| Separating the spammers from commercial email senders |
If you have been following the news portals lately you would have noticed talk about spam legislation in the US. While the articles are focusing on the US legislation, all affiliates should be aware that other countries have also introduced or are planning to introduce anti-spam legislation. The UK for example have introduced legislative definitions on spam and Italy has enacted tough anti-spam legislation that makes spamming a criminal offense punishable by up to 3 years in jail with heavy fines for persistent spammers. Australia is introducing tough legislation which bans electronic harvesting and marketing of lists of email addresses and fines spammers up to $1.1 million a day. The list of countries does not stop there - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway are also included.
All affiliates of Income Access who promote merchants via email should be aware of legislation in their countries. What is clear about the legislations is that there is a major theme across these laws, your emails should be clear about who you are, what you are offering and make sure that you have permission to use an email address. Income Access recommends that all members should seek legal advice if email campaigns are a large part of your revenue stream. As a start to better prepare you, below are some quick tips on how to send email the right way and summaries of legislation for the US and the UK below.
As of January 1st 2004 the CAN-SPAM 2003 Act of the United States of America will come into effect. The CAN-SPAM Act prohibits deceptive spamming tactics such as spoofing addresses, faking subject lines and ignoring recipients' opt-out requests, it doesn't ban unsolicited commercial e-mail outright.
The federal law also overrides major provisions of state antispam laws, including a California law that would have prohibited unsolicited commercial e-mail. The penality for breaking the law will vary from fines to prision terms.
For more information on the US law please visit: http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html
In the UK as of December 11th it will be illegal to send Unsolicited Bulk Email to a private email address, but legal to send Unsolicited Bulk Email to employees of British businesses. The Information Commissioner is responsible for ordering spammers to decease and desist and failure to do so can result in a 5000 pound fine.
For more information on International spaming laws please visit: http://law.spamcon.org/intl-laws/index.shtml
Use this report to learn about which ads are converting best for you and which ones are not.
| Tips on how to email your lists effectively |
- Get your clients to opt into your mailing lists - that is get permission to send them email. This can be done by:
- Collecting IP and time of registration with your site
- Collecting other identifiable information when the user submits their email address to your list e.g. Name, address and country
- Include subject lines that clearly state your product, service or offer - do not trick people into opening emails with subject lines that have nothing to do with the message being broadcasted.
- In your headers clearly include company name, e-mail addresses and IP. Refrain from providing misleading headers and masking the origin of your email.
- Email ads must be identified as such - this can be done by including company name, logo, and contact details.
- Make it easy for recipients to opt out of your mailings by including clear directions for removal at the bottom of all emails: To make it easy you should include:
- Opt out via web site link or by replying to an email address
- Ceasing to send communications to the identified opted out recipient should be done with 5 working days of the notice
- Do not randomly generate or electronically harvest email addresses - you are responsible for knowing the source of your email lists.
- Be wary of purchasing services that allow you to use their mailing lists - the new laws implicate not only spammers, but those who use their services, and as a result you can prosecuted.
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