"At first glance, the CAN-SPAM Act establishes fairly basic rules for an organization to follow," says a whitepaper produced by ExactTarget. "However, given that this law is constantly evolving … new details and judicial interpretations will surely follow." This means you can’t take anything for granted, but instead must proactively respond to ongoing changes. To avoid typical pitfalls, here are a few of ExactTarget’s recommendations:

Develop and enforce an enterprise-wide unsubscribe or opt-out process. Says ExactTarget, "Organizations must make a concerted effort to not only implement the proper technology to handle opt-out processes, but also to ensure the philosophy of that opt-out is adopted at every single customer touch point."

Avoid misleading email subject lines. In the past, legitimate marketers encouraged people to open messages with "teasers" like: Your computer may be infected. Today, subject lines like these rarely evade spam filters, and might actually violate CAN-SPAM. "[W]hen in doubt," advises ExactTarget, "marketers should consider the standpoint of ‘the reasonable recipient’ to determine if a subject line is misleading or could be misinterpreted."

Don’t even consider dirty tactics. You shouldn’t harvest email addresses, and neither should you engage in dictionary attacks—the practice of guessing at addresses like ajohnson at whateverurl.com.

Be sure to catch a full blown detailed article in our September Journal on what the new CAN-SPAM rules mean for nonprofits.

MarketingProfs - Source: ExactTarget. Download the whitepaper here.

"At first glance, the CAN-SPAM Act establishes fairly basic rules for an organization to follow," says a whitepaper produced by ExactTarget. "However, given that this law is constantly evolving … new details and judicial interpretations will surely follow." This means you can’t take anything for granted, but instead must proactively respond to ongoing changes. To avoid typical pitfalls, here are a few of ExactTarget’s recommendations:

Develop and enforce an enterprise-wide unsubscribe or opt-out process. Says ExactTarget, "Organizations must make a concerted effort to not only implement the proper technology to handle opt-out processes, but also to ensure the philosophy of that opt-out is adopted at every single customer touch point."

Avoid misleading email subject lines. In the past, legitimate marketers encouraged people to open messages with "teasers" like: Your computer may be infected. Today, subject lines like these rarely evade spam filters, and might actually violate CAN-SPAM. "[W]hen in doubt," advises ExactTarget, "marketers should consider the standpoint of ‘the reasonable recipient’ to determine if a subject line is misleading or could be misinterpreted."

Don’t even consider dirty tactics. You shouldn’t harvest email addresses, and neither should you engage in dictionary attacks—the practice of guessing at addresses like ajohnson at whateverurl.com.

Be sure to catch a full blown detailed article in our September Journal on what the new CAN-SPAM rules mean for nonprofits.

MarketingProfs - Source: ExactTarget. Download the whitepaper here.

Did you know that a complaint rate as low as 1 in 1,000 can get you in trouble with an ISP? "[S]ay you send to 1,200 AOL addresses, and 5 recipients click on the ’spam’ button," says Louis Chatoff. "You could find yourself with a 24-to-48-hour block of your IP address, even if 200 recipients opened your message because they found the content relevant." Time to fight for what’s right.

Aside from maintaining best practices as an email marketer, there are two key steps you can take to keep subscribers from flagging your messages as spam.

1. Use Feedback Loops. Major ISPs now—or will soon—let you know exactly which recipients consider your messages a nuisance. "The complainer is automatically unsubscribed from your list, so they cannot register another complaint," notes Chatoff. "And, you can analyze this data to improve … delivery."
2. Put your unsubscribe link in an obvious location. If a recipient has to wade through a 12-paragraph message with 32 images to reach an obscure "click here to unsubscribe" link, they might opt instead for that easy-to-find "spam" button at the top of their email browser.

Losing a subscriber is bad; getting labeled as spam is a lot worse. So, even if you have few complaints and excellent delivery rates, it doesn’t hurt to implement these ideas as an added defense against problems that could arise in the future.

Don your spam armor! Even the smallest perceived infraction can hurt your Sender Reputation. Take these two steps up front to help circumvent problems down the line.

MarketingProfs. Click here to read the article.

The steep decline in open rates from institutional e-mail seems unstoppable. To understand why – and find the cure – means saying the ugly news out loud so we can focus on raising money: Because e-mail is overwhelmingly spam and advertising, people have learned to use the delete button like a weed-whacker to clear a path through their in-box. And much honest non-profit e-mail is "spam-by-association." It comes from organizations, so it fails the only true test of e-mail value: it is not from someone I know. Too much is well-meaning but dull and promotional. Glorious HTML images shout "Institutional, not urgent." No wonder these messages stand little chance of joining genuinely personal e-mail in the "must read" category.

I agree with technology observers that the rapid rise of Web 2.0 "social media" tools will swiftly reduce organizational e-mail in terms of fundraising importance. Effective e-fundraising will increasingly be from a friend, colleague, relative or at least a known volunteer. So have a fast-paced "conversion" series of e-mails that go within days of someone’s registration, focused on turning them into "representatives" of your cause. For a great example visit www.kiva.org and click on "Get Involved."

Let me hasten to add that institutional e-mails have an important place, just like your print newsletters and annual reports, providing stewardship and information. They are one way people expect to hear from you. They just won’t raise as much money as e-mail from a personal acquaintance. The social media tools and online communities are easily available. The challenge is making them a central part of your fundraising communications.

Got a good example? Let the Integrator hear about it!

Richard McPherson, President, McPherson Associates

Last week, for those that were paying attention, I wrote that if we didn’t self regulate we’d get Can-Spam 2.0. Well…. according to an article yesterday on Direct The House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent a letter on January 30th to FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras regarding reports, on the 1/22/07 NBC Nightly News Report, of the rising volume of spam e-mail. The letter says, "This is deeply disturbing." And goes on to say, "What we have learned recently raises concerns that Can-Spam has not really helped to solve the underlying problem."

No, REALLY??? And why are they getting this earth-shattering information from the NBC Nightly News?

It continues, "We are considering holding hearings to look into the impact of the statute, including its implementation and enforcement, and the need, if any, for changes to the law."

And there you have it, Can Spam 2.0 soon brought to you directly from those who didn’t have a clue about the problem to begin with. But the really interesting thing about the Can Spam law is the federal government has reaped millions in fines levied in successful prosecutions under this law. 

This is one of those things that just makes you go hmmmm?

Jill Murphy, Senior Manager, Member Services, DMANF

So here we are 3+ years after the Can-Spam Act and what do we have? More SPAM, that’s what.
Thank God for that bulk mail folder on my Yahoo! account.

Today, email is, or should be, part of your integrated fundraising/marketing plan. (We called this blog The Integrator for a reason) That aside, we all now have this dilemma: How to NOT reach that bulk mail folder or get the spam button clicked when your email arrives.

Truth is, the definition of spam has changed. No longer is it: "I didn’t opt-in to this." Now it has become "This is NOT relevant" and click goes the spam button.

A large factor in avoiding having your message deleted has to do with the From, To, and Subject lines in your e-mail communications.

• "From" should clearly identify your organization
• "To" line should show the name of one recipient, rather than a "suppressed list."
• "Subject" should identify the purpose of the email

Next, segment, segment, segment. Did I say segment? Donors give us valuable information and it’s our job to be smart about what we do with it. If you haven’t already, start putting like people into ‘buckets’ such as geography, gender, birthday, what they’ve responded to. This allows you to better profile who they are and what pushes their buttons. Then you push the right email and viola! You’re on the way to creating a lasting relationship and avoiding the click of the spam button.

Authenticate! Why? Because ISP’s use authentication to distinguish you from the spammers. It’s easy and doesn’t take long to do. It’s also a requirement for DMA Members. Visit DMA’s Anti-Spam Resources page to get started. Don’t authenticate and click goes the spam button.

Trust your gut. If it looks spam-y (big font, multiple colors, tons of graphics), it will probably get caught by the ISP or the spam filter. If it gets past them and looks spam-y to the recipient, yep, you heard it, click goes the spam button. Avoid that pitfall and keep it clean and easy on the reader’s eyes.

And as Matt Blumberg of Return Path says: "Learn what’s really going on with regard to spam and how receiving networks are dealing with the issue. Get familiar with phishing, spyware, zombies and all the other nasty stuff. Then, advocate, advocate, advocate."  

He’s right, advocate and self regulate or we’ll get Can-Spam 2.0.

Jill Murphy, Senior Manager, Member Services, DMANF