Forum Moderators: buckworks
The privacy policy on my web site states that we may e-mail customers from time to time, and that they can be removed from our contact list by e-mailing us with their request, so I think I'm covered as far as being thought of as "spam" when I send this e-mail to my customers.
But I also have the e-mail addresses of a number of people who have e-mailed us to ask questions about our products but may not have purchased anything.
Can I include those "almost customers" in my mass e-mail without running an excessive risk of being called a "spammer"?
The total number of e-mails I'm looking at sending is way under 1000 - so it's not like I'm trying to blanket the world with junk mail.
December 16th, 2003 President Bush signed a highly awaited law on Tuesday to restrict junk commercial e-mail, or spam, which now accounts for more than half of all e-mail traffic. The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, will ban the sending of bulk commercial e-mail using false identities and misleading subject lines. It will also require all commercial e-mail messages to include a valid postal address and give recipients the opportunity to opt out of receiving more messages. E-mail messages with adult or pornographic content will have to be labeled in a manner determined by the Federal Trade Commission, which is also authorized to study the feasibility of a "do not spam" list that would be similar to the "do not call" list for telemarketers.The Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies, state attorneys general and Internet service providers will be allowed to take spammers to court, but individuals do not have the right to sue spammers. Violators will be liable for up to $250 per e-mail violation, up to a cap of $2 million, except in extreme circumstances when the fine could be tripled. Violators could also face up to five years in prison.
[edited by: pageoneresults at 5:08 pm (utc) on Dec. 18, 2003]
In your case, since I infer that you don't explicity mention this in your privacy policy, I think the only upstanding thing to do is to scratch them from your list.
Then you can come up with some way you can use these addresses in the future, though I would advise against that -- folks who simply want to ask a question usually don't want to run the risk of being put on an e-mail list.
Encourage questions. Make them a customer. Then go after the repeat business.
Jim
We send out one mailing per year to prior customers who never expressed a preference - usually a Christmas message - with the offer to opt-in to the whole shooting match (which is still not that often)
This should make a good impression because you are coming out and asking them if they want to be a part of your list, which most companies don't do. Also, you will be targeting your email better because only people who want the email will be added to your mailing list.
That would leave a *really* bad taste in my mouth if I were one of those people. They emailed to ask a question, not to be added to a list.
>> perhaps you could send a very short email to the non-customers explaining that from time to time you email special offers to your customers and would they like to be included in this mailing.
That would probably be ok. A subtle approach could be to slip an opt-in link into a "follow up" email, i.e.- "thank you for your previous inquiry... hope we've been helpful... please let us know if we can help in the future... for more info you can also visit http:... or feel free to sign up for our free monthly newsletter...".
