender pays," has different variations and is currently being used by several anti-spam companies, including IronPort and Vanquish. The latest company getting buzz for advocating such an approach is a Silicon Valley start-up called Goodmail. Under Goodmail's model, bulk e-mail senders pay outright for "postage" that guarantees their e-mail will be delivered to participating ISPs, who are paid for accepting the mail. Understandably, ISPs are interested in exploring this idea, as it helps them defray the soaring costs of handling e-mail.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:02 PM  |  Permalink

A couple weeks ago, Rebecca Lieb discussed the possibility of RSS becoming a simple content solution. Rebecca also discussed the current pros and cons of this technology, which is attracting a lot of attention lately. I want to continue on that train of thought and, more specifically, address the potential pros I see for newsletter publishers.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:01 PM  |  Permalink

It's the same old song for e-mail marketers: Communicating with AOL customers can be tricky. I wrote about this topic over a year and a half ago. Things have changed a bit, but not necessarily for the better. It's still difficult to obtain statistics on which browser versions AOL customers use; legitimate opt-in e-mail is turned away as spam; and still other issues complicate sending e-mail to customers of one of the world's largest ISPs.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:59 PM  |  Permalink

Remember the good old days? You know, six or seven years ago, when spam wasn't running rampant and recipients actually opened a good percentage of their e-mail? Those were simpler times. An online marketer could create mass-marketing e-mail campaigns and actually get a decent response rate. E-mail was a marketer's dream: cheap, easy, and effective.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:58 PM  |  Permalink

You’d love to close a deal. But sometimes you’d be plenty happy just to generate a lead, right? You’d like your visitor to fill in a contact form, download a white paper or a demo program, register, opt in to your newsletter or your email list, forward something of yours to a friend. You’d like this because you’re hoping while your visitor might not be ready for you today, she may well be interested in you tomorrow. And you’d like the opportunity to initiate and sustain further contact.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:38 PM  |  Permalink

The permission-based e-mail marketing programs of most legitimate online marketers already exceed most requirements of the new federal CAN-Spam law, but many marketers remain confused over some aspects of the law, according to a benchmark audit by e-mail technology provider EmailLabs. The audit, conducted on more than 100 opt-in e-mail messages from online retailers, media and publishing companies from the first two weeks of January, found that while more than 95% had an unsubscribe mechanism as required by the new law, only 56% were in compliance with another requirement: that of including a postal mailing address.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 12:58 PM  |  Permalink

In the midst of a growing spam problem, one of the world’s largest e-mail service providers is dispatching a contingent to Capitol Hill to ensure it’s part of the solution. Digital Impact Inc. CEO William Park will meet with senators and congressional representatives next week to discuss the issue, while the company`s director of ISP relations is meeting this week with the Federal Trade Commission, the body charged with enforcement of new federal CAN-Spam legislation. Digital Impact is part of an industry group, the E-Mail Service Providers Coalition, which has been focused on spam for the past several months.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 12:55 PM  |  Permalink