Marketingpro Spam Policies.
Marketingpro has a zero-tolerance policy towards unsolicited commercial email (or “spam”). What this means is that whether you have a standard account and download and send our content yourself, or you use a MarketingPRO account to distribute our content, you are required to only send materials to individuals you already have a relationship with.
We feel that Spam (Unsolicited Email) is the single most dangerous threat to email marketing as a whole. Because of Spam, many legitimate emails are now being blocked due to the restrictive policies ISP's and end-users have been forced to implement to combat the sheer volume of Spam they receive. It is estimated that SPAM costs $1,000 to $2,000 per employee per year. As email marketers, we all need to be aware that the Spam actions of others have a direct result on everyone in the industry.
This means that the people you contact must meet at least one of the following requirements:
- They have met with you in a professional capacity.
- They have indicated to you that they are interested in receiving materials from you.
- They have given you their contact information with the expressed understanding that you may be sending them materials.
These activities are prohibited:
- Sending materials using contact information obtained from a purchased list.
- Sending materials to an individual who has expressed desire to stop receiving them.
In December of 2003, the CAN-SPAM Act was signed into law. It was the first attempt in the United States to regulate the distribution of commercial email, under the aegis of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). There are also a number of state laws regulating the practice of sending unsolicited “spam” emails. Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000. Click here to learn more about the CAN-SPAM act: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm.
MarketingLibrary has ZERO TOLERANCE Anti-Spam Policy.
We are committed to permission-based email marketing practices. To that end, we’ve established a zero tolerance Anti-Spam Policy. Our subscribers are strictly prohibited from sending emails to anyone without their permission.
PLEASE NOTE: Any subscriber who violates this policy will immediately forfeit their subscription without refund.
We will immediately explore any situation regarding an account found to have potentially delivered unsolicited email messages. We will investigate the matter thoroughly and, if proof is obtained that such activities were knowingly enacted, the license holder of said account will be contacted immediately. If the circumstances prove to be accurate, Marketingpro will terminate the account without refund.
Marketingpro defines Spam as any email sent to a recipient who has not expressed consent in any form to receive such marketing message. The marketer must have verified proof of when and where the recipient "opted-in" and must follow accepted permission-based email guidelines such as classification of the email and proper and accurate contact information.
If You Have Doubts - It is Spam.
If you have to ask yourself if the message would be classified as Spam, chances are it will be thought of as such by at least some of your recipients. If any of the following statements relate to your list or message, your email is most likely Spam:
- I purchased my list
- I collected emails from various websites
- The list was given to me by another person or company
- My list contains many generic emails such as webmaster@, info@, sales@
- My list contains a high concentration of AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail email addresses
- Not all of my contact information is correct in the email
- I have not included a proper and working return email address
Send your emails with a clear conscience.
Opt-In email marketing has the highest return on investment of any other form of marketing available. The ability to target interested parties on a one-to-one personalized basis is the core of email marketing's power. Sending Spam emails will destroy your reputation and, in turn, your deliverability - thus rendering your marketing efforts ineffective. Before you send, ask yourself these questions (below). If you can agree with these statements, chances are you are sending a legitimate email:
- You are only sending to recipients who have explicitly agreed to receive your messages
- You have not purchased your lists
- You have not harvested your list from the Internet
- Your list information contains the opt-in source and opt-in date
- Your message contains proper and accurate contact information
- You have not removed the "unsubscribe" link
- You have not forged or included fake subject lines or email headers
We believe that if you follow these guidelines and conduct yourself as an ethical email marketer, you will see your response rates grow and will experience successful results.
If you choose to Spam for a short term gain and risk long term negative effects, your reputation will surely suffer and we will be forced to cancel your account and ban you from any further utilization of the Marketingpro services.
Please understand that Spam prevents every Marketingpro customer from realizing the true potential of their email campaigns. We institute these policies in an effort to ensure that every subscriber has the best possible chance at successful email campaign delivery.