Many people today are unaware that there is a cost associated with sending unwanted or unsolicited email. For small businesses and non-profit organizations the principal costs are poor reputation and lost revenue. For customers and prospects of small businesses and non-profit organizations, receiving unwanted or unsolicited email is not only frustrating and time consuming; it can also provoke negative reactions towards those who send it. Let's face it, who wants to patronize a business or make a donation to an organization that doesn't consider your preferences or respects your time.
Likewise, there is a cost to processing and filtering unwanted and unsolicited email. This cost is placed squarely on the shoulders of the internet service providers (ISPs) and mail administrators that filter 'spam' from their users. With over 85% of all email traffic today considered "Spam" sent from individuals with malicious intent, there's no wonder why ISPs condemn the sending of unsolicited email and employ complex filtering to protect their customers from it.
With email marketing it's all about the recipients. Remember, it's the ISPs and recipients that control the email-marketing channel. Unlike many other marketing channels, recipients can easily react to email they don't want. It's as easy as hitting the "Spam" or "Junk" button, or forwarding the email to a third party blocklist. The result? If enough recipients report the mail they receive from a specific sender as unwanted or unsolicited, both the sender and Spider-Mails may be blocked from delivering mail in the future.
That's why Spider-Mails has a no tolerance spam policy.
At Spider-Mails we want all of our customers sending emails their contacts really want to receive.
Yes. In January of 2004 a federal anti-spam law went into effect in the United States. It's known as the CAN-SPAM Act. This Act regulates, to some extent, commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. While this new law did not stop spam, it does make it illegal and ultimately less attractive to spammers. At Spider-Mails, we applaud the CAN-SPAM Act, but view it as the lowest barrier to entry rather than the pinnacle to which marketers should strive. Because Spam is about consent not content, arguments that mail is CAN-SPAM compliant are often irrelevant.
There are also many other laws and regulations around the world surrounding electronic marketing. If you live or work in Canada, or mail to folks who do, you’ll want to be sure to collect and catalog express consent as outlined in the new Canadian Anti-Spam Laws (CASL).
While we can’t give legal advice, we encourage all senders to become familiar with these laws, especially if they live in or mail to recipients outside the US.
Spider-Mails's Compliance team uses the full spectrum of people, process, and technology to ensure our customer's mail gets delivered. Our highly trained staff uses a variety of tools and criteria to review and evaluate each account throughout their lifecycle.
Legal - We require that each customer understands and agrees to our permission-based Terms of Service. In addition, when customers upload a contact list, they must agree that it is consent-based.
Education - Spider-Mails continuously keeps customers updated on the latest best practices, tips, and email etiquette via our blogs, seminars and training, and award-winning Marketing Resource Center.
Collaboration - We’re registered with major ISPs and anti-spam authorities to receive automated feedback loop (FBL) data when any of our customer's contacts report abuse. We use this data, when warranted, to take corrective action.
We also utilize 3rd party technology to help identify potentially problematic contact lists and campaign content.
Verification - Spider-Mails automatically sends new contacts using our Join My Mailing List feature an email confirming their interest in receiving emails from you. Additionally, if your contact changes his or her interests or unsubscribes, Spider-Mails automatically sends an email confirmation.
Unsubscribe - Every email generated from Spider-Mails contains an unsubscribe link which allows contacts to opt-out of future emails and automatically updates contact lists to avoid the chance of sending unwanted emails in the future.
Identification - Your email header information is pre-set for you by Spider-Mails. Your email's "From Address" is verified and accurately identifies you as the sender.
Contact Information - All of your emails are pre-filled with your contact information, including your physical address.
If you feel a Spider-Mails customer is sending unsolicited email, you can report it to us by sending it to [email protected]. Each email is reviewed and cataloged by a member of the Compliance Team. In addition, we will investigate each complaint and take appropriate action against the sender.
Spam, also known as junk mail, is an unsolicited commercial email messages, especially bulk email message. Unsolicited means that the recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively identical content. The term 'spamming' refers to transmitting, distributing or delivering any unwanted commercial e-mail correspondence, especially in mass quantities, thru the electronic means of communication.
Subscribers can be added to the Service account in multiple ways. They may either send a blank email to your account address at Spider-Mails.com or fill out a capture form on your website. Email addresses may also be imported, added via API calls, iPhone or added to the mailing list manually. In such cases, the User must have their subscriber's permission to process their data. It is prohibited to send messages to any person that has not expressed their consent to receive such information from the User. We would like to note that the subscriber’s consent may not be presumed or infer from the statements of other content. In addition, subscribers may withdraw their consent at any time.
Spider-Mails Inc. will send a new subscriber a message confirming their interest in receiving information from the User. Users may request to disable the confirmation for email and web subscriptions.
We recommend "confirmed opt-in" to all Users. This efficiently prevents spam complaints and makes the list much more responsive, as subscribers are receiving information they expect. The confirmation email may be customized, so that recipients can easily recognize to which list they subscribe.
Spider-Mails strictly prohibits users from renting, leasing and/or purchasing email addresses from a third party, as well as from gathering them through surreptitious methods, such as scraping or harvesting. The use of any kinds of automated solutions, software or scripts is strictly prohibited. The User may store, manage the data and send electronic information only to those recipients who have expressly agreed to receive such information from the User.
We reserve the right to verify the list of subscribers imported by the User in terms of their quality, i.e. among others possessing required approvals for the sending of electronic messages, existence of spam-traps or misspellings. The negative result of such a verification entitles us to reject the imported list. If a greater number of email addresses is imported, we reserve the right to require the User to carry out a test dispatch to a part of email addresses. The User's capability to import the entire list or send messages to the remaining email addresses from the list will depend on the results of the test dispatch.
The User must provide true and accurate information to be used in their email headers, i.e. "From" and "To" data must clearly identify the sender. The subject line must not be deceptive, and thus mislead the subscriber about the purpose and content of the message.
The messages cannot contain any vulgar or illegal content.
The User must provide their true and accurate postal address that will be included in each message footer. The User is required to maintain and promptly update this data to ensure it is current, complete and accurate.
Each message sent from a Spider-Mails Account contains an unsubscribe link that cannot be removed. The link automatically updates the mailing list to ensure that a subscriber that has opted out will not be sent any further mailings.
The User is not allowed to send messages to any individual that had been added to the mailing list, but later unsubscribed from it. Spider-Mails automatically handles all unsubscribe requests on User’s behalf. The list of individuals that have opted out shall be provided in the Customer's Account.
The User must not use the Service to send any unsolicited and unwanted e-mail correspondence. Neither the Spider-Mails.com email address, nor the Spider-Mails URL may be included in a bulk message or in a bulk-advertised web page.
We reserve the right to issue a warning should the User be found spamming or using the Service for any abusive or illegal practices. Appropriate actions, such as terminating User’s account without notice or a refund and/or reporting the Customer and the incident to their ISP and proper authorities shall be taken should the User appear to perform or be performing such practices, despite the explicit warning. Without limiting the foregoing, the User shall be liable for any loss incurred or damage suffered by Spider-Mails or any third party should such loss result from noncompliance with this Anti-Spam Policy.