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Spam FAQ’s

Friday, April 4th, 2008 | E- Marketing & Spam | No Comments

What Is Spam?

E-mail spam, also known as unsolicited bulk email (UBE) or unsolicited commercial email (UCE), is the practice of sending unwanted e-mail messages, frequently with commercial content, in large quantities to an indiscriminate set of recipients.

Spam in e-mail started to become a problem when the Internet was opened up to the general public in the mid-1990s. It grew exponentially over the following years, and today comprises some 80 to 85% of all the email in the world.

Why Do I Get Spam?

Thousands of companies over the internet whether legal or illegal will want to promote their business in any way possible, and the reason they use email is… it’s free.

How they get your email address to start with is another thing. Spammers possess tools which crawl the internet to automatically pick up visible email addresses and add them to their sales database. This process is called harvesting.

The biggest reason you may be receiving spam, is if your email address is posted on forums, directories, blogs and your company website.

As sending out spam is free; it is always going to be around, so you are always going to receive some sort of email spam in your life. The most important part of the spam process… is deleting it.

How Can I Stop It?

A recent law was passed (The Can Spam Act) noting that all spam / sales emails must contain the following; senders address, telephone number, company name and most importantly an “opt out” facility. The opt out facility is a way of unsubscribing yourself from the email list (even if you didn’t initially subscribe)

The opt out facility usually works either by clicking on a link at the footer of the email, or replying to the email with the subject line “stop”, “unsubscribe” or possibly others.

Another way of avoiding spam is trying not to publish your email address on too many blogs, forums, or websites. Try and include an image of the email address, making it visible to website visitors but not to the spamming tools.

When completing online forms try and read everything carefully. Some websites will have parts of their forms allowing them to pass your personal information onto third parties. Make sure you unselect boxes or read all disclaimers; this will also help reduce your spam emails.

Tags: email, email marketing, spam

The Can Spam Act

Friday, April 4th, 2008 | E- Marketing & Spam | No Comments

Please see a short break down of the Can Spam Act. We have highlighted key areas which we feel those of you who utilise e-marketing on a regular basis should pay attention to.

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.

Misleading Subject Lines

The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

Must Possess An Opt Out Facility

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 honour 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.

Must Display Physical Postal Address and be seen as a commercial advert

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.

Tags: can spam act, spam