I checked with the Experian CheetahMail compliance team to see if this type of email sent after an unsubscribe was CAN-SPAM compliant. I learned that unsubscribe confirmation messages like these are, in fact, compliant because “the CAN-SPAM Act explicitly exempts this type of email in their definition of ‘transactional or relationship messaging.’ The law provides an exemption for ‘notifications of a change in the recipient’s standing or status with respect to a subscription.’”

Since the unsubscribe email was deployed right after I clicked the unsubscribe button, I did not feel like my request was being taken advantage of. It also helped that the the email from Omaha Steaks used very clear, heartfelt and thoughtful language in their message. They did a great job with this post opt-out email all around, from the subject line (“We removed your email address…”) to the signed note from the owner.

Does sending an email to recent opt-outs work for all email marketing programs?  Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

I’ve never used that idiom before, but in this case, I feel compelled to use it in response to an article in BtoB Magazine that actually promotes the use of unsolicited commercial email (UCE). In the article, Gary Halliwell, CEO of NetProspex, says that “there’s nothing prohibiting a marketer from sending an e-mail to someone who hasn’t opted in. The recession has forced us to drop this etiquette.”

Everyone has a different definition of what spam is, yet I think we can all agree that at a baseline it starts with unsolicited commercial email — promotional messages sent to consumers who have not requested them. My feeling is that just because we are burdened by an economic recession right now does not give us license to abandon the principles of responsible, permission-based email marketing. By lowering our standards when the going gets tough, we risk losing our industry’s credibility with consumers altogether.

I’ll keep my underlying point here brief: PLEASE DON’T SEND SPAM! If you’re still new to email or striving for more education, please refer to these best practice guides which include recommendations and guidelines that the vast majority of the email industry follow:

• Direct Marketing Association US
• Direct Marketing Association UK
• Email Sender & Provider Coalition
• Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group

Any reasonably responsible email marketer knows that he or she should, at the bare minimum, follow CAN-SPAM regulations when sending email marketing messages. But, as it turns out, following this and other best practices does pay off in the long run. MarketingSherpa recently published a report called “Email Performance Since 2001,” tracing the relationship between email marketing best practices and email success. In one form or another, MarketingSherpa has asked the basic question about how well email marketing has performed since their first survey in 2001.

This chart highlights performance trends when following Best Practices and when Deviating From Best Practices. The Y Axis shows the efficiency of the email marketing endeavor. The X Axis displays the year.

What it all means:

• In 2001, it was easier to get opt-ins than it is now. “Relevance” wasn’t our ad nauseum catchword yet, and simply throwing up an email capture form on a website would yield names.
• Over time, we see that as email matured, inboxes filled up and other media worked their way into business and personal life. Given the competition for attention, email has held up remarkably well, especially given its yearly obituary at the hands of the latest, greatest marketing tactic.
• In 2004 we see where deviating from best practices really began to negatively affect the bottom line. At this point, it was no longer a walk in the park to acquire and retain subscribers; marketers found that they had to provide value, think about relevance and pay careful attention to their email programs to see continued success.
• Every year since 2004 the success gap has grown between those who follow best practices and those who don’t. Those who fit MarketingSherpa’s ‘best practices’ model (a definition which evolved over the years based on tracked metrics) report stable or improving impact for email, while those still batching and blasting are seeing diminishing returns.

There are numerous best practices in email. This report underscores the value in maintaining these best practices and keeping up with the latest trends in email marketing.

Every so often it is prudent to take a refresher on fundamental email marketing topics and best practices. CAN-SPAM, officially known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003, is one of the most important online marketing topics. To follow are some of the basic facts, principals and rules concerning CAN-SPAM legislation. But like most legislation, this is not a simple bill. I recommend reading the entire act to learn more details.

Opt-Out and Opt-in Rules:

• Opt-out email addresses cannot be shared or sold for marketing purposes.
• The opt-out option must be available to recipients for at least 30 days after they receive a commercial email.
• Opt-out requests must be handled within 10 business days.
• Opt-out methods must be available either via an email option or single web page option.
• If affirmative consent is not used, the email must be identified in the body of the message as an advertisement and include a valid brick-and-mortar postal address.

Other Related Information:

• The CAN-SPAM Act went into effect January 1, 2004.
• Header information must be correct and legitimate.
• An email’s “from” and “to” lines must be accurate. This includes the originating domain name, and identifying the organization or person who initiated the email.
• The subject line cannot mislead email recipients about the content within the email.
• Email addresses cannot be harvested, and automated means cannot be used to create email addresses.
• “Clear and conspicuous notice at the time the consent was communicated” must be given if an email address is to be shared with a third party.
• CAN-SPAM law is intended for the U.S. only.
• It is up to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the State Attorney General, and ISP’s to prosecute CAN-SPAM offenses.  A spammer can be subject to a maximum $16,000 fine per violation.  One of the largest CAN-SPAM violation settlements to date was $2.9 million in penalties. This case occurred in 2008.

So those are the rules. Pay close attention and as always, Happy Marketing!

This is obviously a big boost for legitimate email marketers around the world. No one likes receiving spam, yet it constitutes an estimated 90% of all sent email. Many spam operations have been prosecuted by the FTC in the past, but HerbalKing is “perhaps the most extensive they had ever encountered, with ties to Australia, New Zealand, India, China and the United States.”

To give you an idea of just how big HerbalKing’s operation was, consider this: they could send 10 billion e-mail messages a day. That means that HerbalKing sent more messages in a few days than legitimate, permission-based email marketers sent during all of last year.