I read an interesting post by fellow Marketing Profs scribe Louis Chatoff yesterday on feedback loops, a practice that ISP and ESPs are using to filter out more information on SPAM issues. It's become too easy for end users to just hit 'mark as spam' and as a result, companies are getting blacklisted because of just a few bad apples in the email marketing bunch. The idea behind the option to mark emails as spam was to protect the user, not to give them an alternative to unsusbscribing because they don't feel like taking the effort to unsub from a list.

But email marketers aren't off the hook. Some notes that Chatoff brings to the forefront:

So what is the best way to keep a recipient from hitting the Spam button before they open your message?

1. Make sure the From address is easily recognizable; it should contain the name of your company or organization.
2. Make sure the Subject line is relevant and truly matches your content.
3. Send your messages in regular intervals so the recipient comes to expect them.
4. Do not over-send. If you send monthly, do not start sending weekly.
5. And, most important, send only to those who have requested to receive your message. Do not send to addresses that come from a third party, and do not add members who have previously unsubscribed. Remember, it only takes one complaint in 1,000 to get all your messages blocked.

I'd highly recommend checking this out as it's very interesting stuff. Here's the article.