I recently received a cross-branded email from Soap.com. Apparently this is a sister site to Diapers.com, a brand which I subscribe to. Soap.com/Diapers.com did a good job overall with this email. I thought I’d quickly share my thoughts on the pros and cons of their campaign, which can be used as a teaching point for other brand families considering launching new brands.

Pros of this example:

1. The “From” address is really clear about who this message is from — Marc & Vinit, Diapers.com Co-Founders
2. The “From” address compliments the subject line — Introducing Soap.com!‏
3. Most of the email is just text, so users will be able to read the message even if they have images blocked. This cuts down on spam abuses, recipient confusion and suspicion.
4. The content is clear. The recipient is told who sent this email, why it was sent to them in particular, and what the new brand is all about.
5. The email uses personalization and asks the recipient to join their Facebook page. They know who the user is and would like them to join their network.

Cons of this example:

1. It is not clear if the recipient has been automatically subscribed to receive Soap.com emails as well as Diapers.com emails. There is an unsubscribe option, but it is not clear if clicking it will remove the recipient from Diapers.com or Soap.com, or both? It’s unclear.
2. The sister site is not live. The message says, “In a few weeks, we will launch our new sister site Soap.com.” They should have waited to send this email until the site was live so that those customers who needed cleaning products could start shopping right away.

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!

In Bill McCloskey’s recent ClickZ article he takes the strong position that double opt-in consent is no longer a best practice and should be discarded. In my view, McCloskey is correct – double opt-in will not facilitate list growth.

At this point in time, individuals are largely familiar with the traditional single opt-in email sign-up process. Double opt-in requires more effort from the person who already completed the email sign-up process, which in some cases, can be a time consuming affair to begin with. For example, many registration forms (especially for sites handling sensitive personal information) now require the customer to repeat letters and numbers (CAPTCHA forms) for security reasons.

If your sign-up process is clear and straightforward, there is no need to require an individual to work even harder to join your list.

For this reason, I would recommend that companies invest in creating a clean sign-up process that clearly indicates how to whitelist your sending domain and articulates what the user should expect to receive in their inbox. Companies should consider displaying images of sample newsletters during the sign-up process to give the user a clear idea of what to expect from your email program. If these rules are followed, a single opt-in should suffice in nearly all circumstances.

The email sign-up process should be confirmed immediately via email, and certainly within 3 days maximum. ‘Welcome’ emails should remind the user of their recent subscription action and also reiterate that they can opt-out at any time. For more advanced email marketing programs, I’ve seen great success with ‘educational’ series of emails that explain the value of the content they will receive via email in upcoming mailings.

Email programs handling very sensitive personal information should be even more focused on creating a clean and clear sign-up process. As customers register for email statements, account alerts and the like, the process deserves the highest level of consent application. For this reason, more and more financial institutions now require the creation of an online account before email opt-in is offered. Above all, email is never the proper venue to reveal sensitive customer information.

By adhering to these registration techniques, email marketers can generate single opt-in list growth responsibly and effectively.