Comments on: Spam Lawsuits – What’s the worst that can happen? http://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/ MailChimp, email marketing, and monkeys! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:21:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jeffhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-18595 Jeff Mon, 30 May 2011 15:45:34 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-18595 Anti Spam is good but I think it's way to over the top. I have a newsletter where all my subscribers double opted in. It's time stamped and all. I follow all the CAN SPAM laws by putting my mailing address etc in the footer and of course a Unsubscribe link. I even tell them where they opted in just incase they forget. I sent out a newsletter to my subscriber on Easter wishing them a happy easter and thats it. I wasn't promoting anything, it was just a friendly email saying thank you for being a subscriber. I get one guy on the list who claims I have spammed him. He was a real a**. I did nothing wrong and followed the rules. He tried to report me to my ISP, they didn't do anything about it because I had evidence that I did nothing wrong. I just think some people are jealous or just completely way to over the top when they recieve and email they are not sure about so instead of clicking the "unsubscribe link" or admitting that they did opt in at one point even if they can't remember they just decide to try and ruin you. Anti Spam is good but I think it’s way to over the top. I have a newsletter where all my subscribers double opted in. It’s time stamped and all. I follow all the CAN SPAM laws by putting my mailing address etc in the footer and of course a Unsubscribe link. I even tell them where they opted in just incase they forget. I sent out a newsletter to my subscriber on Easter wishing them a happy easter and thats it. I wasn’t promoting anything, it was just a friendly email saying thank you for being a subscriber.
I get one guy on the list who claims I have spammed him. He was a real a**. I did nothing wrong and followed the rules. He tried to report me to my ISP, they didn’t do anything about it because I had evidence that I did nothing wrong. I just think some people are jealous or just completely way to over the top when they recieve and email they are not sure about so instead of clicking the “unsubscribe link” or admitting that they did opt in at one point even if they can’t remember they just decide to try and ruin you.

]]> By: Benhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-17206 Ben Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:47:33 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-17206 Jasper, since it was over the phone, you don't have any opt-in proof. That's something you need, just in case too many people report your campaign as spam (which happens more often than you'd think). First and foremost, I'd run this by our Compliance Team so they can look into the details for you. Generally speaking, I would not mix this list of "phone opt-in" with the list that has some sort of purchase history, opt-in proof, etc. If the "phone list" turns out to be problematic, you want to be able to easily bail on that idea altogether, so it doesn't taint your other list. Jasper, since it was over the phone, you don’t have any opt-in proof. That’s something you need, just in case too many people report your campaign as spam (which happens more often than you’d think). First and foremost, I’d run this by our Compliance Team so they can look into the details for you. Generally speaking, I would not mix this list of “phone opt-in” with the list that has some sort of purchase history, opt-in proof, etc. If the “phone list” turns out to be problematic, you want to be able to easily bail on that idea altogether, so it doesn’t taint your other list.

]]> By: Jasperhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-17184 Jasper Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:57:11 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-17184 Ben - We're just about to send out our first email newsletter, mainly to current customers, or people who have purchased products from us over the last year. However, I recently called around 300-400 prospect customers to see if they would be happy to receive email news letters from us. 98% were o.k. with that. But I don’t have their consent in writing! Does that matter or not? Ben – We’re just about to send out our first email newsletter, mainly to current customers, or people who have purchased products from us over the last year. However, I recently called around 300-400 prospect customers to see if they would be happy to receive email news letters from us. 98% were o.k. with that. But I don’t have their consent in writing! Does that matter or not?

]]> By: Justinhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-7331 Justin Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:50:00 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-7331 Hi Ben-I'm working with my first email campaign client (a bank) and am trying to get grounded in all this compliance stuff. They just asked me if I have a sample CanSPAM policy that we can use for their company (apparently it was recommended by the FDIC). Is that like a privacy policy for a website? I've been looking around but don't see any examples of this. My guess it's not something they have to have, but rather adhere to.Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!-Justin Hi Ben-

I’m working with my first email campaign client (a bank) and am trying to get grounded in all this compliance stuff. They just asked me if I have a sample CanSPAM policy that we can use for their company (apparently it was recommended by the FDIC). Is that like a privacy policy for a website? I’ve been looking around but don’t see any examples of this. My guess it’s not something they have to have, but rather adhere to.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Justin

]]> By: How To Identify Spam : How To Stop Spamhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-5492 How To Identify Spam : How To Stop Spam Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:16:15 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-5492 [...] hard way is what no one expect untill their doors are kicked down by the law enforcers - read this. If you want to market anything online, do not be stupid/uninformed - use an autoresponder. If [...] [...] hard way is what no one expect untill their doors are kicked down by the law enforcers – read this. If you want to market anything online, do not be stupid/uninformed – use an autoresponder. If [...]

]]> By: Benhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-2980 Ben Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:17:53 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-2980 Yeah, it never ceases to amaze me when people send spam to IT people. If you can pick a segment of the population to NEVER, EVER piss off with spam, that would pretty much be the one. Yeah, it never ceases to amaze me when people send spam to IT people. If you can pick a segment of the population to NEVER, EVER piss off with spam, that would pretty much be the one.

]]> By: Larry Kilbournehttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-2979 Larry Kilbourne Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:30:56 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-2979 Ben - Great advice, and it can't be repeated (or re-printed) too often. I know of an instance where one of the world's largest sellers of IT management software got blacklisted by ISPs for 90 days because they got careless with their unsubscribe (opt-out) list and ran afoul of the CAN-SPAM laws. That really hurt, and it was entirely preventable. Ben – Great advice, and it can’t be repeated (or re-printed) too often. I know of an instance where one of the world’s largest sellers of IT management software got blacklisted by ISPs for 90 days because they got careless with their unsubscribe (opt-out) list and ran afoul of the CAN-SPAM laws. That really hurt, and it was entirely preventable.

]]> By: Timhttp://blog.mailchimp.com/spam-lawsuits-whats-the-worst-that-can-happen/#comment-2961 Tim Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:24:38 +0000 http://blog.mailchimp.com/?p=2422#comment-2961 Most of the stuff in canspam is pretty obvious, but I had no clue about the mailing address requirement. Thanks for helping to educate about these things. Most of the stuff in canspam is pretty obvious, but I had no clue about the mailing address requirement. Thanks for helping to educate about these things.

]]>