Posted By
Steve Heikkila on 01/18/2010
Your company isn’t emailing requests
for a transfer of funds into a Nigerian bank account in exchange for a share of
a huge inheritance release. Nor is it trafficking “V1AGRA” and “V1C0D1N”
online, employing strategically selected character replacements in the email subject
line to trick spam filtering software. So there’s no way your email marketing
efforts could possibly be confused with the efforts of a spammer, right? Well
not so fast. If your email marketing efforts fail to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003,
then as far as the Federal Trade Commission (the federal agency responsible for
“Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing”) is
concerned, you are a spammer. Moreover, you’re violating Federal law. And if the FTC doesn’t
come after you, other federal agencies, State Attorneys General, your company’s
Internet Service Provider, or more likely still, the Internet Service Providers
of your email recipients very well may.
Does
this news leave you quaking in your boots? Perhaps not. Successful legal prosecutions
for CAN-SPAM violations are relatively (and perhaps surprisingly) uncommon. However,
fear of legal reprisal is not the only reason for complying with CAN-SPAM.
Concerns about brand reputation and return on investment arguably provide even
stronger motivation for companies to do so.
Regarding
ROI, even the FTC’s initial progress report to Congress in 2005 admitted that the effectiveness
of the CAN-SPAM Act had more to do with technology than law enforcement. Spam
filtering software, ISP blocking, and other technology have become extremely
effective at filtering out much of the spam email we all receive on a daily
basis. Consequently, if a company’s email marketing program fails to reach much
of its intended audience because it’s been identified as spam, it obviously makes
for a less than optimal marketing investment. And not coincidentally—given that
spam-thwarting technologies are configured to address the provisions of the
CAN-SPAM Act itself—the best way that a company can ensure that its commercial
email messages don’t end up in the spam filter is to comply with the CAN-SPAM
Act. Moreover, any reputable email marketing software platform (e.g., Exact Target, White Horse's email partner) will require such compliance as a
condition of use. There are a number of rather handy compliance checklists
available online, including one from the FTC itself.
Finally,
regarding brand reputation, it is important to bear in mind that a company’s
email marketing behavior can influence its customers’ perception of the
company’s brand(s). A rather interesting study published in The Journal of Interactive Advertising in 2006 notes
that consumers often view email marking in much the same way that they view direct
mail marking and telemarketing: as irritating and intrusive. And this negative
perception often transfers from the unwelcome message itself to the brand
responsible for delivering that message. This study suggests that consumers’ level
of irritation is in large part a function of their perceived inability to
control these types of communication. As such, CAN-SPAM compliance measures
such as an easy means of opting out of future emails, an ability to choose
which types of content one receives, and the inclusion of a physical mailing
address for contacting the sender, can provide consumers with a stronger
measure of control than they have over direct mail and telemarketing, which can
help to mitigate potentially negative perceptions.
Tags: E-mail Marketing
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