SPAM/ email marketing questions

[indmedins]

I use constant contact for clients and non-clients. Simple. The non-clients get followup emails and clients get newsletters. The way I see it, I paid for these leads and I will contact them as often as I see fit. There is an opt-out button and they can take themselves off the list. I didn't ask for health insurance, they did.

In my opinion, it is better to use constant contact after a the first round of emails, because if not and many people hit the spam button directed toward your business email, you get blacklisted. If that happens, no clients will see your important emails.

Constant contact minimizes the chance of you getting blacklisted and there is an option that you can use which tells the recipient of their relationship with you, the sender. If you select that, they can opt-out at the top of the email, reducing the chance of them hitting the spam button.

 

[justjohn616]

for those that use email to contact new clients, do you have a set series of emails that you send out to those clients.

specifically, i am looking for a series of emails to send out to contacts.

any and all assistance is appreciated.

thanks

 

[maxreferrals]

..... but doesn't a person have to opt-in before you can even send them an email to begin with?...../quote]


Yes. You can't add people to
an email distrib. list without their
permission.

 

[joshril]

I was recently black-listed on Yahoo on a domain... not great! Use Constant Contact.

 

[Guest]

How do you know if you get blacklisted? Does Yahoo or Google send you any type of notification?

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

How do you know if you get blacklisted? Does Yahoo or Google send you any type of notification?

No, your pecker falls off - with NO warning!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

How do you know if you get blacklisted? Does Yahoo or Google send you any type of notification?

You get these messages:

SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:
host smtp.where.secureserver.net [64.202.***.12]:
554 The message was rejected because it contains prohibited virus or spam content

SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection:
host mx1.comcast.net [76.96.62.***]: 554 IMTA06.west******comcast.net comcast 72.34.46.215 Comcast BL004 Blocked for spam. Please see

SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection:
host relay.verizon.net [206.46.2*****]: 571 Email from 72.34.***** is currently blocked by Verizon Online's anti-spam system

 

[Alston]

The bottom line is not really opt in. The bottom line is avoiding getting too many complaints that are reported to Yahoo! and the other ISPs. Every time someone clicks the "this is spam" button on one of your emails, you get a demerit. Get enough demerits and you get suspended.

If your website is on a shared server, email from other websites can get you in banned. This is one reason I have a dedicated IP address.

Each ISP can make an independent decision about this although they share some data with each other. In my experience Yahoo! has had a quicker trigger finger than the other ISPs.

I only send email to people who have requested information from me but I've been suspended in the past by Yahoo!

I don't do an explicit opt in. What I have done is added a line at the top of all my bulk emails that tells them that they can get off my list simply by replying and requesting removal.

This line is right at the top of the email, right below "Dear Betty."

Give the recipient the option of telling you directly that they don't want to be on your list and take them off immediately. Do this whether or not you ask people to opt in. The ISPs don't care about opt in. They care about the number of complaints they receive.

This will reduce the number of people who report you to their ISP. In my limited experience this lowered the complaints enough to keep me in Yahoo!'s good graces.

 

[djs]

There are sites that will tell you if your server has been blacklisted. You usually need to know a bit about mail servers to make heads or tails out of these though. It always starts with the fact you need to know the IP address of your SMTP server. Once you know that, you can go to sites like:
Email Blacklist Check - See if your server is blacklisted
and see if things are okay.

Not being listed doesn't mean everything is good. Being listed doesn't mean everything is bad. You have to read the reports, realize that some blacklists simply aren't used by anybody you care about, etc.

Having your own dedicated IP helps, but not much. Since servers can have multiple IP addresses, most blacklist software will simply block the class C range of your IP, not your specific IP address. This is a real hassle when your not the cause of the spam, but are suffering because of it.

The messages John posted are frequently caused by viruses that someone else has, that is sending emails using your return address, i.e., you were in someones address book and were lucky enough the virus selected yours. Most true blacklisting fails silently, it's much less of a server load. Virus attacks are responded to, as a courtesy, sometimes.

Dan

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Not a virus - I got blocked by Comcast, Verizon and Yahoo for sending emails to members