How NOT To Appear Like A Spammer

Unless you use the Internet only for surfing and never use your email address you've probably received something that is called spam.

There are different definitions for spam but I will say that spam is unsolicited email commercial. Many people harvest other people's email addresses on email and web forums and send them info that they didn't request. This is very frustrating because you loose your precious time deleting those unwanted messages. In this article I will explain how NOT to appear like a spammer.

Opt-in

If you have an email newsletter it is very important that you don't appear like a spammer. If you want to stay long in email publishing business your newsletters have to be based on opt-in method. It means that a subscriber chose to receive your newsletter and that you have their permission to send them your newsletter. It is called Permission Marketing. I would suggest that your list be double opt-in. Now what is double opt-in? Double opt-in means that your subscribers have to confirm their request to join your list. Confirmation is done by replying to the message that you send to everyone who had initiated subscription. Beside replying, people can confirm their request by clicking on a certain link. This ensures that one person can't subscribe another person against his or her will. Also, never buy so called opt-in lists and also never sell or rent your members base.

Welcome message

I would suggest you that you ask your new subscribers to save your welcome message. There you can put the necessary info about your list and list management: list description, subscribe/unsubscribe address, digest address, owner's email address, list rules...

This is important because of the following. Many people promote their newsletter for some time, until they get enough subscribers and then publish the first issue. However, it is most likely that someone who had subscribed to your list several months ago forgot that he or she actually requested to be a member of your list. And then, they can accuse you that you are a spammer. If they save a welcome message they can see that they required to be your subscribers.

Subject line

Subject line is very important in email newsletters. Beside, From field it is the most important thing for someone to decide whether to open your newsletter or not. I would suggest that your subject line consists a title of your article, issue number and date. If your From or To field doesn't consist your list name than you should put your list name in Subject line, too. Preferably in brackets. If you have your subscriber's first name in your database you should definitely put their name as the first thing in the Subject line. Then it is more likely that they will open your newsletter. Never use spam techniques like putting Re: at the beginning of your Subject line so that people think that they sent you an email and you are sending them your reply. Nobody is fool.

Filtration

Many people use email programs with powerful email filter options. Many people set their filters to delete messages with get-rich-quick-schemes, porn and similar content so it is wise that you don't put that kind of text in your messages if you want that people read it. Also, don't capitalize your words like FREE, MAKE MONEY, GUARANTEED... I wouldn't suggest that you use this or similar words in the first place beacuse these words are often used by spammers.

If you have an option that in To field be your subscriber's email address and not, for example your list name, that would be ideal because some mail washer programs automatically flag messages which don't have a recipient email address as possible SPAM.

List management

Always provide very clear information regarding list management in your newsletter. Very important thing is that your list management provides very easy way of unsubscribing. For example, some email newsletters have at the very bottom an unique unsubscribe address for every subscriber. It can be something like leave-yourlistname-111327893L@yourlistserver.com This way, your subscribers can unsubscribe only with one click and they don't have to worry if they sent unsubscription request from address which is in your subscriber list. Good list management is, also, useful because you won't loose your time explaining to your subscribers how to do something, for example unsubscribe or set receiving messages in digest mode.

Also, it is wise that if you use advanced email marketing software like Group Mail to include important information about your subscribers in every issue of your email newsletter. In other words, to personalize your newsletter.

For example, you can make a section at the beginning of your email newsletter where you will write several text lines so that your subscriber see that he or she really chose to be your subscriber. Many email marketing software have an option to include a code in your issue that will be automatically parsed after sending so the subscriber will see his or her info.

Something like this:

_____________________

MEMBERS SECTION

Your name: !*COMPLETE_NAME*!
Member since: !*MEMBER_SINCE*!
From IP address: !*IP_ADDRESS*!

_____________________

And in your Editor's Section you can start your writing with:

Dear, !*COMPLETE_NAME*!?

That's why personalization is very important.

At the end, you can read several spam messages and - do the opposite in your email newsletter.

______________________________

Dejan Bizinger is a Contributing Editor for Infacta. Infacta is email messaging services company providing powerful, yet easy-to-use award-winning Group Mail, software for sending highly-personalized email messages and Group Metrics, software for email tracking. For more information visit: http://www.infacta.com ______________________________

---

The Key (Board) to Success: Effective Emailing

Email is THE medium of communication for business transactions. Unfortunately,... Read More

Improve Newsletter Delivery with an Autoresponder Service

Another powerful reason for making the switch from using the... Read More

How To Set Up an Ezine Encyclopedia

Do you read all your Ezines? Or do you file... Read More

How Email Etiquette Will Make You More Money through Loyal, Repeat Customers

When it comes to gaining and keeping customers, every website... Read More

Attract New Subscribers With Magnetic Ads

One of the most effective methods of advertising your e-zine... Read More

Email Communication

Gartner estimates that half of the 5.5 trillion emails sent... Read More

Improve Email Deliverability: 15 Tips for Email Marketing Success

Delivering email newsletters and sales messages to opt-in subscribers and... Read More

7 Wise Ways to Collect Email Addresses and Build Your Mailing List

=> Wise Way #1 - OFFER A FREEBIEYou have to... Read More

Email Marketing 2005?Do?s & Don?ts

Email Marketing 2005?Do's & Don'ts1. Make sure all your email... Read More

How Autoresonders Can Put Your Business On Autopilot

Owning your own online business is a lot of work.... Read More

To Personalize Or Not To...That is the Question

If you are really interested in conducting a successful, effective... Read More

Creative and Profitable Ways to Use Autoreponders

An interested visitor who has been strolling through your site... Read More

The Ultimate Business Network: One Secret Power of the Masters

Dear Friend:If you're out there networking and have been for... Read More

The 8 Biggest Newsletter Marketing Mistakes

Newsletter publishing has always made a lot of sense. It... Read More

Email Laws That Could Bring You to Jail Even if Youre Not Spamming

First things first, I'm not a legal expert and so... Read More

You Must Build A Customer List

If you run (or plan to run) an online business,... Read More

What Good Is An AutoResponder?

A term that confuses just about everyone is "autoresponder". When... Read More

Are Opt-in Email Lists Still Valuable in this SPAM Age?

One of the things that the introduction of blogs has... Read More

How To Create An Irresistible Subject Line For Your Next E-mail Promotion

As I logged into my e-mail account, I clicked on... Read More

Spam! Whats the Real Problem

Most people now know the official definition of spam- Unsolicited... Read More

Your Money Is Still In Your List - Build It!

You are a home business entrepreneur. You have just built... Read More

Twelve Tips for Successful Opt-in E-mail Newsletters

An opt-in e-newsletter is one of the most effective marketing... Read More

Using Internet Direct Mail To Increase Your Company?s Profits

"I want to sell my company's products on the Web,... Read More

A Single Email Is Never Enough

"Repetition is the key to advertising (marketing)". Those words were... Read More

Great Response by Auto Responder

1. Collect leads with your autoresponder. You will get an... Read More

Are You Making These Email Mistakes?

Every day, I receive at least 300 emails. I will... Read More

Wise Ways To Build Your Email List

Just about every successful Internet Marketer will tell you that,... Read More

You DO Have an Email List Dont You?

No matter what type of business you operate, you need... Read More

7 Great Email Habits for the Beginning Internet Entrepreneur

If you are just starting out as an Internet entrepreneur... Read More

All I Really Needed to Know About List Building I Learned From Stephen King!

I have always been an avid reader of Stephen King's... Read More

20 Ways To Increase Your Traffic And Sales Using Free Follow-Up Autoresponder Courses

An autoresponder course is a group of articles or information... Read More

unorthodox email subject tricks -500% more responses!

5 unorthodox email subject tricks -500% more responses! (c) Copyright... Read More

8 Ways to Get More Email Addresses On Your List ... Today

Whether you've got 100 or 100,000 people on your email... Read More