I was just about to send out nearly 1000 newsletter emails to 'opt-in' addresses. Are you now saying that even 'opt-in' is not good and could end up as being spam?
If it's opt in then theoretically all should be ok. But unfortunatly people still report opt in emails as spam.... so you are stuck with what way to go. I had a recent issue with a client who sends out 1000s of emails and all went well until one of them forgot that he registered 6 times with different addresses. He then asked to be removed... which the client did.... but because he signed up 6 times then 5 registered addresses were on the list and he reported it to spamcop who put a nice block in place. Now... the list was opt in and the guy reporting the spam was stupid for signing up 6 times. So either way... you struggle to win If it's opt in though I would go ahead and send it as long as you made it clear on sign up that they would receive emails and that they had to confirm their email address up on registering.
I always find this topic interesting. My personal take is that if a company sends me 1 unsolicited email to tell me about a product or service AND it is obvious how that product or service could be of use to my company, I do not consider it SPAM. I most likely would cut and paste the address rather than use the link, but why do so many here consider this practice more unacceptable than telemarketing and junk mail from the post office? Believe me, I am sick and tired of the sex potions, mortgage, and other assorted emails. I had one company sending me mail every day where they just created a new username each day to fool the blockers. (Like after doing that, I would ever do business with them.) As an American who receives so much junk mail in my physical mailbox, I'm not sure why so many feel a single, one time email is considered more evil. If the OP had said he was going to snail mail his prospects a sales letter, would the answers have been as heated? All of you that see this as such a clear SPAM issue; can you honestly tell me that you never, ever spent money based on an unsolicited advertisement? As to using a third party to mail...I would see this as more Spammy than if the OP just sent me a simple sales letter explaining his service. So, if I opt in to be on a list to recieve a newsletter; I am also opting in to be sent sales letters from anyone who pays the newsletter provider to send a letter on their behalf? Yikes! Advertising on the newsletter is one thing, but this 'renting' of an opt in list is even more slimey. This way I don't even get the name and email of the actual sender? And this is better than a single unsolicited sales letter? BTW, I get a newsletter who does this (they stated as such when I signed up); I delete unread the emails that are pure ads. I don't see where this is effective. I do however, on occasion, click on an ad listed in the newsletter. I saw a post similar to this one on another forum. The OP had kept the addresses of the folks who had sent inquiries to a B & B he was working with. The site had undergone massive changes and the B & B was offering some one time discounts. Again, consensus was mailing to this group was Spam. The posters even considered it Spam to email past guests. I was shocked. If I had stayed at the Inn and gave an email, I would expect to recieve email from them. C'mon, a little common sense here, why would they ask for my email if they didn't plan on using it at some time? And if I refuse to provide my email, it's not like they are not going to let me stay there. As a whole, I think we've gotten way too uptight about this. Because there are soooo many who are creeps, the gut reaction is that any email not initiated somehow by me should be considered Spam. Boy, I wish everyone felt so strongly about mailboxes full of circulars, telemarketing calls, and door to door solicitors. If only there was as easy a way to block them from making their pitch. As to the Spammer lists, I worry how these can be abused. What's to keep someone from signing up on a newsletter list of their competition and then when the emails come claim they were Spammed? There are quite a few of these 'services' operating now, how does someone wrongly accused have a chance to defend themselves? And how would someone buying a 'used' domain ever be able to ensure that their new find wasn't on any of these many lists? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, in principle. But, it seems just too easy to abuse. I mean, think about it; I have 2 domains, many of you have many more. I could opt in somewhere and then I would have 'proof' from 2 different locations that a person is a spammer. Throw in my 2 Yahoo accounts and my ISP email account and now we're up to 5 complaints. Didn't one of the earlier posters mention a threshold of 10? How easily I could artificially achieve that! Ultimately, I don't believe doing an email blast of this nature has a good chance for a positive outcome. Too many would be incensed at getting such "Spam" and maybe go so far as to report it somewhere, too many don't open mail from people they don't know, and too many Spam blockers would bounce it, for such a promotion to be effective. Maybe you could offer some sort of referral program? That way your current advertisers/members would contact people they know for you. I've seen where other directories have done this with great success. Good luck with your promotions and thanks for visiting this topic. It is always insteresting to see what the folks at different forums think of this topic.
I can certainly say that I got a lot of interesting answer from this thread. I am surprised to see that this is such a big problem and that so many people take drastic measures to prevent spam. I think that from what I’ve read the best option might be not to go with e-mail marketing. I’ll just have to figure out a better way to get the message across.
Hey YMC, Just wanted to say that I agree with everything you said, and I found your post to be very well-written and intelligent. There are clearly unresolved issues concerning spam, and there probably always will be. The greatest challenge at this point in time is that the determination is exclusively in the hands of the receiver, which puts the sender in a vulnerable position from which he or she has little recourse. My personal feeling is that there are times when an unsolicited email can be appropriate and beneficial to the receiver, and should not be considered spam. This doesn't mean it won't be, however, so I guess these are the "risks of the game", so to speak. I'm hopeful that the spam laws, and consequently how they're applied, will become less emotionally charged in the future, and more based on reason. Sam