Topic: Email newsletter etiquette

The company that I work for is wanting to send out an email newsletter. However, the method of going about it is...a little sketchy.

Here is the deal. We have a lot of customers that have given us their email address and such. Is it proper / against the law / spam or what not to just *add* these people to an email newsletter? I just exported the database of customers to a CSV file that I can import into a MySQL database to send the newsletter out to. However, I'm a little worried that this might cause some problems down the road.

If you have any information or thoughts on this, I'd like to hear them.

Thanks in advance!

Later,

C:\

I would worry about being blacklisted. You want to make sure that everyone who is recieving the letter really wanted to.

You might even want to send out an email to these people that let them opt into your service.

Something to the effect of "We have you as a current customer and we have this new offer. If you are interested you can opt in by following this link."

You will lose a ton of people, because 90% will most likely not opt in but you should be a in a better position to not get listed in any of the blacklists.

Dan @ Code Town

thanks for that. Are you talking about blacklisted from the client or the ISP?

I have tried to explain this to them but....

Now, just to give some more information, the email is just going to be something like "You are invited to our Open House. For more information, click here" Which will be a webpage that has more info. There will be an "opt out" option in the email that I will monitor and remove their emails from the database.

Sorry to just post so quickly back but I have no internet right now since I moved

Later,

C:\

I would make it an "Opt In" option instead of an opt out. I know that I would be seriously pissed if I started getting a newsletter from some company without ever being asked about it.

:::11oh1:::

Under what context did you get the email addresses in the first place? Was it a method used to communicate with the client in regards to thier order/purchase etc? Or was it a will you give us your email so we can send you more info?

I'd choose Opt In or Opt Out based on these criteria.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

who knows how the sales reps got the emails. Which is the part that kind of scares me. I just don't want the company to get in trouble for something that was not their intention. Know what I mean?

At any rate, I needed something to give to the big man in charge that is wanting to do this. Something kind of formal stating "You can't or can do this because" kind of thing.

Thanks for the help!

Later,

C:\

2 cents:

I would send a Formal invite to be informed of future development and new products to all emails that were apart of that list .. whom ever accepts .. bingo you have your protection and your company looks like the "good guy"


.::. cEll .::. 513

If you're concerned with not being a jerk, I'd listen to RammStein. Otherwise, there's nothing actually illegal about sending all of your customers that newsletter. Just make sure customers can remove themselves from your list.

[confused look]

Jestah .. my suggestion is viewed as being "the jerk" .. I'm confused? .. if anything I was trying to suggest not being "the jerk"


.::. cEll .::. 513

Cpromt where are you living? US, EU or other part of the world?
This is important since there are laws now about what is spam and what not, and how to deal with it. This is a complex matter so you better check with some local guy who nows exacty what what laws there are and how to interpret this.
For instance in my country spam is not allowed any more, and almost any mail send as bulk to people who did not ask for it is considered spam.

Private persons should explicitly give you permission to send them newsletters and so on this could be on paper, on a webbased form or in a special email where they can select opt-in. All businesses are not protected by the spam law, this is strictly for private persons.

.........................................................................
:: Develop yourself, develop your life, develop the world ::
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Ramm it's a double negative "not being a jerk" == "being a good guy"



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

The blacklists that I am talking about are like spamhaus where they distribute lists of spammers to lots of ISPs who then use this to block incoming email.

If your email server gets on the blacklist it is hard to get off and you might find that a whole lot of very important email that all of a sudden stops being delivered.

Dan @ Code Town

Jestah .. my suggestion is viewed as being "the jerk" .. I'm confused? .. if anything I was trying to suggest not being "the jerk"

The complete opposite my friend.

Sending out unsolicited mail is spam. If CPrompt is concerned with "doing the right thing" he should take your advice. Personally, I'd want me newletter sent out to the most people possible, so I'd spam the f*ckers and not think twice.

That's just me.

quote:

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Jestah said:

I'd want me newletter sent out to the most people possible, so I'd spam the f*ckers and not think twice.

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hehehe Well, this first one that is going out seems to be an "Open House Invitation" so I don't really think that it's spam.

quote:

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Rinswind 2th said:

Cpromt where are you living? US, EU or other part of the world?

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US. I still think spam here is in the "grey" area


Thanks for all the advice!

Later,

C:\