A few days ago, I asked someone to remove me from their email newsletter because I had not subscribed.

This particular business owner did not even give me an option to unsubscribe and that was only one of the other violations of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

When I sent the email to unsubscribe me from their newsletter, I got a quick response and I requested to know where they got my email. As expected, I received a weak and vague response. I sent another email back explaining that what they were doing was illegal and they mentioned that they had gotten emails from other companies and from the business cards that the owner, a real estate agent, had collected.

You Need Permission to Be Added

That is when I quickly stopped and realized that this person did not clearly understand that even if someone gives you a business card, it does not give them the right to add me or you to a newsletter.

Those who choose to make the mistake of sending random people and strangers emails with the purpose of selling something, pay for it in many ways. Not only does it create a negative experience with their company, it has other negative consequences.

Losing Trust

How am I going to trust someone who decided to spam me without asking me for permission to add me on a list or even worse, was using illegal means to grow their list.

People Will Ignore you

When my inbox is filled with unsolicited emails and content that is of no interest to me, by default I ignore them. I am sure that you and everyone else also ignores these messages.

Why Do Business with Cheaters

The same way you don’t do business with people who cheat in golf or any other game, I feel the same way about email. If they are cheating on something so small, what would stop them when the incentive to cheating is bigger? If they can’t take the time to build a relationship with me and they buy my email address off an email list, this cheats them out of future business, customers, or partnerships.

It’s Illegal

Depending on where you live the laws may vary but the Anti-Spam laws are changing to protect the consumer.  Canada’s anti spam legislation is a good example of why everyone should start using more ethical practices even if you don’t have subscribers from Canada. Individuals can be fined up to $1 million dollars and businesses up to $10 million dollars.

Nobody Likes Spam

You and I don’t like spam and everyone else who receives it pretty much hates it. You know the Golden Rule,  “Treat others as you would like to be treated”; it applies to everything in life including online business practices.

Need help with Newsletter Management?

We work with our clients and partners by helping them communicate in a more intimate and effective way with their audience.

This is done by growing a newsletter, converting the subscribers of a newsletter into clients, and even increasing the frequency in which some of those clients purchase from our partners.

How do you manage your email newsletter?

If you have any questions, you can discuss in the comments or send directly our way.