[Day 4 of your 7-day eCourse]

iContact on Spam: What It Is and How To Avoid It

What Is Spam?

Spam is unsolicited email, also known as junk mail or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email).
If you send any email in bulk to more than a handful of recipients who have not requested to receive it, it will be considered spam, regardless of the contents of the email. By sending email to only to those who have requested to receive it, you are following accepted permission-based email guidelines.

There are numerous laws restricting spam, including the United States’ CAN-SPAM Act, the Australian Spam Act of 2003, and other laws specific to a country, province, or state.

How Can I Avoid Sending Spam?

iContact is a permission-based email-marketing tool that follows the most stringent permission-based philosophies in order to protect users from sending spam:

* Communication – Your subscriber registration page must state why you are collecting the site visitor’s email address and how you plan to use their address. Additionally, by accepting our license agreement you have agreed to not sell or rent your lists.

* Verification – iContact automatically sends all of your new subscribers an email confirming their interest in receiving emails from you.

* Unsubscription – Every email generated from iContact contains an unsubscribe link which automatically updates your subscriber lists in order to prevent the distribution of unwanted emails to visitors who have unsubscribed.

Here Are Some Questions You Can Ask To Ensure You Are Not Sending Any Spam:

1. Are you importing a purchased list of ANY kind?

2. Are you sending to non-specific addresses such as: sales@domain.com, business@domain.com, webmaster@domain.com, info@domain.com, or other general addresses?

3. Do you have any abuse@, postmaster@, or hostmaster@ domains on your list?

4. Are you sending to distribution lists or mailing lists which indirectly send to a variety of email addresses?

5. Are you mailing to anyone who has not explicitly agreed to join your mailing list?

6. Does your email’s subject line contain false or misleading information?

If you have answered “yes” to any of the above questions, you may be labeled as a spammer.

iContact Offers the SpamCheck Feature

The SpamCheck system will examine your message and determine how likely your message is to be classified as spam. We use a certain set of spam rules that help our system determine what aspects of your email messages are commonly used by spammers.

When you click the ‘SpamCheck’ button as you create a message, our system will scan your email and generate your Spam Score in a matter of seconds. Each rule used to calculate the score along with the final result will be displayed in a pop-up window.

Take advantage of iContact’s superior anti-spam tools and sign up for an account today.

[Day 1 of your 7-day eCourse]

iContact’s Five Step Process of Fail-Proof Permission Email Marketing

At times, throwing together an entire email marketing campaign can seem daunting. How does one even know where to begin? Well, the best place to start is by learning. Once you know the simple 5-step process for fail-proof permission-based email marketing you have the road map that you need to simplify the email marketing process and execute successful campaigns.

Step 1:
Begin by using permission-based email software (such as iContact) that allows you to easily create newsletters, automatically manage subscribes, unsubscribes, and bounces, and view reporting statistics like opens and click-throughs.

Step 2:
Decide on the type and frequency of the email communications you will be sending. We recommend sending at least one newsletter per month. You can send multiple newsletters if you sell different types of products. You can also send promotional messages offering a discount or a coupon for a product or service.

Step 3:
Add a sign-up form to your website so you can start collecting subscribers and import any existing lists of subscribers that have already requested your communications. It is generally also safe to import the names of anyone who has done business with you in the past year, provided you will be sending content relevant to what they purchased.

Step 4:
Choose a good email template by using the templates provided within the email software, having your in-house team create one, or by using the custom design services of your email software company. iContact provides over 300 design templates within our software that can be used free of charge, and we can also develop custom templates for a nominal charge.

Step 5:
Develop relevant and high-quality content for your newsletter or message, and send it out to your list. Continue sending your newsletters, announcements, or promotions with consistent frequency. As your list grows, you will notice increased traffic (and if applicable, increased sales) on the day of and the days following an email send.

So if you are ready to start benefiting from email marketing without having to worry about where to begin or how to progress, then sign up today for a 15 day free trial. Try iContact now!

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