The CAN SPAM Act, which took effect January 1, 2004, stipulated that all commercial emails that are sent in the United States meet certain requirements. On July 7, 2008, Congress updated the law to clarify some of the ambiguities in the initial law and refine a few points.

The law applies to commercial bulk email, not to individual or transactional
messages, such as a receipt for an online sale. So, if you send an email newsletter or any other form of bulk email communication, be sure to follow these key rules. If you don’t, you are breaking the law and could potentially be sued in federal court.

Three tips for keeping it legal below:

The sender is responsible for unsubscribing email recipients who opt-out. The company, brand, or employee name that appears in the “From” field of the email message is the “sender.” This is important to note if you are running ads for other companies. Just remember, if you are identified as the sender, you must provide email recipients with an opt-out link and ensure that they are removed from list.

When you are conducting “forward-to-a-friend” email marketing campaigns, or if you offer something in exchange for forwarding a commercial message, be sure to also follow the Act’s requirements.

If you’re an Online Outbox customer, you don’t really need to concern yourself with this. We’re handling it all for you, automatically, with every message you send.

Do not alter the Internet headers of the message.
An Internet header is a block of information that a properly configured email server tacks on automatically to identify the Internet Protocol (IP) address of where a message originated and a few other technical details.

Again, Online Outbox customers needn’t worry. We keep things above board to maintain strict compliance with email laws, and to keep your deliverability rate high.

No misleading subject lines.
If your subject line reads “Wine Country Event Registration Now Open” but your message content is about the latest male enhancement drug, you are clearly trying to trick your recipients into opening your message. Just keep your message and subject line consistent. This is a good practice regardless of its legal implications.

Whether you’re using Online Outbox, another email service provider, or blasting out thousands of emails from Outlook Express (not a good idea, by the way!), you, as the email sender, have full control of your content, so you do have an active part in following this rule. However, when you’re acting in the best interest of your readership, you act in the best interest of yourself as well. A willing subscriber will typically continue to be so. A reader who is tricked into opening your email with misleading subjects is likely to delete your message, unsubscribe from your email campaigns, or even submit a complaint of abuse.

More tips for keeping your email campaigns legal are coming in our next edition!

A recent survey conducted by Prospective Marketing found 76% of people who signed up to receive a company’s email newsletter were motivated to do so by a special offer or savings, leaving 24% signing up for the specific reason of getting production information. In other words, offering incentives works.

If you sell a product or service but are not enticing prospects to subscribe to your email newsletter with some sort of offer, you’re missing a significant opportunity to grow your list of subscribers. And chances are, your competition is already doing so.

Rather than simply posting product information on your web site, offer discounts, freebies or other incentives for visitors to subscribe. You’ll have a captive audience, captivated.

In an effort to provide the absolute highest level of service, the staff at OO wanted to make the public aware of our recent service updates:

1) Improved workflow. Targeted links available directly from your home page. Options regarding Contact Lists, Campaign Management, and Campaign Statistics are now available at your fingertips.

2) Improved Image Management. Now you can upload images into a global “Image Manager” that will make your images available across multiple campaigns. How convenient! This was a great suggestion from a valued customer.

3) Improved processing power. One of the improvements that we’re most excited about is the speed at which campaigns are sent. We performed two server upgrades this past weekend, which went extremely well, and you’ll notice improved speeds for large campaigns.

We’ve made several other improvements, but don’t want to bore you with the gory details. However, do you have suggestions/comments for our future releases? Feel free to email them to feedback@onlineoutbox.com. Each suggestion is reviewed and taken into consideration.

Thanks! And, as always, Happy Marketing.
Rob

Woody Allen said that 80% of success was simply showing up. Many great ideas never make it past the drawing board. But the great ideas that are actually implemented are the ones that are remembered.

Once you’ve started your email campaign, stick with it! Your content will be good some weeks. Other weeks, you’ll be scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel. Occasionally, your email will go out late. Some will be short. You won’t be as proud of some, but stick with it. As you grow in your ability to produce valuable content on a timely manner, your emails will gradually become something that your readers are looking for every time.

This concludes our six-week series. Stay tuned next week for a new set of ideas to make your marketing campaigns truly productive.