"Best Practices" and Guidelines for Bulk Email Senders

This document should not be read or understood to constitute legal advice. It is simply indicating what "Best Practice" might be. If in doubt, please check with your local, state and/or country spam laws.

The CAN-SPAM Federal Law, which went into effect on January 1, 2004, created a single national standard to regulate commercial e-mail for bulk e-mail publishers and marketers that must be followed (see compliance guidelines).

In addition to just staying out of trouble, there are some widely accepted practices, which, if put into practice, can greatly improve both the effectiveness of your message, and the reputation of your company. Here's a brief list of activities that are now outlawed and/or regulated under CAN-SPAM:

"You'll notice that none of these practices are 'accidental.' They're malicious ways of forcing messages into the inboxes of people who don't want them. This is not only annoying, but also unprofitable and illegal.

If you really want to run a successful, long-term e-mail marketing campaign, the only way you'll succeed is to honestly promote a legitimate business with real and valuable products or services.

In addition to the "known" spammers causing the majority of the unsolicited email problem, there are also many companies and individuals who are contributing to the problem because of a lack of understanding of industry best practices and generally accepted guidelines. As an example for those companies, below is BEZA.NET recommended list of Dos and Don'ts of permission email marketing:

The Dos:

The Don'ts:

There are some basic principles underlying the proper running of mailing lists:

Why use "best practices"?
There are three main reasons to use best practices:

Legal
Marketers do not have a First Amendment right to harass consumers who want to be left alone. That principle was reaffirmed recently when the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legality of the government's do-not-call registry. The case focused on telemarketers, but clearly the ruling would also apply to spammers.

At the very least you need to comply with legal requirements if you are to maintain any long-term relations with recipients of your e-mails. (See CAN-SPAM Compliance) If there is a legal challenge to your list you will want to have been sure in your list building to have confirmation of the status of addresses. Much of this can be handled by choosing "Double Opt-In" during list import on your BEZA.NET eMS control panel.

If you don't want to use the Double Opt-In process, then you will need to provide opt-in evidence. You must be able to prove that every single name on your list really, truly signed up. Critical data is:

It is Best Practice to keep copies of every request to join mailing lists and also of all confirming responses. The sending IP address and exact time of arrival should also be recorded. This information may be needed to investigate forgeries or just to demonstrate the bona fides of the list operator. It is not unknown for people to forget that they have joined a list and then to complain about the incoming email that they have requested. If suitable records have been kept then the list owner will be able to demonstrate that they have acted honourably throughout. BEZA.NET eMS system keeps detailed records of every subscriber to your list so you don't have to do all the work as long as you select the "Double Opt-In" option during list import and list creation.

Net Etiquette

Internet Resources
Understanding the way the internet works is important in understanding online relationships:

"Each of the interconnected computers that comprise the Net is owned by somebody. The owner of that computer is the only person who can decide how that computer's time and memory are to be used.

A very quick way to prove that you don't know what you're talking about is to argue that you should be allowed to send as many messages as you like, to whomever you please, because "nobody owns the Net." The people who own the machines on which the Net runs will dispute this, and rightly so.

To remain in harmony with the Net, you need to use the Net's resources in such a way that you would like your resources used. It's much like the "Golden Rule" in that a society works best when people treat each other with the respect with which they would like themselves treated.

When an unwanted e-mail goes out, it is a waste of internet resources. When it goes to a bad address, and requires a bounce back e-mail, it is a double waste. If it is reported as spam, the recipient and the administrators who process the recipient abuse report all their time , it is infinitely more disruptive to the running of networks. Your goal should be to trim your list to the truly interested, or let mechanisms allow people to trim themselves.

Maintaining good relationships
Any long term relationship is a two way street, and this is true for e-mail relationships as well. If someone isn't interested in you, or what you have to say, leave them alone.

Whether you are sending information, or promoting a product, remember that people buy products and services from companies they trust. Think of your e-mails as part of an ongoing dialog between you and your potential customers.

Building and Maintaining a List

Prior relationship - customer list:
It is accepted practice to use an existing list of past customers who have given you their e-mail address. Email sent by an organization with whom the recipient had previously established a relationship is allowable, provided that the sender provides a mechanism for recipients to easily remove themselves from the mailing list. (In case of dispute, the Bulk Email Sender should have a record of past correspondence.)

Privacy Policy:
Before starting to build a list further, you will need to develop a privacy policy for that list. People need to know what you will be doing with the list before they commit to being on it. They should also be aware of the process involved in getting off the list. If email addresses are acquired via a web page subscription form (or indeed through any other data capture mechanism) then it should always be entirely clear what purpose the addresses are to be used for.

You must let people know in advance if you are planning to share the list with others. The email addresses supplied for mailing lists should not be used for purposes that are unconnected with the list.

The Opt-in methods:

Opt out:
All bulk email sent to recipients who have not expressly registered permission for their addresses to be placed on the mailing list, and which requires recipients to opt-out to stop further unsolicited bulk mailings, is by definition Unsolicited Bulk Email. If all the businesses in the U.S. were to send you an opt-out e-mail, it would take you about 14.3 years to complete the opt-out processes.
The sending of Unsolicited Bulk Email is illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe and against all ISP Terms of Service worldwide.

Single, or Unconfirmed Opt-in:
The Recipient has, according to the Bulk Email Sender, unverifiably initiated a request for the address to be subscribed to the Bulk Email Sender's mailing list. The Bulk Email Sender has subscribed the address to the mailing list without verifying if the address owner has in fact granted permission or not. That step prevents someone else from signing up my email address to lists, one of the most popular forms of harassment and abuse on the Internet, by the way.

No one should be running any unconfirmed signups for email anymore, not if they are a legitimate operation. Unconfirmed Opt-in means that anyone can subscribe anyone, therefore if the address submitted by an unverified user was "President@Whitehouse.gov", the President has 'opted-in' and will receive bulk mailings whether he likes it or not until he opts-out.

In case of dispute, the Bulk Email Sender has no verifiable proof and is therefore liable for sending Spam, the sending of which is against BEZA.NET service terms, U.S. Federal law and against most European countries to mention a few .

Confirmed Opt-in:
Also known as "Double Opt-in" or "Verified Opt-in". The Recipient has verifiably confirmed permission for the address to be included on the specific mailing list, by confirming (responding to) the list subscription request verification.

This is the Best Practice for all Internet mailing lists, it ensures users are properly subscribed from a working address and with the address owner's consent.

In case of dispute the Bulk Email Sender is fully and legally protected because the reply to the Subscription Confirmation The request received back from the recipient proves that the recipient did in fact opt-in and grant verifiable consent for the mailings.

Unsubscribe:
If a customer doesn't want to receive e-mail from you any more, you will do more harm than good to your reputation by continuing to send them. BEZA.NET eMS has easy unsubscribe options built right in. This enables the recipient to easily unsubscribe with one click on any e-mail campaign they received.

Bounce Handling:
BEZA.NET eMS automatically handles soft and hard bounces so you don't have to do any work. You can see various statistics about hard and soft bounces under your BEZA.NET eMS control panel reports section.

Filter Watch
Ensuring that your email is received by the intended recipients requires some knowledge of the current state of e-mail filters, and what they look for. Use BEZA.NET eMS 'Spam Rating' feature to rate your e-mail campaign to see if it will be tagged as spam by the recieving party ISP/mail server.

The Spam Rating feature is easy to use and built-in to your BEZA.NET eMS account.

Whitelist:
For maximum delivery you may need to ask people to add you to a whitelist, if they use one. For instance, some people who receive e-mail thru AOL.com have settings where e-mail is only delivered to them if the sender is in their address book.

Other Useful Resources:

Not yet a customer?

Sign Up today for e-Mail Marketing Solution

Have questions, please feel free to contact us.

Company Info