Email Permission from Users is Key... Learn more about the CAN-SPAM Act
All email marketing providers are taking the CAN-SPAM Act very seriously.
According to the Bureau of Consumer Protection Business Center, CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
Defined, spam is any email you send to someone who hasn’t given you their direct permission to contact them on the topic of the email.
How spam/abuse reports work
When people receive what they think is "spam" or "junk mail," it's easy for them to label it as spam by simply clicking a button in their email program. When they do that, a “spam/abuse report" is often created, and sent to their ISP (like Gmail, AOL, MSN, Hotmail, Earthlink, Yahoo, etc.). Most users don't even know this is happening, as it occurs behind the scenes. And many users think the "spam" button is just a convenient way to unsubscribe from an email list! If their ISP receives enough of these reports, they fire off an automated warning message to the sender.
When you or your company use email marketing provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact to deliver our emails, the "sender" is that provider; therefore, it is the abuse desk staff of that provider who receives these warning messages from the Internet service provider (ISP). The ISP report is very terse. It hides the identity of the person who is complaining, but usually includes a copy of the email sent, plus something to the effect of, "Our customers are complaining about your emails. You need to address this issue ASAP or we'll start blocking all email from your servers. If the complaints continue within a certain timeframe, that's it—all emails from your particular IP address will be blocked."
Ways to prevent spam/abuse reports
Only email to your list using our email provider if we have obtained users’ permission in any of the following ways:
They opted in via your website
They completed an offline form and indicated they wanted to be emailed
They gave their business card
Addresses more than two years old
Copy-and-pasted addresses from the Internet
Is importnat to always remove unsubscribed and returned/bounced email addresses
Once the e-mail report has been completed, email addresses for users who have unsubscribed (opted out) or for emails that have been returned/bounced. These addresses must be removed from your lists.
