The Open Source Marketer

Recently I had the opportunity to share some Internet Marketing resources with local business owners. What I learned from them concerned me so much that I felt it was extremely important to write about it here so that the information would help as many people as possible.

It seems that some of these small business owners are still using Outlook to send out commercial email campaigns (email blasts). They are chopping up their email lists into small 30 person chunks so they can fly under the radar and still send out 200 emails without getting slapped by their Internet Service Providers (ISP) as spammers.

If these smart business savvy business owners are still using Outlook to send out email campaigns, then I am sure there is still a large number of people out there who are doing the same thing. There are many issues that surround this topic and there are several problems with running an email campaign this way.

Before we get into the reasons why using Outlook to run email campaigns is a bad idea and before I share the solution I recommend to avoid the threat of penalty, let’s take a look at what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has to say about commercial email and the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act.

What the Law Requires

Here’s a rundown of the law’s main provisions:

* It bans false or misleading header information. Your email’s “From,” “To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

* It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

* It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a “menu” of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor’s email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it’s illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

* It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender’s valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.

Penalties

Each violation of the above provisions is subject to fines of up to $11,000. Deceptive commercial email also is subject to laws banning false or misleading advertising.

Additional fines are provided for commercial emailers who not only violate the rules described above, but also:

* “harvest” email addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the purpose of sending email
* Generate email addresses using a “dictionary attack” – combining names, letters, or numbers into multiple permutations
* Use scripts or other automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts to send commercial email
* Relay emails through a computer or network without permission – for example, by taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.

The law allows the DOJ to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who do – or conspire to:

* Use another computer without authorization and send commercial email from or through it
* Use a computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the origin of the message
* Falsify header information in multiple email messages and initiate the transmission of such messages
* Register for multiple email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of the actual registrant
* Falsely represent themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses that are used to send commercial email messages.

Source: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm

Now, it seems pretty easy to understand that there can be some serious penalties for anyone who does not adhere to these rules and regulations. Not only that, but there are some serious administrative hassles to just to make sure you are compliant. So how do you avoid penalty and administrative hassle?

That’s a good question, but a better question is how do I avoid the possibility of penalty and the administrative hassle, and how do I get valuable analytics on my email campaign that will help me target customer better and spend my money wisely?

To answer this question you need to leverage the solid infrastructure of a system that has been specifically designed and built to handle mass mailing of commercial email campaigns. You need to subscribe to a service that offers built in spam prevention processes to easily handle the administrative duties of complying with the CAN-SPAM Act. You need use a service that will help you verify that people want to be on your list, will help you easily remove people from your list when they no longer want to hear from you, and will give you information about email bounce rates, email open rates, link click through rates, and much much more.

I know what your thinking, “That’s all fine and good, but how much will it cost me to have a service like that”. Well, simply put, for as little as $20 a month you can get access to a solid, trusted, industry leading service that offers everything you need to run a successful email campaign. And, yes I know that sounds like a commercial, but the reality is that these words are extremely important. There are other services out there that fill the demand of the email marketer market, but they don’t go far enough to truly provide a service according to industry best practices.

So, let’s recap quickly. Outlook email blasts can get you labeled as a spammer, expose you to financial penalties, and will cost you time and money trying to adhere to the CAN-SPAM Act’s rules and regulations. A legitimate service that offers professional email campaign management, email campaign reporting, and adheres to the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act costs you only $20 a month.

Now you tell me, what is it worth to you to know your emails will have a better chance of reaching your customers, you will have better insight into the success of your emailing efforts, and most of all you avoid the pain of being caught in the legal troubles that have been put in place to stop real spammers?

Read more about the solution that I recommend.

http://OpenSourceMarketer.com/recommends/autoresponder

Keep reaching for success,

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com