Some time ago, I started sending my email notices about seminars and workshops to clients, and even coworkers, only to find out that their internet service provider blacklisted my address. Sending out emails when you are blacklisted only exacerbates the problem further if you continue to attempt delivery to internet service providers (ISPs) that have arbitrarily black-listed your address. It becomes extremely difficult to use email campaigns to market your business if you are unlucky enough to be placed on even one single list because they propagate one another. You can check to see if your email is on a black list using various free services. If you find that you have been blacklisted, you will need to contact that ISP and follow a specific procedure to request removal, as long as you can prove that you are using a properly permissioned list and haven’t broken any rules of the CAN-SPAM Act. The CAN SPAM Act requires strict compliance if your email is a commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service. There are seven requirements you must uphold or you can face serious consequences and stiff financial penalties, per email sent. These requirements include:
- Don’t use false or misleading header information
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines
- Identify the message as an ad
- Tell recipients where you’re located
- Tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future email from you
- Honor opt-out requests promptly
- Monitor what others are doing on your behalf
If your email contains only transaction information such as receipts, payment failure, download link, or relationship content such as customer correspondence, notification of services changes, then you may be exempt from these rules. Fines are not the only way you can suffer a damage for an infraction. Social media posts alleging that you are a spammer can damage your credibility, your brand, and your ability to conduct business if anyone takes objection to any misleading or deceptive emails they’ve received from you. One way to avoid getting black-listed is to use a spam checking service prior to releasing your email campaign. A few popular tools are available at: MailingCheck.com. MailingCheck offers a few tools you can use to pre-screen for problems.
