Minimizing spam complaints and increasing your mailing list's responsiveness

Email marketing has evolved into a reputation-based environment, empowering end-users to decide what is relevant to them and what is not. Often such votes are as simple as clicking on "This is SPAM" button. This has a deep impact on the email marketing industry.

With some careful planning, email senders and marketers can substantially reduce spam complaints, increase list responsiveness, boost their email deliverability and maximize their campaigns' profitability.

Below are several recommendations that I have found to be instrumental in achieving the above goals.

1. 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 spam complaints.

It should be noted that with the unconfirmed opt-in model you open yourself up to attacks, "joe-jobs" (malicious attacks by your competition) and spam abuse.

By confirming your subscriptions you will have cleaner, more responsive lists that are highly targeted, generate fewer complaints and fewer unsubscribes.


2. Remember to identify yourself.

Many of the complaints occur because the subscriber doesn't recognize the sender and assumes that the email is spam.

You can fight this by adding clear information that identifies you and your company in the beginning of your email. This will remind your subscribers who you are and what they signed up for.

When you do this, never say "This email is NOT spam" -- people will assume it is.

Instead, you could try something like:

Hi Joe,

You have signed up for my free email course "How to make your parrots talk" on 1/14/2006 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?

By identifying yourself clearly you are significantly reducing the occurrence of unsubscribes and complaints.


3. Ensure that your emails don't look like spam.

A lot of complaints and unsubscribes can be avoided if email marketers structure their messages appropriately.

Here are a few tips:

a) Choose your Subject line carefully -- it's the first thing your subscribers see. Ensure that the Subject is relevant and reflects the contents of your message.

b) Do not write long email copy - go for "short and crisp", then point to your website for more information.

c) Don't repeat your website URL over and over again. You are more likely to get additional complaints rather than additional sales. Mentioning your website's address once or twice is usually enough.

e) Do not use "hash-busters" - i.e. special characters or punctuation entered in the attempt to fool the anti-spam systems (examples: F'REE instead of FREE etc.). They are easy to detect by the anti-spam engines, and subscribers may disregard such emails as potential spam.

f) Run a SpamAssassin-based spam-score check on your messages before delivering them, and fix any problems that arise.


4. Provide an easy way to unsubscribe.

Every email that you send out must contain an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your message.

You can't make it too complicated to unsubscribe. The process should be swift and painless, and it must actually work. This may sound funny, but a lot of email marketers have broken unsubscribe solutions that either have significant issues, or don't unsubscribe at all. Choose your email service provider carefully and test the system thoroughly *before you send* to make sure that the unsubscription process works.

For instance, at GetResponse we process our removals within five minutes, whereas some email service providers don't do it for days.

By outsourcing your email marketing to a reputable provider you will have saved yourself the hassle of dealing with all the issues associated with email hygiene.

5. List quality is your top concern.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do I have the permission to email my list?
Would my subscribers be interested in my email?
Is my list the right target for my products or services?

If you have answered 'NO' to any of the above, do the best thing for yourself and for your business and *do not* send any email marketing campaigns to your list. It will backfire.

Remember -- when it comes to lists it is always the quality that is important, and not the quantity. It is much better to have a small and responsive lists than a large, diluted list that is much more likely to generate complaints, spam accusations and customer support issues.

Simon Grabowski is the CEO/Founder of GetResponse, an easy-to-use, web-based email marketing and autoresponder solution that has served thousands of marketers worldwide since 1998. GetResponse maximizes your campaign deliverability and increases your online revenues. Try GetResponse risk-free! http://www.getresponse.com

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