Plenty has been said about how to keep email marketing messages out of the spam trap, how to keep subscribers from clicking the spam button, and how to stay relevant. But underneath all this practical advice is a deeper question: What constitutes spam in the first place? Most people define spam as any marketing message they don’t want. Retailers on the other hand, operate under a much narrower definition. Let’s take a look at what constitutes spam both technically and practically, and how you can avoid earning the spam designation.

Sender Perspective

As a sender, your definition of spam differs dramatically from that of the recipient. While there will be some gray areas, most spam falls into these three categories:

• CAN-SPAM act violations—The CAN-SPAM Act sets forth guidelines for email marketing messages which include accurate from lines, unsubscribe mechanisms, opt-out compliance, and accurate headers. Messages that violate these guidelines are spam in the most technical sense of the word.
• Unsolicited marketing messages—While not technically spam according to the CAN-SPAM Act, unsolicited messages (purchased email lists) are considered to be spam by most recipients and senders, rendering the usefulness of such lists virtually zilch.
• Third-party affiliate messages—You may have a check box on your email sign-up page that gives permission for third-party affiliates to send messages to that subscriber. But if the box is automatically checked or the recipient doesn’t remember signing up for such emails, these messages will also be considered spam.

Subscriber Perspective

It’s much harder to provide a concrete definition of spam from the subscriber’s perspective. Basically, if a subscriber doesn’t want a particular marketing message to appear in his inbox, he’s likely to hit the spam button and send all future messages from that sender to the spam folder. Spam, in the eyes of the subscriber, is any marketing message he doesn’t currently want, even if he initially signed up to receive your emails.

It’s All About Relevance

Because subscribers take such a broad view of spam, it’s up to email marketers to gain a subscriber’s trust so he’ll keep reading their messages. The most effective way to do this is to make your messages relevant. If a subscriber knows that your content will provide something that benefits him—information, discounts, or special offers—he will look forward to receiving your messages rather than deleting them or designating them as spam.

At eConnect Email, we have years of experience helping our clients stay out of spam traps. Use our subscriber list management tools, segmentation options, and design templates to create email messages that will keep your subscribers wanting more.

Do me a favor… for the sake of all respectable email marketers don’t use the word ‘blast’ when referencing email marketing.  It sounds so dirty.

The word just makes me cringe inside when someone talks about ‘e-blasing’ or ‘we’re going to blast out our email this week’.  Sure email marketing makes it convenient to get your message across to your subscribed list but where did this word come from?

Saying ‘e-blast’ to me is like saying ‘let’s have spam for dinner instead of steak’.  Unpleasant thoughts come to mind and leave me with a bad taste (excuse the pun).

Some of the various definitions of ‘blast’ include:

– A forcible stream of air, gas, or steam from an opening, especially one in a blast furnace to aid combustion.

– A violent explosion, as of dynamite or a bomb.

– A destructive or damaging influence.

– A violent verbal assault or outburst.

That said, let’s give email marketing a little respect and not talk about it like a bomb! A forcible stream of air! A violent verbal assault!  Not good.

Of course I’m jesting about this in a sense but all jokes aside, there is something about the connotation that completely undermines what email marketing is supposed to be.

Whether you are sending one-off emails or your monthly newsletter to your subscribers you are communicating to them through email, not blasting them haphazardly.

Email marketing needs a little more respect and choosing the right vocabulary can mean all the difference.  So, next time you would like to send a campaign let’s refer to it as a ‘deployment’ or even ‘we’re going to email our subscriber list this week’.

So as long as we play by the rules, keep our emails informative and not use the word ‘blast’ we can change the image of email marketing for those that think it’s still in the dark ages.

Eliminate ‘blast’ from your vocabulary!

Some help on understanding the not-so-new US CAN-SPAM Act.

Navigating the new CAN-SPAM Act