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Eliminate Spam Complaints (or Keep Them to a Minimum)

Because of the increase in spam, many legitimate companies and organizations unwarrantedly get slapped with the label of spammer. An organization or company may offer its Web site’s visitors registration to an e-mail list or newsletter. Inadvertently, visitors forget that they registered for the service and report the email as spam.

Here are a number ways you can avoid spam complaints:

1. Never purchase, rent, trade or borrow an e-mail list. This is the cardinal rule of e-mail listing. If you do rent an opt-in list make sure you can get the list owners endoresment, it may cost more but well worth the investment.

2. Keep records of those who have signed up. If you get a spam complaint from someone who has forgotten that he or she subscribed to your list, that person can request his or her signup information.

3. Remind people that they have subscribed to your mailing. Include a reminder at the top of your message each time you send a mailing. A short note, such as “Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter. Here is our latest issue,” can make a big difference in keeping your subscribers aware that you are not sending them something they did not request.

4. Try to send to your subscribers on a regular basis. This makes it less likely for them to forget that they have subscribed to your mailings. Sticking to a mailing schedule will condition your subscribers to expect them. The frequency of your mailings depends on their content and intent. Sending something monthly or even weekly is usually acceptable. Infrequent mailings often result in people filing spam complaints because they do not remember signing up for your list.

These few simple suggestions will not only reduce spam complaints against your company or organization but also increase the chances that others will read your messages.

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