Mailing reminders and site updates to users

Is it spam?

[jmorgan]

Would sending emails periodically to inactive users of my site for the purpose of reminding them about the site itself be considered spam?

I'd provide a link to disable the emails of course if they didn't wish to receive it.

Basically it would involve getting a list of users who have not logged in in X number of weeks/months and sending them an email saying:

Dear Suchnsuch,
Your account at Foobar has the following updates. Go here to check them out. Click here if you don't want to receive any more emails.

[willybfriendly]

What do your terms of service say?

[piatkow]

Depends on where you are located and what they agreed to when they signed up. Different jurisdictions have different requirements regarding opt-in or opt-out.

[maximillianos]

I would not do it unless they specifically sign up for updates. Offer them the option when they register. If they opt out, then do not send them.

We, as do many sites, do the same thing. We offer options for users to be updated when comments are posted to their threads, or when they get an inbox message, or a notification, whatever. But they have to opt-in.