Emailing and Spam

[Mark]

I got my Constant Contact frozen today.

Even though most of the people opt in to join my list, some of them press spam. They only allow you 1 spam report out of every 1,000 people emailed.


I think no matter what you send them, more than 1 person would report the email as spam by mistake. I thought I was doing good to just get like 3 spam reports per 1,000.


When they opt in and can opt out anytime, why report it as spam.


What do any of you know about spamming rules by most isp.

 

[Josh]

You should probably host your own mail server. I'd check with Brook about that.

 

[Mark]

They did turn my account back on, an warn me to never have over 1 out of 1,000 spam reports again.

You would just think the limit would be higher.

They can always opt out after opting in. WHy press the spam report button...

I also deleted every name that didnt opt in. But added me on linkedin.

 

[VolAgent]

Its easier to hit spam than it is to out opt probably.

 

[GreenSky]

Sorry Mark. Guess I clicked the wrong button!

Rick

 

[Guest]

I just sent out 215 emails last month, got 3 spammed and nothing happened to me...

 

[Mark]

I just sent out 215 emails last month, got 3 spammed and nothing happened to me...

It wont happen at first .

It takes some time for them to notice it.

But it will happen if you keep getting 1 spam report out of 1000 emails.

I think I had done it like 20 times, before they noticed.

 

[djs]

I just sent out 215 emails last month, got 3 spammed and nothing happened to me...

Its because you sent out 215 emails. You won't be seen as a spammer with 215 emails. You send out 1000's, then start getting that type of ratio reported as spam and you'll get a warning from most companies.

Dan

 

[Todd Payne]

I don't get it either. I haven't had 3 per thousand yet, but it still irks me when even 1 person reports it as spam. Just unsubscribe! Wish they would detail who reported it as spam just to make a mental note...

 

[ksigmtsu]

There are some tricks you can use to try to avoid it when using a mail provider:

Make sure your opt out link is at the top of the email and the bottom, prominently displayed.

Make sure you explain to them (if you collected this data) how they opted into the newsletter.

The best header is something like:

You're receiving this email because you agreed to accept communication from us on Aug 1, 2011, from ip address (ip address they opted in from) via the website (website they opted in from).
If you wish to no longer receive emails, please click here, and you will be removed immediately.

In order to do the header properly you need to have collected the information during the opt in.

At the footer, include a 2nd opt out area.

I track my spam/bounce etc, and I've had a total of 0 spam reports ever on newsletters, but I would guess its because of how the header is set up.

As far as what email recipient pop3 side filters allow. it depends, one of the things here is that since you're using constant contact they keep agreements up with the people on their end to receive email thru the spam filter but in order to do so they are very aggressive toward smaller businesses spam count and have a reputation for banning people with 1 or 2 per thousand in spam report.

If you want a provider that isn't so crazy about that, I'd use aweber.com, which is similar to constant contact but they don't ban people for 1 per thousand.

If you wanted to self manage, there is a windows application that is blockbuster for email on sourceforge.com, called openemm.

Can be installed on a windows computer or remotely on a linux server, but to install it does require ssh access for remote install, along with understanding of smtp and setting up all the reenveloping settings in the mx records on the domain that is named on the email and the smtp that sends.

Email, because of all the crazy filtering, has become one of the most complex things in all of the internet, because even a legitimate email message with no links, no spam text, etc, often gets flagged incorrectly. Aweber and constant contact, mailchimp, etc, get you past the filters, but they charge for that.

Managing an email system is a full time job, and unless you're doing large bulk opt in mailings of around 100,000 records, it isn't worth managing your own server. I'd just switch to aweber if constant contact kept being a pain in the ass.