Spam Complaints

Spam Complaints and How to Avoid Them

One of the most daunting components of internet marketing today is not creating your website, writing good copy for your website, or even advertising – it’s spam. Nothing can put a stop to your business faster than spam complaints – they can cause you to lose your autoresponder, your email account, your web page, and even your merchant account.

Today, it is easier to report an email for spam than it is to compose an email. ISPs and email providers world-wide are making it easier than ever to report unsolicited email as spam.

In order to ensure that your business stays up and running, and to avoid spending your valuable time responding to spam complaints, you must first know what a spam complaint is, why your messages get reported as spam, and what you can do to help reduce spam complaints against you and your business.

What is a spam complaint?

A spam complaint is a report of unwanted email. It occurs when one of your subscribers receives a message from you, and then reports it as unsolicited, or unasked for. With today’s technology, many ISPs and email providers offer a button that when pressed, reports the received email as spam. In other cases, a spam complaint may be forwarded thru a third party business or software program (such as SpamCop). Or, it may be sent to the abuse department of the sending ISP/email provider/ASP (autoresponder, website provider, etc…) thru which the message was sent.

Why is my message being reported as spam?

There can be many reasons why one of your customers may report your message as spam. It could be that they are no longer interested in what you are promoting or selling, they may have forgotten that they requested your information, the request may have been made by someone else in the family who uses the same computer (i.e the husband requests the information, but the wife sees the email and reports it as spam) or it may be that you are sending too many messages and they have become annoyed. It is also possible that someone may have subscribed a third party email address without their consent.

How can I avoid being reported for spam?

There are ways to avoid the above situations from happening. Which ones work for you will depend upon the product/service that you promote, what kind of customers you have, and how you manage your business. Below you will find some suggestions to help you reduce the amount of spam complaints you receive.

First, make sure you use the "confirmed opt-in" subscription model. Confirmed opt-in requires your subscribers to confirm their intention to subscribe to your mailing list before you can deliver your information to them.

Switching to the confirmed opt-in model is the single and most important step you can take to prevent email abuse complaints. When you confirm your subscriptions, you are doing the best possible thing to shield yourself against spam accusations.

Creation and Maintenance of Your Mailing List

1. Permission– The most important thing to remember about avoiding spam complaints is to make sure you have permission. If you do not have permission and you send someone a message, you have sent spam. The best way to get permission is to use confirmed opt-in.

   Via this method, a confirmation email is sent to your subscriber. Unless they confirm their desire to be added to your mailing list (usually by clicking on a confirmation link in the confirmation email) they are not added to your mailing list. This method prevents a third party from subscribing another person’s email address, and prevents the subscription of a misspelled email address in error.

2. Purchasing mailing lists – Don’t do it!There is no faster way to generate spam complaints than to purchase a mailing list. You have absolutely no way of knowing how the email addresses were obtained, if they are legitimate, how long ago they were obtained, etc…. Even mailing lists that come with date/time stamp and IP address scan be fake. Anyone can add a date and an IP address to an email address – that doesn’t mean it is legitimate.

3. Privacy of your list– Do not share, rent or sell your list to others, and don’t rent,purchase or borrow someone else’s list.Someone else’s customers do not know you nor do they want to hear from you. We do not allow any third party lists tobe used. You must generate your own mailing list. If you need assistance with this,please see our service, GetSubscribers,http://www.getsubscribers.com.

4. Keep your list clean– Make sure each message you send offers a method of removal. If someone replies to your message and asks you to remove them, do so immediately. If you don’t you will most likely forget, or you may not get them removed before the next message is sent. This will certainly result in a spam complaint being issued.

5. Keep your list up to date– It is a good idea, from time to time, to contact your subscribers about their subscription. You may wish to remind them that if they are no longer interested, they may remove themselves using the removal link at the end of the message. There is no benefit to keeping old, uninterested subscribers on your list. They will most likely only tire of receiving messages that are no longer of any interest to them, and report your message as spam. If someone signed up two years ago for information on university scholarships, they may no longer be interested if they have already graduated. Similarly, someone who was planning a dream vacation three years ago may no longer be in need of your travel tips and discount offers.

   It is also a good idea to do this if the time between your mailings is lengthy, as people may forget that they subscribed. Including your company/product name, along with your website URL may help remind them.

6. Offer Options– When someone makes a purchase from you, don’t automatically add them to your mailing list. Give them the option. This can be done in a couple of easy methods – either by providing them details in a receipt or on a purchase confirmation page of how they may subscribe to a mailing list to receive product updates, discounts on other services, etc…, or by allowing them to check a box during the order process to ask to join your mailing list. This leads us to the next topic….

7. Pre-checked sign-up boxes– Do not use pre-checked sign up boxes on your website or on your order pages. Make the prospect check the box if they want to join your mailing list. Many people never see these pre-checked boxes, and these people can bea main source of spam complaints. After all, if they really want to receive your messages and join your mailing list, they will check the box. What is the purpose of having an email address on your list if they are not interested what you are sending and don’t read it, but delete it?

8. Free offers and gimmicks– Many people use an offer for a free trial or product to gain subscribers. Others offer to enter your name for a free trip or electronic device if you give them your email address. And worst yet, others will enter your name once for each email address provided to them for their mailing list. Don’t use these techniques. There is no faster way to get spam complaints than from these kinds of subscriptions. Chances are these people will have no interest at all in the messages you send, and you will most likely be reported for spam several times.

9. Co-registration– This is another major cause of spam complaints. Co-registration means obtaining subscribers who have signed up for or purchased another service. After they have signed up for offer “A” they are then presented with a few other offers that may before a similar product/service. When someone signs up for offer “B” and “E” they often forget, upon receiving messages from these sources, why they are receiving such a message. They have never heard of company “B” or “E” before, so they report the message as spam.

10. Eliminating bad sourcesYou may have advertising for your product/service placed in many areas – newsletters, websites, e-zines, advertising sites, etc…. It is beneficial to use tracking methods for your advertising (GetResponse offers many different means)so that you can determine where your leads are coming from. If you find that many of your spam complaints are coming from leads generated thru a certain source, you should stop using.

11. FFA pages and links pagesPages whereby you obtain the mailing addresses of others who have also signed up. Think of it as a huge convention where everyone trades business cards, and then attempts to sell everyone else on their product/service. In reality, no one is interested in buying – just selling, so you are wasting your time. Email addresses obtained via these means will most always lead to spam complaints. We do not and will not allow them, so please, don’t use them.

Managing Your Mailing List

1. Reminders– Remind your subscribers who you are and why they are receiving messages from you. If you mailing list is for those who have joined your mailing list after they have purchased a product/service from you, remind them of that. If there is a period of time between your mailings, this is the best way to remind them who you are and why you are contacting them.

2. Company/Product Info– Include your business and/or product name in each message you send. This helps the receiver identify with the message, and will remind them who you are. It is also helpful to include the link to your website, as it establishes your validity and can be helpful in allowing the subscriber to remember visiting your site and requesting information from you.

   Try something like:

   Hi [[name]],

You have signed up for my free email course
"How to make your parrots talk" a week ago
at my site: http://Make-Your-Parrot-Talk.com

I was wondering... have you had a chance to
review the first lesson and give it a shot?


3. Keep Your Subscribers Up To Date– If you change your company name or website, let your subscribers know before it happens. If newsletters will now be sent from a different department or person, give advance warning to your list so that when they see a different company name or department, they will be aware of the change and will not see the message as spam.

4. Frequency– One of the main reasons for spam complaints is due to frustration caused by receiving too many emails. Subscribers will often report messages as spam (even if they originally requested to join the mailing list) due to receiving so many messages. Think of yourself as the customer – would a message every day for 2 weeks irritate you? Plan your mailings accordingly.

   If you write a newsletter, try to do so with regular frequency, and let your subscribers know what that schedule is – weekly, bi-weekly, etc… Place the newsletter number or place “Weekly Newsletter” in the subject line. If you do not send mailings on a regular basis, let your subscribers know that you will contact them periodically, and stick to that.Don’t send an email twice a week for three months, and then send a message once a day for three weeks. Doing this will most likely result in spam complaints.

Preparing Your Messages

1. Target audience– If your message will only target a portion of your mailing list, then do not send the message to your complete list. Sending off-target messages to someone may not only cause them to unsubscribe, it may cause them to report your message as spam. Think about your message before you send it, and to whom it should be sent.

2. Presentation– How your message is written determines how the receiver perceives it. Keep your subject to the point, and avoid using capital letters and promises. Make sure the body of your message is well formatted. Don’t include too many links or images and keep the balance of content and links even.

   If you can, send your message in plain text format instead of HTML. Most of the spam being sent today is in HTML format.

   Also, keep your formatting neat, your paragraphs clean, and most of all, avoid the use of hashbusters and capital letters. Hashbusters are characters used to split up words that are often used in spam messages, for example:

   f’ree instead of free
s^pam instead of spam

   If you use hashbusters in your email, it makes it appear as if you are trying to get your message thru regardless, and it will cause you more problems in the long run. This method is widely used by spammers, and will make your message appear illegitimate.

   Bottom line – keep your message professional looking.

3. Content– If your message contains nothing more than advertising and a bunch of“sounds too good to be true” promises, your message is more likely to be seen as spam. Be honest – present the facts. If you have valid sources of verification, present them. A long, drawn out message that does nothing but repeat itself is less effective than a short, to the point presentation, and is more likely to be reported as spam.

4. Personalization Use personalization features to include your subscriber’s name and/or other pertinent information. GetResponse allows you to capture more than just your subscriber’s name and email address – so use it to your advantage. If your message has a personalized touch, it is more likely to be received as legitimate email.For information on all our personalization features, please see the User Guide or contact customer support.

5. The “FROM” AddressMake sure the “From” address for your messages is an honest, working email address. If people attempt to respond and cannot, your message will most likely end up reported as spam. Use your company/business name – stay away from using “John” as the sender. The “From” address will determine whether the recipient will even look at your message, or automatically report it as spam. You need to earn your subscriber’s trust, and he should easily recognize who the message is from without even opening the message.

How you use your mailing list, the way you create your messages, the content within those messages, and the way you present yourself and your business, have a huge effect on how your messages are perceived.

Taking the time to properly acquire your mailing list, keeping your messages relevant and legitimate, will go a long way to keeping your spam complaints low and your subscriber list growing. And remember, if the message looks questionable to you, it most likely will to your subscriber as well.