email list help

can spam act

[Realbrisk]

We where a bit old fashioned and never had any email campaigns

we have about 4k customers emails addresses collected from transactions is there any way we can contact our customers to sign up to our Email marketing list

we have signed up with M? chimp
can we add our customers with out asking them ? I believe not

Any pointers what we can do

[jecasc]

can we add our customers with out asking them ? I believe not

It depends on the privacy laws in your country and on the nature of your email campaigns. For example where I live you can send newsletters to people you have a business relation with without further permission. If the newsletter is about your products and services and not for third party companies. Of course the customer needs to have the opportunity to unsubscribe.

So concerning the legal aspects there is no way around checking the laws.

[piatkow]

You have an explicit reference to the Can Spam act in your title. That only applies to the United States of America, if you are located elsewhere you are probably subject to far tighter requirements. Also the company managing your mailing list or the one managing your own email may have terms and conditions that are stricter than Can Spam even if you are in the USA.

like jesac I am in a location where different conditions apply to B2B and B2C mailings.

[Realbrisk]

We are in the Us

For those wondering only 4k, we where a mail order company that also had a website

[jecasc]

We are in the Us

The great oracle of wikipedia says:

[en.wikipedia.org...]

"There are no restrictions against a company emailing its existing customers or anyone who has inquired about its products or services, even if these individuals have not given permission, as these messages are classified as "relationship" messages under CAN-SPAM."

[weeks]

jecase quote from Wikipedia is correct, BUT...

I use the same service that you have signed up for and have had a very good experience with them.

That said, one of our clients using this service ran into a touch of trouble a few weeks ago uploading an old list.

I learned that the thresholds for trouble are
• Bounce rates up to 5%
• Complaint rates up to 0.1%, or
• Unsubscribe rates up to 1%.

In our case, we had a big bounce rate because the list was so old. But, as you can see, it doesn't take much to have serious problems. (We just killed the list.)

This is not just this service provider. When these limits are exceeded, ISPs and spamcop organizations begin to question the integrity of your list which can cause blacklisting or blocks for both your domains and service providers' domains and IP addresses.

So, how good is your list? Are the addresses correct? What is the likely reaction of your customers when they get an email?

I would recommend emailing your customers from a Gmail account set up for this project, importing your emails into the new Gmail account. Send your customers to the link to sign up for your emails. Provide a very, VERY attractive offer. This will qualify your list with the service provider.

Tip: Don't require for too much information. People don't like to give up their personal info. And, honestly, you don't need it.

[J_RaD]

once upon a time you could import your e-mail list into an autorepsonder no questions asked.

Now what is going to happen most likely is you will have to send an invite email to them upon import asking them if they want to opt-in to your email list.

moving forward, as the transactions occur get them opt-ed in, then all you do is focus on building your opt-in email list.