I’d like to address some feedback we’ve received about our stance on junk mail. Many people feel differently and interpret the best practices differently than us. I understand the concerns our clients raised about the changes and I’d like to set the record straight for those who want to know about our position on spam. (And no, we don’t like spam!)
I really enjoy writing entries like this because I know it will help many people who want to better understand Infusionsoft’s policies, with respect to spam and other “abuse.” I’m proud to say that throughout 2008, our company has taken great strides in making our software easy to use, but that also means it’s relatively easy to (ab)use.
We provide our clients freedom to market themselves creatively, test out powerful new ways to attract prospects, nurture and convert them to loyal customers. Along with that comes responsibility. We require our clients to market themselves within our Acceptable Use Policy [pdf] for all marketing activities from the moment of lead capture, during the follow-up campaigns and to drip-marketing sequences to maintain loyal customers.
Earlier last week, we reminded our clients about our expectations and policies on our e-mail best practices, legal agreements and expectations. This is the notice we’ve sent:
We received a rather negative response, instead of a, “Thanks, Infusionsoft. Thanks for looking out for my e-mail deliverability.” Instead, we ended up going off the deep end and scaring our most passionate users and alienating them. For that, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to.
I suspect the biggest concern for our clients is the last checkbox. I totally understand… it sounds like if you receive one complaint that you could lose your entire business. Thankfully, it doesn’t work that way. We want to be clear about our position on responsible email marketing.
Our clients ask about the jargon that we use when talking about spam. Remember these terms because it’s what the industry uses and will help you manage your email better. Our Email Compliance Team confirms my theory — people simply don’t know they are spammers. . (They get to lay the smackdown on abusers, so they have a lot of experience.) I’ll explain the terms we use briefly so you understand:
- Spam: Any message that a recipient did not expect, did not authorize or wishes to abruptly end communication from.
- Opt-Out: A kinder way for recipients to say they don’t want your email.
- Single Opt-In: When a recipient thinks they want your email marketing, somewhat unreliable and can’t totally be trusted.
- Double Opt-In: When a recipient confirms they want your email marketing, reliable and can be trusted.
- IP Reputation: The reputation (“quality”) of email found on a given IP address over a period of time. ISPs now tend to deliver based on the reputation, not just the quality of email. You can inspect Infusionsoft’s IP reputation on SenderBase, if you’d like.
- ISP Spam Complaint: When a recipient clicks the “Junk” or “Report Spam” button to their provider. These damage the IP reputation of both the client and Infusionsoft as a whole.
- Internal Feedback Complaint: When a recipient completes the Opt-Out process and voluntarily reports a message as spam to us internally. We review such reports and identify trends and can react quicker than the ISPs to problematic users, thus preserving the IP reputation for all clients.
- Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE): Any email sent for commercial purposes to anyone who never signed up. We will terminate anyone immediately if they send email to anyone who never opted in for it. Don’t you even think about it…
Now that we got that out of the way, I’d like to respond to several pieces of feedback we received and provide clarification on them. The benefit is, they asked and I’m answering for everyone’s benefit.
Question: “What is an acceptable level of complaints? I don’t want to be shut down for one complaint.”
Answer: We are committed to provide the best e-mail delivery for all our marketers. To preserve the integrity of Infusionsoft, stay in the good graces of ISPs and get your email read, we enforce against a 0.1% complaint rate. (That’s 1/1000.) When complaint rates rise or an UCE complaint arrives, we investigate the account, contact the account holder and place the account on a corrective plan. If we have trouble reaching the account holder, we suspend email services until they contact us (which they do) to later address it. We terminate an approximate 3% of people who are reported for spam. It’s not something that we like to do, but we have to.
The bottom line is that we won’t necessarily terminate accounts on merely one complaint; however, we will investigate and if it’s necessary, we may need to terminate the account to protect the deliverability for all users. The only exception to this is for Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), where there is a Zero-Tolerance policy. Get permission and then market to your contacts.
ISP spam complaints and internally reported complaints happen with everyone. We’re wise enough to review them and take the appropriate action with our clients. If they are malicious, we take no hesitation against decapitating their contact with our company. It’s a huge risk to safe-harbor spammers. We’re not one. We hold our clients and ourselves higher than that.
Question: “What if I don’t agree? I didn’t know that you had these terms…”
Answer: Just to be clear, nothing has changed. We’re continually evaluating our need to update our policies (and will notify you when that happens), but nothing has changed from two weeks ago to now. If you no longer agree to the Acceptable Use Policy, we suggest reviewing it again and contact our support team if you have questions. We encourage clients to follow industry best practices to avoid trouble down the road.
If our policies don’t calibrate with your marketing practices, then it may be the time to seek another provider. (If you have a lot of spam complaints, please do so now.)
Question: “What kind of notice or warning will I get?”
Answer: This is a tough one only because it varies between situations. However, in 99% of cases, we will contact the account holder (or operator) through email and telephone. We’re human just like you and understand that we can overlook a thing or two in a marketing sequence.
We’re reasonable at educating clients who make genuine mistakes, but we’re also prudent enough to remove abusers who nest with us. Often with abusers, we are their fourth or fifth email marketing solution and aren’t even a good fit for our company. 99% of our client base will receive notice if they are on their way to getting the boot.
We empower clients to manage marketing practices. We’ll help if they need it, but ultimately it’s the client who is responsible for their email. We’re making several in-application analytics and reporting enhancements this year, so stay tuned. We’ve taken a step by providing a nifty spam complaint report. It’s not perfect, but is a start in empowering clients to manage their email deliverability.
Question: “What are the top causes for spam reports?”
Answer: I spoke with our Email Compliance Team and they shared with me the top two causes for clients earning their spam reports. They are:
- Old Contacts – Permission to email goes stale after about six months. People are more likely to report senders the older the sender. The spam risk increases twice as much for every year older a contact is in their database.
- Improper Expectations – The recipients may not know your intentions with their e-mail address. A quick fix is to use e-mail confirmation (double-opt-in). This will minimizes false addresses (better reporting), provides better value for your marketing and preserves your IP reputation.
Question: “How can I protect myself from people who maliciously report me as spam?”
Answer: We understand and consider that when we’re reviewing spam reports. I know 0.1% sounds like there’s very little wiggle room, but that is the “acceptable” complaint rate in the industry. If you exceed that, it is a good time to improve your email marketing strategy sooner than later.
This is the age where marketing like it’s 1992 doesn’t fly. Consumers deserve more respect for their time and patronage, and that includes their inbox. Proper permission-based marketing is the main factor in to whether or not people report you. Thought leader, Seth Godin, has a great blog explaining his marketing advice (which includes permission marketing).
Our Email Compliance Team reviews all spam reports and UCE complaints for legitimacy, compliance and accounts are investigated prior to action.
I hope this entry clarifies your concerns. We’re committed to your success as entrepreneurs and Internet marketers, but we are realistic and want to make sure email best practices, permission, and respect is on the top of every marketer’s mind.
Now, to conclude this entry on spam, I’m obligated to share the Monty Python sketch which is the origin of “spam” the way we know it today:
