Spam Killers Impact Legitimate Marketers - Part 1

No one can deny that email is an integral part of Internet business. If you’re an Internet marketer or retailer, chances are you’re already running email marketing campaigns, sending out newsletters or special offers and the like. Unfortunately, more and more, you and I are competing with abusive bulk-emailers for emailbox space and recipients’ attention. Ranging from deceptive practitioners, who disguise their true identities to scam the general public, to mass marketers peddling all kinds of foolishness, these “unsolicited commercial emails” (UCE), better known to you and I as spam, have made nearly anyone with an emailbox want to run for the hills. In fact, many an email account have been terminated by its owner due to spam overload.

The next two newsletters, therefore, are devoted to reviewing the impact of too much spam on marketers, specifically as more and more email recipients turn to anti-spam solutions to help fight the swell of unwanted email. As legitimate marketers, we want to teach you how to stay on the right side of anti-spam activists and better ensure that email you send to your customers doesn’t end up filtered out as spam. Today’s newsletter reviews the growing epidemic of spam, some important things you ought to know, and some popular software solutions that are offered on the market. Part 2 will focus on new developments and alternative anti-spam solutions.

So let’s get on with the information.

The figures on spam are dismal. Brightmail, an anti-spam technology provider to ISPs, claims the estimated number of spam attacks in the US alone has grown from roughly 2 million in Q1 2001 to about 13.9 million in Q2 of 2002.

For quite some time there have been various solutions for combating spam, both at the individual recipient and network levels. Companies like Network Associates, known for McAfee VirusScan, are now heavily promoting the latest releases of their anti-spam software. Anti-spam programs offer users the benefit of more space in an inbox with less hassle to get it. Another benefit is virus protection from spam-infected emails, which get deleted before even reaching your inbox.

Anti-spam programs operate in much the same way. Many scan the email for certain words or phrases. Email header information is also scanned for misleading information. Some programs incorporate information from email “blacklists,” which contain addresses of supposed illegitimate senders (NB: legitimate senders can end up on blacklists all too easily now, particularly if their list management provider is incorrectly blackmailed at the server level). Some anti-spam programs use “white lists” (we’ll cover this in a moment).

Unfortunately, all this filtering and deleting may mean that your legitimate, opt-in email may also meet a premature doom. According to a recent study by Digital Impact, of nearly 3,000 Internet users, only 59% understood the difference between legitimate email and UCE, while about 16% said that there is no difference between the two. How can a legitimate emarketer combat these growing statistics?

1. Start with confirmed permission. Confirmed permission (”double opt-in”) can also protect you from ending up on the MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System’s) “Non-Confirming Mailing List” (NML), on which companies and email providers may rely to help filter spam.

    

2. Avoid ambiguity in the sender field. Many people scan their inbox deleting anyone they don’t recognize, and set up filters similarly.

    

3. Pre-set recipients’ expectations. If you plan on emailing subscribers or customers, try to let them know ahead of time what to expect (bi-weekly newsletter, occasional special offers, etc.).

    

4. Monitor your list for unusual numbers of bouncebacks. If you’re getting bouncebacks from the same ISP, it could indicate ISP-level spam blocking of your outbound emails. You’ll need to contact the ISP to rectify the problem.

    

5. Avoid buying (as opposed to renting) an “opt-in email list.” Chances are the recipients will have no idea who you are, why you’re writing them and will see your email as spam.

    

6. Avoid commonly used spam terms. Most anti-spam programs scan both subject lines *and* email body text for commonly used spam terms like “FREE,” “Get rich quick,” “Sex,” “Dear Friend,” and “!!!”

    

7. Get added to “white lists.” For someone using anti-spam software, a white lists is a list of the emails the recipient specifically chooses to accept. Consider including a short line in your emails asking your recipients to add you to their white list.

    

In case you’re interested in knowing more about some of the user-level software options your consumers are likely to be considering, we thought we’d provide a quick list for your review:

SpamKiller
Offered by McAfee, this Windows-only anti-spam software works with MSN, Hotmail, POP3 and MAPI email clients. SpamKiller also enables you to send pre-written complaint letters to all of the domains that the spam traveled through before it reached your inbox (hoping to make the life of the spammer a bit more difficult). There is a 30-day free trial. Price: $39.95

MailWasher
Works with any POP3 email client as well as with Hotmail and MSN. It doesn’t work with Yahoo! Mail (unless you have the paid version) or AOL yet. All incoming emails are listed on one screen with boxes to check and sort. There’s a bounce feature that allows you to send a message back to the spammer implying that your email address isn’t valid. The MailWasher web site offers an extensive list of FAQ’s and what-to-do’s. Price: Free (donations accepted by developer)

Spamfire
For Mac users only, Spamfire works with any POP3 email account and any email program. They tout “hundreds of built in customizable filters.” There is a free 15 day demo. Price: Lite version = $19; Pro version = $29

Spam Inspector
Versions are available for use with Outlook, Outlook Express and AOL with a free 30-day trial. Price: $29.95

SpamWeasel
Doesn’t work with Hotmail or AOL but will work with Pegasus, Eudora, Netscape, Outlook and MSN. Price: Free

SpamButcher
Doesn’t work with Hotmail or AOL. 30-day free trial. Price: $29.95

Tune in next newsletter when we’ll present information on alternative spam-busting solutions. And for those of you with anti-spam software already, please be sure to add WebAdvantage.net to your white list! ;->

Related Links:

Can That Spam!

MAPS Guidelines for proper mailing list management:

• The Direct Email Advertisers Association
• Brightmail
• Digital Impact Survey
• spamfaq.net

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