Every once in a while, we have a customer who is either a new email marketer (what took you so long?) or they have discovered a new list of contacts in their database that bumps up the total number of email addresses they are planning to send to. Before you give your ESP (Email Service Provider) an ulcer and a headache by sending to those new people, let's talk about the implications of doing this and how you might approach this issue a little more effectively.
I don't want to run through the CAN-SPAM laws or even basic email ethics here. I assume you get the idea that if someone has not heard from you ever, then it is SPAM. However, if your "contacts" are truly part of your company database and they have had a relationship with you in some capacity (customer, prospect desiring more information, etc.), then technically you can email them. However, let’s make a pact to do it in a way that doesn't upset them, retains as many subscribers as possible and lets you safely email to them in the future, shall we?
For this post, I want to set the stage by painting a very real and dark picture of what doing things the irresponsible way can do for your business and reputation if you decide to "blast" everyone in their address book or CRM.
- You have an extremely high bounce rate.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. People change jobs, email addresses go dormant and your list quality is down because of its age. With a high bounce rate, you will definitely trigger some ISPs or corporate firewalls to block you or at the very least, will put you on notice. You might even get blacklisted.
Your risk: ISPs and corporations will hate you.
- You hit spam-traps
Spam traps (aka honeypots) are old email addresses which you have that once belonged to someone. When they go dormant or unused, the ISPs keep them active for themselves to help catch spammers. If you email any of those addresses, the ISPs assume you are not a responsible emailer and are either sending to a purchased or harvested list. Therefore, that action can quickly label you a spammer. Trust us on this: it's no fun trying to explain yourself to an ISP when you sent email to someone's address that has been inactive for three years. Essentially, you are unforgiven if it happens even once. Your risk: ISPs and corporations will hate you.
Your risk: ISPs and corporations will hate you.
- You'll
some people off.
This happens to us all at one time or another. You check your email and receive something from a company and ask yourself, "When did I sign up for this?" and/or "Who the heck are these people?" If you haven't emailed them in ages, chances are they forgot you. (In this case, absence doesn’t make the email heart grow fonder.) To the end user, think of their email inbox as a sacred, private place. Don't intrude if I don't remember you. It's a quick way for me to dislike you and your brand. it will be hard for me to like you again.
Your risk: People will hate you.
- Your ESP will most likely shut you down and have you go elsewhere.
SendLabs, like other ESPs, are in the business of helping companies send responsible, permission-based emails. The adage "one rotten apple spoils the bunch" is oh-so-true in our space. We monitor carefully who is sending through our solution and we work very hard to communicate to ISPs that we are responsible, respect their jobs and do everything in our power not to jeopardize our reputation or relationship with them or for any of our customers. That being said, most of us take a hard line approach and would ask that if you desire to use our software, our infrastructure and our reputation to deliver bad emails, you should look elsewhere. Sorry.
Your risk: Email Service Providers will hate you.
In the next post on this subject, I will share with you some ideas to help you work with a list like we described. It won’t give you everything you want and you will have to sacrifice some. But in the end, you will have a cleaner list and be sending to actual recipients that want to hear from you…and hopefully no one will hate you.